Graphic Design Terms Made Simple for Non Designers

When you dive into the world of DIY graphic design as a small business owner, it can feel like learning a foreign language. “What exactly is visual hierarchy? Why does everyone keep talking about kerning? And what in the world is a brandmark?!” Graphic design terms can definitely be overwhelming.

Take a breath! You don’t need a design degree to create a compelling brand identity for your small business. Understanding just a handful of key design principles can dramatically improve your visual marketing materials and help your business make a lasting impression on customers.

Let’s break down the essential graphic design terms you’ll actually use—in plain English.

Essential design building blocks: Four key design basics

Before diving into specific graphic design terminology, let’s establish the foundational design basics that make great design work. These building blocks will help you approach any design project with confidence.

1. Visual hierarchy: How people naturally read designs

Visual hierarchy is simply the arrangement of elements that guides viewers’ eyes to what’s most important. Think of it as creating a roadmap for your audience’s attention. 

Think about it: When someone glances at your business card or website, you have mere seconds to communicate what matters most. Should they remember your business name first? Your tagline? Your stunning product photo? Without a clear visual hierarchy, it’s like having a conversation where everyone’s talking at once—chaotic and ultimately forgettable.

You create a visual hierarchy through:

• Size and scale: Larger elements grab attention first
• Color and contrast: Bright or contrasting colors stand out
• Typography hierarchy: Bold or heavier fonts take on greater importance
• Space and layout: Elements placed at the top or center get noticed earlier

When you nail visual hierarchy, your marketing materials stop being passive, pretty things and start actively working to build your business—guiding potential customers exactly where you want them to go.

2. Color psychology: Using colors strategically

Most of us instinctively know that colors evoke certain emotions. Yellow feels cheerful, blue seems calming, and green brings nature to mind. But when you’re designing for your own business—something deeply personal that you’ve poured your heart into—it’s tempting to choose colors simply because you love them.

We get it: Your business is your baby, and you want your branding to resonate with you personally. Purple might be your absolute favorite, or maybe bright orange tones just speak to your soul.

But here’s the thing: ignoring color psychology fundamentals can create a disconnect between how you see your business and how your target customers perceive it. That trendy neon green might feel energetic and fresh to you, but it could send all the wrong signals if you’re running a financial advisory firm where trust and stability are paramount.

Smart business owners balance personal preference with strategic color choices that speak directly to their ideal customers. Using a color wheel can help you identify complementary and harmonious color relationships that work well together.

• 💙 Blue builds trust, reliability, and professionalism (which is why so many banks and tech companies use it)
• 💚 Green conveys growth, health, and eco-friendliness (perfect for wellness brands and sustainable products)
• ❤️ Red triggers excitement, urgency, and passion (explaining why it’s so common in food brands and sale announcements)
• 💛 Yellow radiates optimism, clarity, and warmth (ideal for creative services and children’s products)
• 💜 Purple signals luxury, creativity, and wisdom (frequently used for premium products and creative services)
• 🥶🌞 Cool colors like blues and greens tend to evoke calmness and trust, while warm colors like reds and oranges create energy and excitement.

Think of your color palette as a silent ambassador for your business—communicating your values and personality before you’ve said a single word. When your colors align with your industry expectations while still feeling authentic to your vision, you’ve struck branding gold.

3. Space and layout: Creating balanced designs

Ever walked into a cluttered store with stuff crammed into every available inch, making it impossible to focus on anything? Or maybe you’ve visited a sparse, minimalist shop where a single stunning product stands gloriously alone on a pedestal? That’s the power of space in physical environments—and it works exactly the same way in your business branding.

Small business owners can fall into the “more is more” trap. After all, you’re passionate about what you do and want to communicate EVERYTHING all at once. This can translate to cramming business cards with every service, filling website headers with multiple taglines, and squeezing as much as possible onto that Instagram post.

But here’s the counterintuitive truth: Strategic emptiness is often more powerful than fullness.

That emptiness—what designers call “white space” or “negative space”—isn’t wasted real estate. It’s purposeful breathing room that makes your important elements stand out. Think of it as the silence between notes in a beautiful piece of music—without those pauses, you’d just have noise.

