Topic
Design craft
Type, colour, layout, resolution, print and social, taught properly. 30 guides.
Start with these
Set type that reads wellHierarchy, pairing, size, measure, leading and tracking: the numbers that make text easy to read, and where to set each one in Voidcanvas.Beginner5 min readChoose colours that work on screen and in printBuild palettes with roles, make even ramps in OKLCH, pass WCAG 2.2 contrast, and know what happens when RGB colour goes to a printer.Intermediate5 min readLay out a page with a grid, space and a clear focal pointUse columns, margins and a spacing scale, align to fewer edges, give the page one focal point and control the order people read in.Beginner5 min readUnderstand pixels, dpi and why images look softHow pixel dimensions, ppi and print size relate, why images blur when scaled, what makes files big, and the size limits in Voidcanvas.Beginner4 min readPrepare artwork a printer will acceptTrim, bleed, safe area, 300 ppi, RGB and CMYK, paper and proofs, with the honest limits of Voidcanvas print output and how to work around them.Intermediate5 min readDesign social posts that read on a phonePick the right format, keep text out of the interface, size type for a phone held at arm's length, and design a series that holds together.Beginner4 min readBuild a brand identity from brief to rulesTurn a brief into a direction, then a logo, colour, type and a set of rules someone else can follow, using Studio and the brand guideline builder.Intermediate4 min readHow to prepare a poster for printSet the document to the final poster size at 300 dpi, add 3 mm of bleed on every side, keep text and logos at least 5 mm inside the trim, use photos that are at least as many pixels wide as the poster itself, and export a PDF at final size. Tell the printer the file is RGB and includes bleed, and ask for a proof. The rest of this page gives you the numbers, the reasons and the checks.Beginner10 min readHow to make a design look less genericA design looks generic when nothing in it was decided: the layout came with the template, every element is the same size and importance, the colours are safe mid-tones, and the photo is used whole. Fix it with six decisions, in this order: set a real type scale so one thing is clearly biggest; let one colour lead and one accent answer it; crop the photo hard and give it a treatment; put everything on a grid with a single focal point and real margins; add texture from an actual process rather than a filter preset; then remove a third of what is left. Each move is below, with where to do it in Voidcanvas.Intermediate7 min readWhy your printed design looks blurryA print looks blurry for one of three reasons: a photo was enlarged past what its pixels can support, the document was set up at screen size (1080 px, 1920 px, 72 dpi) and then printed much larger, or the file was exported small or as a heavy JPG. Check in one minute: divide the design's pixel width by its printed width in inches. Under 150 and everything prints soft; 300 is what a printer wants for anything read up close. Then fix the cause: replace or shrink the photo, rebuild at the print size, or export a PDF or PNG at full size.Beginner7 min read
Everything else in this topic
- What a print-ready PDF is, and what yours needsThe printer asked for a print-ready PDF. What the term means, the six things a printer checks, what it means when your tool makes an image-based PDF, how to check your own file before you send it, and the note to send with it.Beginner4 min
- How much bleed a print job needsThe bleed most printers ask for, when you need it at all, how many pixels it is at 300 and 150 dpi, the safe area that goes with it, and how to add it to a design that was built without one.Beginner3 min
- Why a print looks different from the screenColours duller, everything darker, the layout not quite where the preview put it. The four reasons a print never matches a monitor, which of them you can plan for, and how to get close on the first run.Beginner5 min
- Social media sizes and safe zonesThe pixel sizes for posts, stories, reels, thumbnails and banners, and the parts of each the platform covers with its own interface. With a live view of every format and the text sizes that survive a phone screen.Beginner3 min
- What dpi a poster should be, by size and viewing distanceNot always 300. The right number depends on how far away people stand, and a big poster at 300 dpi is a file nobody needs. The table for every common size at 150 and 300 dpi, the limits that matter, and a calculator.Beginner4 min
- RGB or CMYK for print: what to do in an RGB-only toolPrinters press in CMYK; most design tools, including this one, work in RGB. What the difference is, why sending RGB is usually right, what to say to the printer, and the three things to change in the design so the conversion goes well.Beginner4 min
- Poster design rules that work from across a roomA poster is read in three seconds from three metres. Nine rules that follow from that, with the numbers: how big the type must be, how many sizes to use, where the details go, and the two tests to run before you export.Beginner6 min
- Design a poster with no photoNo image is not a problem; it is a brief. Five ways to make a poster from type, shape, colour and texture alone, each with the Editor steps, and the rules that stop a type-only poster looking empty.Beginner6 min
- YouTube thumbnail size and the three legibility rules1280 × 720, 16:9, under 2 MB. The number is easy; the thumbnail is seen at 200 px wide, which is where most fail. Three rules with numbers, the preset, and the export settings.Beginner2 min
- How to check whether an image is big enough to printFind the pixel size, divide by the dpi you need, and you have the largest print that will look sharp. Where to find the pixel size on any device, the table for common sizes, and how to check a photo already placed in a design.Beginner2 min
- Why social images look blurry after upload, and how to export themSharp on your computer, soft on the feed. Platforms resize anything that is not their size and recompress every upload. How to give them less to damage: the right size, the right format, and the setting on your phone.Beginner2 min
- Pixelated or blurry? What each look tells you about the imageSquare blocks, soft edges, smeared patches and stripes in a gradient are four different problems with four different fixes. How to tell them apart at 100 per cent, and what to do about each.Beginner2 min
- Crop marks, trim marks and bleed marks: what each one isCrop marks and trim marks are the same thing: short lines outside the page that show where to cut. Bleed marks, registration marks and slug lines are different. Which ones a printer needs, and where Voidcanvas adds them.Beginner2 min
- Font pairing for a brand: choose by personalityPair fonts for contrast of structure and agreement of proportion, one job each. A table of free pairs that work for six brand personalities, how to test a pair, and the mistakes that make a pairing look accidental.Beginner2 min
- Design a social template system you can reuse weeklyA template system is three to five layouts, each in every format, built from the brand kit and locked where it should not move. How to design one, how to fill it in five minutes a week, and how to keep the formats in step.Intermediate2 min
- Design an Instagram carousel with boardsA carousel is a sequence: a cover that stops the scroll, slides that each make one point, and a last slide that says what to do. How to build it as boards in one design, keep it consistent, and export the slides in order.Beginner2 min
- Adapt a poster for social without squashing itA poster is tall and read from across a room; a post is 4:5 and read at arm's length on a phone. Re-lay it, do not scale it: keep the image and headline, move the details, drop the fine print, and check the safe zones.Beginner2 min
- The print handover checklistTwelve checks before a file goes to a printer, and the note to send with it. The things printers reject files for, in the order they check them.Beginner2 min
- Printing a design made in a browser tool: what the printer needsA design made in a browser can print as well as one from a desktop app, if the file is right. The four things that decide it: size and resolution, bleed, colour, and the PDF itself.Beginner2 min
- Flyer design that works: structure before decorationA flyer is picked up for two seconds and kept only if the reader finds what they need. Five parts in a fixed order, the sizes and margins that print, and three layouts that suit most flyers.Beginner2 min