When designing there is a set of rules most designers use. What should and should be done. Sometimes these rules are Subtle like how you treat type and sometimes they are the main focus. One great example of this is not using too many fonts. You can use a font family as much as you like but having 4 or more fonts in a project can make the design look messy or confusing. The best way to use fonts in this context is to use one or two types of type families like Arial and Montserrat. The definition according to techopedia.com “A font family is a set of fonts that have a common design. Fonts within a family, however, differ from each other in style such as the weight light, normal, bold, semi-bold, etc.” (What Is a Font Family? - Definition From Techopedia, n.d.). An example of using the same font family can be the heading (an example of a heading is the biggest text/ title in a newspaper). The heading will be in bold font and have a point size larger than the other type on the page. Body copy normally is regular weight. If the article for example has a quote you could use medium or italic if the font family has the option. The same goes for colours you don't want too many colours and you don't want these colours to clash together either. One way to avoid having colours clash is to use a colour palette. You can find colour pallets in many different places like google, coolors.co , canva and color.adobe. You can download and use these just make sure these are copyright free before using them to avoid problems later on. It's well known that using someone's work is theft and isn't permitted. This also goes for photos and elements you find online. Unless you purchase the item or have permission to use the elements. A place to get free images is unsplash.com. This is a free website for photos that you can use without purchasing or giving credit although you may if you want.
The same goes for written work all type in your project should be original unless you are given consent to do so. The last do and don't is concepts. When developing a concept most designers have a process similar to thumbnail roughs semicomps and then the final concept. This is recommended to get out as many ideas as you can. During the thumbnail stage, it's ok to look at other designers' work and take inspiration but it's never ok to use their design as a base for yours. Rember it is never ok to take credit for someone else's work use to many fonts and colours and to have original ideas This is a great place to start your design career.