What are the key skills to master when moving from digital to traditional design?

Almost certainly it’s the limitation and possibilities of ink on paper vs. screens. Your $4000 MacBook’s screen, with a zillion nits of brightness, RGD gamut, ability to zoom and pan, is nothing like paper. Your brilliant, bright neon, high contrast design full of colour and zest might not look so great projected onto tree pulp Then again, the dimensionality, smell, texture, and single purpose of paper makes it special in its own way. And what you put on that paper can also be special. If you know how to do it.

Traditional design needs to be repeatable and on brand visually and verbally. It tends to be expensive to make and timely to produce. Delivering a consistent identity is paramount. Brands are rightfully very protective of their identity. Colour reproduction is always challenging when working with different materials, viewing environments and production methods. While common in the digital environment, multiple colours and gradients are difficult to reproduce and costly to make. Familiarize yourself with the end-to-end process for the various mediums and choose colours wisely.

In my experience style is a process of evolution rather than revolution. Designers bring their personalities and tastes to any project which enhances all creativity but evolving personal style from digital to traditional needn’t be daunting. If your digital design is complex, dark, and typographically heavy your traditional design should follow suit. Likewise, if you’re a minimalist designer who loves white space your traditional design should again follow your style. The trick is to aim to work with companies and clients that share your design aesthetic.

With the many variables of traditional design time management can be challenging. With higher resolution comes a bigger file size which can slow down workflow. But in my experience, it’s the things you don’t know which make it difficult to manage your time. Building some flexibility in the process is important. That can come in the form of time or design considerations. Designers tend to want to see their ideas fully imagined but an overzealous design can easily go beyond the needs of the client and their budget.

Venerability is a key attribute of creative people. Being open and honest with team members will create an opportunity to grow, learn and contribute. Learning is lifelong and so is the process of design. Ever changing and evolving it’s the challenges that make it interesting. The secret to enjoying the process is to surround yourself in an environment that has structure and a process but is still flexible, inviting, and inclusive.

Regardless of the application or medium, allow the Design Principles to guide and influence the decisions. Contrast, balance, and proportion are universal but in traditional design what you see on screen isn’t necessarily how it is interpreted in the real world. For example, font size, viewing distances, time, and age can influence the delivery of a message. Traditional design has many variables in successfully delivering a succinct solution but approaching the problem from the perspective of the target audience reduces much of the guesswork of producing work that is effective and on-brand.