Design decisions, not design taste
~6 minYou will touch design work
Most of the work you do is not design. But a lot of it lands in front of someone's eyes: a slide deck for a board meeting, a one page summary, a formatted proposal, a simple social graphic, a cleaned up report. Nobody is asking you to be a designer. They are asking for work that does not look broken. Broken means the title collides with the logo, three fonts fight each other, the photo is stretched, the colours are almost the brand colours. A client rarely writes that down as a complaint. They just stop trusting the file. This course gives you enough judgement to avoid that, and to explain your choices when someone asks why you did it that way.
Four decisions, every time
Almost everything that reads as good design comes from four decisions. What should be seen first, and is it clearly bigger or bolder than the rest. What lines up with what, and are there fewer edges than you started with. What stands apart enough to be read without effort. How much empty space sits between things, and is it consistent. That is hierarchy, alignment, contrast and spacing. You can apply all four without knowing any theory, without taste, and without an eye. When a layout feels wrong and you cannot say why, walk the four questions in order. In our experience one of them is always the answer, and it is usually spacing.
Read the brief before opening Canva
Before you touch a tool, get four things from the brief. Where does this end up: a printed page, a phone screen, a projector, an email. What exact size or aspect ratio that destination needs. Which brand assets exist: a logo file, hex codes, named fonts, an existing template. What done looks like, and by when. If something is missing, do not invent it quietly. On a AfterDesk task you never contact the client, so we are the route: state the gap and the assumption you made in the note you send with your delivery. A named assumption is easy for us to correct. A silent one turns into a revision.
What never leaves the task
Client material is theirs, not yours. Their logo files, photos, customer lists and unpublished documents stay inside the task. Do not upload them to a free online converter, an image enhancer, an AI tool or your personal drive to make life easier. Those services keep copies, and you cannot promise what happens next. Use the tools the brief allows, work in your own account, and when the task is approved, delete the working files. You also do not keep the finished piece as a portfolio sample, even a beautiful one, and even with the name blurred. If you want work to show, build your own practice pieces with your own content. That is what this course is designed to help you do.
Remember
- Nobody expects a designer. They expect a file that does not look broken.
- Hierarchy, alignment, contrast, spacing. Four questions answer almost every layout problem.
- Get destination, size, brand assets and deadline before opening any tool.
- Name your assumptions in the delivery note instead of guessing silently.
- Client files never leave the task, and finished client work is not your portfolio.