Other graphic design terms of note when considering layout include:

• Alignment: When elements line up with each other (like text aligned left or centered consistently), your materials instantly look more polished. 
• Balance: Your design doesn’t need perfect symmetry, but it does need visual weight distributed thoughtfully. A lopsided business card feels unstable and unprofessional.
• Proximity: Related items should be grouped together, creating logical “information neighborhoods.” This simple principle drastically improves how quickly people can absorb your message.

When you use space and layout deliberately, your marketing materials don’t just improve in visual appearance—they work better, connecting more effectively with potential customers and setting your business apart from competitors who overlooked these fundamentals.

4. Brand elements: Building a cohesive look that tells your story

You’ll have some key decisions to make about your brand’s visual elements. Every brand has colors, fonts, and logos (with options and versions of each). But will you use photography or illustration? Both? Will you incorporate graphic design elements like shapes or patterns?

Adding these elements on a whim as you design individual assets is a recipe for a chaotic brand. Instead, decide upfront what elements belong in your brand kit.

Think about the brands you instantly recognize and trust. You can spot a Starbucks post on social media without even seeing their logo. You know an Apple product from across the room. That’s not a coincidence—it’s consistent brand elements working in perfect harmony.

For your small business, building this cohesive look doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It simply requires intentional decisions about these five key elements:

• Your logo: More than just a pretty mark, your logo is the foundation of your visual identity. It should encapsulate your business personality and create an instant connection with your target audience. Is it modern or traditional? Playful or serious? Bold or subtle? These qualities should flow through to all your other elements.
• Your color palette: Those 2-4 core colors that appear consistently everywhere your business does. Color consistency builds recognition. Choose colors that look beautiful together, communicate your brand personality, and resonate with your ideal customers.
• Your typography: The fonts you use consistently across all materials. Typography speaks volumes about your brand personality—sleek sans serifs convey modernity and minimalism, while classic serifs suggest tradition and expertise. Most importantly, your brand fonts should work together harmoniously and remain consistent everywhere.
• Your imagery style: The consistent approach to photos, illustrations, or graphics. Are your images bright and airy? Dark and moody? Minimalist? Colorful? People-focused or product-focused? This visual identity communicates your brand feeling without saying a word—and when customers see that consistent style, they instantly connect it with your business.
• Your layout principles: The way you arrange all these elements consistently. Do you prefer centered layouts or asymmetrical ones? Lots of white space or rich, full designs? Clean separation or overlapping elements? These layout decisions create a distinctive visual rhythm that customers come to recognize.

When you maintain consistency across these five elements in everything from your website to your packaging to your social media posts, something remarkable happens. Your business stops looking like a side hustle and starts looking established, trustworthy, and professional. Customers start recognizing your materials before they even see your name.

Your brand becomes a valuable asset that works for you 24/7.

💡 Pro-tip: When you design with Looka, you can access 300+ branded templates generated using your logo, brand colors, fonts, and photos. Then, you can easily create beautiful marketing materials to grow your business!

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27 graphic design terms you’ll actually use

Now that we’ve nailed down those key concepts, let’s explore the specific graphic design terms that will help you communicate about your designs—whether you’re working with a graphic designer, using a tool like Looka, or creating materials yourself.

The beauty of using Looka is that you don’t need to become a graphic design expert overnight. Our intuitive AI-powered platform handles the technical details behind the scenes, allowing you to focus on what matters most—creating a brand that resonates with your customers and brings your business vision to life. Still, understanding these fundamental terms will help you make more confident design decisions and communicate your preferences clearly.

Think of these terms as your graphic design vocabulary—the language that helps you articulate exactly what you want your brand to convey. Let’s break them down into practical categories:

Logo essentials

1. Logotype

A logo that uses just the text of your business name. Also called a “wordmark,” this style works well for businesses with distinctive names that want to build name recognition.

2. Brandmark

A logo that uses only a symbol or icon without text. Think of Apple’s apple or Twitter’s bird (RIP). Most small businesses should avoid using only a brandmark until they’ve achieved substantial recognition.

3. Combination mark

A combination logo includes both text and a symbol—the most versatile option for most small businesses.

