Design

For those of you who are starting a new business or updating your branding, design can be daunting and you need all the help you can get. Here we have included some recommendations and resources to make this process easier. If you are creating flyers, web sites, business cards, or even t-shirts you need a design that can provide consistency and recognition with everything you create.

First of all you may need inspiration and a good recommendation is to look at other designs. This will give you examples of what is possible and inspiration for you to create your own. Look at well established brands and brands of businesses similar to your own. Art is subjective so what you ultimately decide upon is up to you.

Implementation of design

Consider that your design will eventually be used in a variety of ways and in different media. Your design should work well on a white background for letter heads but also black backgrounds for devices like televisions.

Free software

There is some free software that are quite professional and can produce stunning designs. Look at the following:

• GIMP Professional photo editing tool.
• Inkscape Professional quality drawing tool.
• Kdenlive High quality video editor.
• OBS Studio For making video presentations.
• LibreOffice A full suite of office tools.
  

Color selection

Found a nice color you want to use? You need other colors to complement that color. Complementary colors are a science (mathematics) so use a tool to find them.

Online resources

Here are some resources that will help you quickly create compelling designs:

• Canva An entire business and online resource dedicated to helping with design.
• Unsplash A great resource for free art to use in designs.
• Pexels Another great resource for art and photos.
• IconFinder Get icons to link to other sites like social media.
• ChatGPT Use AI to help you create content.