In an earlier post, I talked about the fact that every person is an artist. However, notice that I didn’t say that every person is a designer. But, it’s just because they haven’t learned yet.

See, good design is a skill that can be learned. While some are more naturally inclined to good design than others, you can learn the basics of space and type-faces and color–enough to make a big difference in the way you present press kits, blogs, resumes, reports, powerpoints and portfolios.

Here are few things to consider for your next project.

PERSONALITY: Your project has a personality. Figure out what that is from a design standpoint before you implement.

COLOR: Loud colors are not always the colors that get noticed.

TYPE-FACE: Again, something subtle may be what really grabs attention.

ORIGINALITY: You could print your resume on white paper with your name at the top, but so can everyone else. Even changing up the paper stock or paper size can be the difference between blending in and standing out.

Now get out there are start being inspired. And if you’re a crafty kind of person, you have to check out DIY: Design it Yourself. This book is very much worth buying.

Do you know what The Long Tail is? The phrase was coined by Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine. It refers to a statistical graph showing items that are out of the mainstream, yet because of the internet, they are popular enough to be sustainable. It looks like this:

That portion on the right refers to the stuff that most people don’t care about, but quite a few do. For instance, if I know a lot about model airplanes, I don’t have to write about something that’s interesting to everyone. I just have to be the expert on model airplanes. If I can get enough search engine optimization and creative appeal in my area of expertise, I can gain sufficient exposure that way. The trick is getting press and inbound links. Why would someone link to you instead of another place? It might be because you have tons of data on the topic and you’re seen as an expert right away. But maybe not.

Another good way to to differentiate yourself in the professional world is through your story. Nobody else has the same story. It’s the thing that makes you unique. If you can carefully craft your story, you can get a lot of free advertising. Actually, people call it an earned media opportunity when it’s a press release.

Think about it, you can start your model airplane business and attract people who are into model airplanes, but what if your love for model airplanes has to do with your 10 years of working on F16’s in the military? That’s much more interesting and the story practically writes itself for a newspaper columnist or TV reporter.

Everyone has a story and when you can write a biography that captures the imagination of the press, you’re on your way to getting noticed by a larger public. And, that larger public will have significantly more people who are all about model airplanes than your circle of friends.