Anqi Li — New York, USA

What mistakes or traps should young designers avoid when designing reports, brochures and catalogues? “Over-decorating or putting too much effort into making things pretty. In the early stage of my design career, most of the time I spent in an editorial project was to create tons of graphical elements. The end result was some really over-the-top designs that did not make any sense apart from looking pretty. It creates a visual burden for the viewers. Focus on the choice of images and basic typography. This is the key and, honestly, it is quite simple.”

Anqi Li is a New York-based designer and media artist. As the head of design and UX at an international non-profit organisation, she applies a user-centred, data-driven and problem-solving design approach to the advocacy work for an open and secure Internet. Some of her work can be found at the United Nations, the European Union and other international bodies.