4. Container

The shape that holds your logo elements, like a circle, square, or shield. Containers create structure and make your logo more memorable.

5. Clear space

The area around your logo that should always remain empty. This ensures your logo ‘breathes’ and maintains its impact.

Color basics

6. Color palette

The complete collection of complementary colors used consistently across your brand materials.

7. Primary colors

Your main brand colors, usually 1-2 hues that appear most prominently. For example, Coca-Cola is red and white.

8. Secondary colors

Supporting colors that complement your primary colors and provide variety.

9. Hex code

A six-digit code (like #FF5733) that specifies an exact color for digital use. Using hex codes ensures color consistency across digital platforms.

10. Pantone (PMS)

A standardized color-matching system used in printing to ensure color accuracy. The Pantone matching system is important when printing business cards, packaging, or signage. Pantone also releases a yearly color prediction. 

11. RGB vs. CMYK

Two different color models for different purposes:

• RGB (Red, Green, Blue): The color system used for digital displays where colors are created by mixing light. Your website, social media, and anything viewed on screens use RGB.
• CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black): The color system used in printing where colors are created by mixing inks. Your business cards, brochures, and signage use CMYK.

Colors often appear brighter on screen (RGB) than in print (CMYK), so your beautiful digital logo might look different if not properly converted between these color systems.

Typography fundamentals

12. Typography

The art of arranging type to make written language legible and visually appealing.

13. Typeface vs. font

A typeface is the design of the letters (like Helvetica), while a font is a specific variation of that typeface (like Helvetica Bold 12pt).

14. Serif typeface

Fonts with small decorative lines at the ends of characters. They convey tradition, reliability, and formality.

15. Sans-serif typeface

Fonts without those decorative lines you see in serif fonts. Sans serif fonts appear more modern, clean, and straightforward.

16. Script typeface

Script fonts mimic handwriting or calligraphy and add elegance or personality to a design.

17. Font pairing

The strategic combination of complementary fonts that work well together (usually a serif with a sans-serif or a bold heading font with a readable body font).

18. Kerning

The space between individual letter pairs—can be adjusted to create visually pleasing text.

19. Leading

The vertical space between lines of text—this is crucial for readability.

20. Tracking

The uniform spacing between all characters in a selection of text.

21. Horizontal space

The distance between characters and elements in your design that creates breathing room and improves readability. Proper horizontal space ensures your text doesn’t feel cramped or too spread out, allowing your audience to process information more easily.

Layout principles

22. Contrast

The difference between elements (light/dark, large/small, etc.) that creates visual interest and emphasis. High contrast also promotes readability and accessibility.

23. Repetition

Using the same elements throughout a design to create unity and recognition.

24. Alignment

How text and graphic elements line up with each other, creating order and structure.

25. Proximity

Placing related items close together to show their relationship.

26. Rule of thirds

Dividing your design into a 3×3 grid and placing key elements along those lines for balanced, engaging compositions.

27. Aspect ratio

The proportional relationship between width and height of an image or design (like 16:9 for widescreen or 1:1 for square social media posts).

Advanced graphic design terms: Taking your branding knowledge to the next level

If you’ve wrapped your arms around all the previous graphic design terms, you’re already ahead of the pack! Honestly, those foundational definitions will more than set you up for success when branding and maintaining consistency across your business collateral.

But if you’re ready for the final boss, here are some more advanced design terms that can help you communicate like a pro when working with designers or exploring more sophisticated branding elements.

Think of these as your “next step” vocabulary— graphic design terms that might come in handy as your business grows and your branding needs become more complex. Don’t feel pressured to learn them all! Awareness of these concepts puts you miles ahead of most small business owners.

Print design terms

Bleed

That extra image area that extends beyond where your design will be trimmed. When you see those crop marks on a proof, the bleed ensures your colors or images reach all the way to the edge after cutting—no awkward white borders!

CMYK

The color model used in printing (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). Unlike your computer screen, which creates colors with light, printed materials create colors by layering these four ink colors in different combinations.

Resolution

The clarity and detail of an image, measured in dots per inch (DPI) for print. Higher DPI means sharper images. While 72 DPI works fine for websites, you’ll want at least 300 DPI for professional printing to avoid that fuzzy, pixelated look.

