Here's how you can enhance your creative skills in visual design and aesthetics for media sales.

Yes, Yes, all of this, absolutely! BUT... don't be afraid try something that breaks these rules, if it seems appropriate. Go farther. Take a few extra steps outside the rules of color, typography, and design. You may have to walk back and fine tune, but sometimes great design happens when you don't expect it to.

All of these are great for creating exactly what others have done but you’re not bringing anything new or inventive to the table by following the standards. Do what works for you and explore it. Create your own style and own it. A couple years ago I was on a movie and the camera department coined the phrase “fu$& rules, take risks”. If you’re a creative in any capacity, take risks and don’t become stagnant in whatever you’re creating.

I learned recently when I had created a piece of art that I then had to turn that art into the logo for the company that there are a different set of eyes needed to make that change. Part of you the artist part want to maintain the integrity and the feeling that the image brings out in you while at the same time you have to take that same image and make it easier to “see” to build it as something that could end up on a tee-shirt to accept it as a marketing tool. It’s hard work finding the point where those worlds intersect without overtaking one another without one existence making the others’ history seem cheap or lessor then.

Just out of college, I used to practice visual balance and layout in real life. Example: On the dark wood bar top, two cocktails, two square, light colored napkins, two red stir straws, a matchbook, and a melting ice cube. Find the frame, create balance, hierarchy and mood. Like a puzzle that can be assembled many ways.

With a camera in my pocket at all times, there's really no reason not to keep references of good type, solid design, or color combinations. I have a folder on my computer filled with these, and when starting a new job, often I will visit the folder to find inspiration.

I have a camera with me at all times because I find inspiration in every corner of my day to day sometimes I with just feel compelled to photograph a door jam or I end up seeing something in the traffic pattern and end up jumping into the middle of the street to capture that look and it’s one of my favorite images 8 years later. If you can remain open enough to keep seeing the world as it unfolds in front of you and absorb it freshly every day that’s a big thing.

I agree, it's important to know how to use the tools of the trade. But I also think it's important to be familiar with the tools that came before that. Explore the rich textures of charcoal or pencil, the organics of ink applied with a sumi brush, or even a pointy stick. Get some old newspapers and magazines, find blocks of typography and use them to create a layout, as if it were lorem impsum. I often start with these, photograph or scan in, to use in my design.

This is, hands-down, the thing that I miss most about art school. I still have a core group of creatives who I'm glad to call some of my dearest friends, who I can engage in true and honest dialog and criticism. It's integral to the process.