The design world has been getting more exciting due to graphic designers taking more risks for their projects and clients willing to experiment to stand out from the crowd. However, clean graphic design is still an approach that is proven to work. It’s easy to dismiss the print medium in a world full of CMS built sites, WordPress hosting and social media. But print is still relevant and an integral aspect of design in general. Here are 20 examples that use clean design in print.

1. Hiring Developer

This flyer is an independently created project by a designer. It uses a strong color combination, clean outline, straightforward typography and minimal graphics to get to the point. The contrast between the black and red work really well in helping the message stand out.

2. Pay Junction

Who said infographics can only be used on the web? This designer created an infographic for a company’s brochure. The limitation with infographics for print is the amount of space that you have opposed to the web where there’s an infinite vertical length to work with. That’s why this designer created a clean, compact design that’s easy to follow, digest and understand.

3. Golden Fruit

Clean graphics doesn’t mean boring. This poster for a juice company uses simple graphic accents to bring a normal product placement ad to life. The colors and designs elevate the product and add vibrancy to grab the reader’s attention.

4. Tazo

Big brands are notorious for creating ads that are all over the place. This ad by Tazo keeps it simple with a diorama style presentation that immerses the reader into the brand’s storytelling design. 

5. Payette Brewing

This designer keeps it simple for print ad created for a small brewery. To play into the brand’s visual identity, vintage typography is used throughout the ad. To add to this effect, a simple weathered pattern is added throughout the page for an even more classic effect.

6. Emerald Nuts

Animation style design has become popular on the web, but it has always been used in print. Emerald Nuts uses a humorous animation design to create an ad that’s engaging, interesting and impactful.

7. Twentyone Creative

This is another great example of a simple design done entirely on typography. The ad uses 1950’s style typography to create a poster that advertises a printing service. A wide variety of different fonts, styles and sizes are used to emphasize different points of the ad.

8. Acid Lily

It’s important to remember that not all print projects are commercial. This particular design is an album cover for a band. There is a lot of negative space that does a great job in framing the main design which is a cassette tape that is oozing blood.

9. Sun In My Eyes

This is another print project that’s solely for the art. It is a book cover design that’s based on a traveler that cycled her way around many countries. The cover uses simple shapes but does a great job in getting your attention through its intriguing visual presentation and vibrant color.

10. Nutshell

If you think that you can’t create a great design out of using icon stock photos, think again. This poster promoting an event uses simple icons ranging from, stars, clocks, calendars, to buildings to create an attractive design. A few little edits to the icons is all you need to help them stand out.

11. Pepsi

To advertise their new product Pepsi Twist, the company uses a simple graphic design and presentation. It shows an anthropomorphic lime leaking its contents into an open Pepsi Twist bottled. It makes a great impact through its humor and to-the-point design.

12. Buffalo Trace

This full print ad for a bourbon whiskey uses an animation that’s made to resemble a realistic photo. It pairs western typography with a background that is reminiscent of old western styled paper. This ad is all about aligning the design with the brand.

13. Linked Dance Studio

This brochure advertises a dance studio located in Los Angeles, California. It uses a combination of simple colors and photos of dancers as promotion. The layout, white background and formatting are simple yet effective.

14. Multi Purpose Catalog

Designing a catalog can be challenging for many designers. But this template shows that simplicity can produce better results for clients and an easier job for designers. It uses geometric shapes of various sizes to showcase the various products and set space for the content.

15. Travel Brochure

Travel brochures don’t have to be complex. This particular one does its job by using high quality photos, a strong font and simple layouts to deliver essential information to travelers. It uses a combination of black, white and yellow to help the content and graphical icons pop on the pages.

16. Baking Leaflet

Although this leaflet is in Japanese, the way that the information is presented is simple yet creative. It uses many different layouts for each row while using a grid design to make the content easy to follow and understand.

17. Guinness

Guinness uses a simple photo panel of Einstein for an ad. Throughout the photos, Einstein maintains the same posture and expression. In the final frame, he raises his hand to indicate that he’s come up with an idea. The message in this ad is “Good things come to those who wait.”

18. Surf Rider

Surf Rider is a collection of surfing photos. To create the cover, the designer uses a simple font for the title. However, it needs something more, so a wave effect is added diagonally through the title and distorts the letters. 

19. Windy Dela Cruz

To promote her services, this graphic designer decided to come up with an unconventional CV. The center of the page features a sketch of herself and her name. Throughout the page, her credentials, traits, experience and skills are listed in various fonts and formatting. The actual design is simple but it is intensely creative.

20. Mel Gutierrez

This designer has created promotional coupons for a grocer. He does an amazing job with the design by keeping it simple. The font is very readable, emphasizes the important points well and makes sure the little details are clearly stated. If you use store coupons, you know that this is not the case with most of them.

Even if you don’t do much print work, don’t overlook these great designs. Many of the ideas and concepts can be applied to any site set up with WordPress hosting. You’ll also be able to apply these design ideas to social media posts, email promotions, paid ad campaigns, digital branding initiatives, and more.