Vector vs. raster

Two fundamentally different types of digital images:

• Vector graphics (like your logo) use mathematical formulas to create shapes, often saved as scalable vector graphics (SVG) files, that can be resized to any dimension without losing quality—perfect for everything from business cards to billboards.
• Raster images (like photographs) use pixels that become visible when enlarged too much, creating that blocky, blurry effect.

Foil

That eye-catching metallic finish applied to printed materials for a premium look. Think gold foil on business cards or silver foil on packaging—it instantly elevates your brand’s perceived value.

Digital design terms

RGB

The color model used in digital displays (Red, Green, Blue), where colors are created by mixing different intensities of light rather than ink. This is why colors often appear brighter on screen than in print.

Responsive design

Layouts that automatically adjust to different screen sizes and devices are critical in today’s world, where customers might view your brand on phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.

Transparent background

Images with no background (typically PNG files) can seamlessly overlay other elements. For example, a transparent logo can sit on top of different-colored backgrounds or photos without that awkward white box around it. 

Pixel

The smallest unit of a digital image or display—those tiny colored dots that make up everything you see on screen. Understanding pixels helps you create graphics that look crisp rather than fuzzy.

Gradient

A gradual transition between two or more colors, adding depth and dimension. Think of Instagram’s iconic logo with its sunset-like blend of colors—that’s a gradient creating visual interest.

Opacity

The degree of transparency in a design element, ranging from fully visible (100% opacity) to invisible (0% opacity). Adjusting opacity lets you create subtle overlays and interesting visual effects.

Industry terminology

Mood board

A collection of images, colors, textures, and typography that communicates the intended feeling of your brand. It’s like a visual brainstorm that helps align everyone’s vision before detailed design begins.

Style guide

A comprehensive document outlining exactly how your brand elements should be used across all applications. Think of it as the rulebook ensuring your brand remains consistent no matter who creates materials.

Mockup

A realistic visualization showing how your design will look in the real world—like your logo on a storefront sign, product packaging, or company vehicle. Mockups help you envision the final result before investing in production.

Wireframe

A basic outline or skeleton of a website or app layout, focusing on structure and user experience rather than visual details. It’s like the blueprint before construction begins.

Information architecture

How content is organized and presented to users. This is especially important for websites and apps. Good information architecture ensures people can find what they need quickly and intuitively.

🧠Remember: The goal isn’t to become a walking design dictionary but to understand enough terminology to communicate effectively about your brand and make informed decisions that help your business stand out.

Start with success: How Looka sets you up for design excellence

Let’s be honest: Learning all these design terms and principles can feel overwhelming! But here’s the good news: You don’t have to become a design expert overnight to create professional, polished branding. Just use Looka!

Smart business owners start with Looka

When you’re building your brand, every design decision matters. That’s why we’ve baked professional design principles right into every Looka tool, giving you a head start on creating materials that shine:

Logo maker

• Automatically suggests color combinations based on proven color theory
• Offers font pairings that professional designers swear by
• Creates balanced layouts that guide the eye naturally
• Ensures your logo looks great at any size

Our Brand Kit

• Maintains consistent visual identity across all materials
• Provides perfectly matched color palettes
• Keeps typography consistent and professional
• Includes pre-designed social media templates

Our templates

• Feature built-in visual hierarchy that commands attention
• Use strategic white space to let designs breathe
• Include professional contrast ratios for readability
• Maintain proper spacing and alignment automatically

Customize with confidence

Starting with Looka doesn’t mean sacrificing creativity! You can:

• Experiment with colors while maintaining proven combinations
• Try different fonts that work harmoniously together
• Adjust layouts while keeping professional balance
• Make the design yours while retaining expert polish

Your design journey starts here

Think of Looka as your AI design co-pilot. We handle the complex design principles in the background, freeing you to focus on what matters most – making your brand uniquely yours. Our tools combine the best of both worlds:

• Professional design principles built right in
• Creative freedom to make it your own
• Time-saving templates and features
• Consistent, polished results every time

Ready to create designs that capture attention and build trust? Let Looka’s built-in design expertise do the heavy lifting while you focus on growing your business!