Layout Tips
Practice Makes Perfect
It true! I mean one day you not going to open photoshop or whatever photo-editing program you have and be able to do all this cool stuff. It's a matter of finding out what works for you and reading tutorials and such to make your graphics look professional. It took me about a year just to get where I am now, and I am still learning lots of new stuff every time I open photoshop.
Think Outside the Box
You will never improve your graphics if you constantly do the same thing all the time. Try experimenting with something, and if you like it keep it and improve your skills. And if you are not to fond of it you can always scrap it and start on something. I would never improved if I didn't want to step outside my comfort zone once-in-awhile. Also try finding some idols in graphic design that will inspire you to try new stuff. But try not to copy their work because it would boring to find carbon copies of everything, make it your own.
Quality Over Quanity
Make sure you are getting good quality pictures and make sure your put 110% effort in your work. Because it is easy to tell if someone spent lots of time on something and it looks wonderful over someone that spent hardly anytime at all in something. Grainy images can ruin a really good layout or graphic. It takes some searching for pictures but you can find them if you try hard enough!
Erase, Erase, Erase
Believe me the eraser is your friend when it comes to blending images and making three images look like one whole one. You want to refrain from hard edges as much as possible and make sure that the graphic is free-flowing, think of water...
Know Your Program!
Sure it's cool if you have a super nifty new-improved photoshop and such, but if you don't understand how everything works it will still look like you are working on paint! If you need to take a class on photoshop which will explain the basic go ahead. Or reading tutorials on deviantart or anywhere you find them are helpful.
Refrain From the Overused
Okay so you are getting better at graphics and such. But it's really boring to find the same exact thing everywhere else! Using the same images or brushes over and over again gets boring, and you can't define yourself from your affiliates. What I do is check my affliates work, see what they have, admire it, and then go do my own thing. I try to find different photoshoots to use or some cool little brush site that no one else has heard of but just the stuff I have been looking for. You can even make your own brushes and such if you have the right materials.