An American designer and writer named, Eric Carle, gave the world a different point of view towards design when he said:

We have eyes, and we're looking at stuff all the time, all day long. And I just think that whatever our eyes touch should be beautiful, tasteful, appealing, and important.

Photo: Jim Gipe For The Wall Street Journal

He clearly shows every designer the actual definition of his words in his very distinctive and remarkable children's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. What made his designs beautiful and captivated children, also appealed to parents: His design had Quality.

Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A good quality design always starts with a strong Concept & Idea. For any designer to create good work with outstanding quality, they must gain perspective on what he or she is going to create, and this comes with the responsibility of understanding not only, the needs of a client, but what the business or organisation stands represents.

Creating any graphic design is an intellectual and iterative process. After conceptualizing the idea, the designer must execute these thoughts. It's time to bring life to the inspiration!

The designer's goal is to a final design that is aesthetically pleasing where the over-all cleanliness of the design is present and retains viewer attention. To be deliver a high quality design, every designer must know (and master) the Elements & Principles of Design

Elements of Design

Line

Should my design be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or curved? Would this design be better if it had thick or thin lines?

Shape

What shape would go well with the representation? Should I make this design a circle, square, oval, or triangle? Would it be better in two-dimensional or three-dimensional?

Form

Will the style of my design be three geometric, organic, or three dimensional?

Color

What Hue, Value, or intensity would be best for this design? How about the shade, tone, and tint of prefered color?

Texture

What kind of appearance should this design have? Would it be better if it were smooth, rugged, silky, shiny, or sticky?

Space

How far or near should the images be? How can I apply positive and negative space to my design?

Value

How dark or light should the design be? Should there be more tint (adding white color) or shade (adding black color?)

Principles of Design

Contrast

Do the elements in my design highlight differences to create a focal point?

Emphasis

Is there a portion of my design that needs importance? Are my placement, contrast, size, and etc, lead to the focal point of my design?

Pattern

Is there a regular arrangement of repeated elements or structure?

Balance

Are my elements asymmetrical or symmetrical to each other? Does my design create the impression of equality?

Scale or Proportion

Is there a relationship between the elements on my design - with respect to number or size?

Harmony

Do the elements on my design come together and form a whole? Is there consistency in my design?

Rhythm

Does my design direct the movement of the eye through the artwork? Does my design lead to the focal area?

Paul Rand, the man who is responsible for the logo designs of famous companies, such as IBM, Ford, Dunhill, UPS, and many more, shares with us this thought:

A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.

Paul Rand's Logo Designs

Rands reminds every designer that the act of creation (especially logo design) generates meaning, introducing us to one of the most important factors of design: Originality. With easy access to free stock images/vectors and access to free content in websites like Shutterstock, Freepik, Pinterest, Google - the word, "Original" loses its meaning. It's okay to use these free design sites for inspiration, but to plagiarize (copy) someone else's design is not being a responsible designer. This is also applied to Generic Designs. Thanks to GT Designs, we can understand the world of overused logo designs and ensure stay honest in our work.

As graphic designers, we create representations and visuals for our clients that help bring the business's values and purpose to life. Remember design is a responsibility. As designers, we have the power to establish cultural meaning through design. Apply these 14 elements and principles of good design and be your work will stand the test of time.