Creative design terms explained
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Renee Garcia • March 4, 2025
A reference guide to understand the language I use and the deliverables we can create together
Carefully crafted list of simplified definitions for words I use on a daily basis as a creative designer. They are familiar to me, but I understand that they might be new to you. I am constantly adding to this list as I have conversations with clients and associates.
Advertising: getting your product or service in front of more eyes, so you can make more sales.
Branding: how you make people feel when they interact with you or your product.
Brand Guidelines (also know as "Brand Standards"): a comprehensive document that defines your brand foundations and visual guidelines to help you make the right impact and show up consistently for your customers, so you can build trust and increase brand recognition.
Brand strategy: the foundation of your brand that includes: your vision, mission, values, ideal customer, positioning and more. Helps you get clear on how you want your clients / customers to feel when they encounter your brand in the wild, so you can craft a plan to make the right impression with them.
CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black—the colors used to build printed colors.
Connection Chat: my version of a discovery call. This is where we talk through your needs, project details, and any questions that you might have before we work together. Helps us both determine whether or not we are a good fit to work together.
Favicon: that tiny version of your logo that shows up on the tab of a new web page.
Font:
a specific design style within a typeface.
Logo family: the set of logos that are created so you can place it on a wide range of spaces with ease. They make your logo more versatile and scalable.
Logo: an identifying mark that represents a business or organization.
Logomark: the simplest version of your logo (they don't often include text).
Marketing: building a name for yourself and better understanding your customers, so you can show up in the right places.
Pixel: the squares that make up an image; can be seen when you zoom into a photo or png file. Quality is negatively impacted when you drastically change their size.
Primary logo: the main layout of your logo that is used as long as there is enough available space.
RGB: Red, Green, Blue—the colors of light used to create colors on screens.
Styleguide: a visual reference sheet that allows you to keep your visual identity consistent throughout every touchpoint.
Touchpoint: places your brand shows up in front of its customers; can include apparel, social media, packaging, merchandise, advertising and more.
Typeface: the entire collection of font styles (heavy, bold, italic, light, etc).
Vector:
artwork that can be scaled up and down infinitely, while keeping crisp edges and retaining quality.
I hope this reference makes branding and creative design feel more approachable. There are a lot of fancy terms that are thrown around that can make the topic feel intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Still don't understand a lot of terms on this list? That's okay, I'll help you along the way. This is my area of expertise and you have your own zone of genius that you'll be teaching me about.
Don't agree with one of my definitions? Let's talk about it, I'm always learning and growing.
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