Principles of DesignVisual Communications

Balance

Proportion

Sequence

Emphasis

Unity

Contrast

Repetition

Alignment

Proximity

Principles of Design

It involves equalizing the weight on one side of the vertical axis with the weight on its opposite side.

Two Kinds of BalanceSymmetricalAsymmetrical

Balance

SYMMETRICAL ASYMMETRICAL

Symmetrical

Asymmetrical

The relationship between one element in relation to other elements or the relationship among elements within the design.

Proportion

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen Spoonbridge and Cherry, 1985-1988

Josef Muller-Brockmann Swiss Auto club poster 1954

It is directing your readers carefully through design Visual movement (Z-Pattern)Sequence/Order:PicturesHeadlinesBody copy (text)

Generally, the more important something is, the more likely it will sit high and to the leftProper sequence establishes rhythm.

Sequence

Unity is the relationship among visual elements that helps all elements function together. Unity gives a sense of oneness to a visual image. In other words, the words and the images work together to create meaning.

Unity

Unity helps organize a visual image, facilitating interpretation and understanding.

It involves giving a single graphic element within a page or layout a visual significance.

Every design needs a focal point..Strategies:

• Imbalance: skewing and teetering the main element, you attract attention

• Selective focus: blur background or foreground of an image

• Size: big or small

Emphasis

• Color• Isolation• Unusual shapes, uneven borders,

ragged edges• Juxtaposition - miscues• Contrast• Incongruity or transposition puts

element out of its normal context and gives it an especially unusual, ironic, sarcastic spin

If two elements are not exactly the same—make them different- Really different.

If two elements are sort of different, but not really, then you don’t have contrast, but conflict.

Contrast

You can contrast large type with small type; a thin line with thick line.

A cool color with a warm color, a smooth texture with a rough texture, a horizontal element with a vertical elements, a widely spaced lines with closely packed together, a small graphics with a large graphics.

THE PRINCIPLE: Repeat some aspects of the design throughout the entire piece.

The repetitive element may be a bold font, a thick ruler (line), a certain bullet, color, design element, particular format, spatial relationship. It can be anything that reader will visually recognize.

Repetition

Repetition can be thought of as “consistency.”

But repetition goes beyond just being naturally consistent – it is a conscious effort to unify all parts of a design.

THE PRINCIPLE: Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page.

Always find something else on the page to align with, even if the two object are physically far away from each other.

Alignment

It tells the reader that even some items are not close, they belong to the same piece.

The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphy

The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphy

The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphy

The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphy

The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphy

The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphyE O

Dotted lines indicate the use of alignments to relate forms to each other. Note the optical adjustment in relating the large O to the text

Alignments create visual relationships between forms in the layout.

THE PRINCIPLE: group related items together, move them physically close to each other, so the related items are seen as one cohesive group rather than a bunch of unrelated bits.

Proximity

Items or groups of information that are not related to each other should not be in close proximity (nearness) to the other elements, which gives the reader an instant visual clue as to the organization and content of the page.

The PURPOSE: to organize

What to avoid:

Avoid too many separate elements on a page.

Don’t stick things in the corner and in the middle.

Don’t create relationships with elements that don’t belong together!

Proximity