A graphic designer’s tool kit at first glance is very basic. It is made up of elements we’ve all been taught about in pre-school: line, shape, color, etc. However, successful designers and artists use these tools in ways that appeal to their audiences with principals they’ve learned through their education and designing careers about how to make a pleasing composition that captures a viewer’s attention and draws them in. There is a fundamental set of design principles that play into every layout and can be followed or broken in order to achieve the mood and look of a piece.

Design principles to keep in mind in order to make your piece pop:

Alignment:

Alignment achieves visual connecting between elements on the page and makes it easy for the eye to see the relationship between items. This unified look can be carried over throughout an entire multi-paged publication by using a grid.  A grid is most noticed in a newspaper where the information is separated into column. A grid is the underlying structure that holds all the visual elements in place.

Balance:

Balance refers to distributing weight of the elements on the page equally. Unequal balance is unsettling to the eye while equal balance gives a sense of unity. This balance can be achieved in two different ways: symmetric and asymmetric balance. Symmetric balance is when elements are arranged equally on each side of an imaginary axis. Asymmetric balance is arranging elements by taking their size, shape, color, value into consideration when placing then on the page to create visual balance in the overall piece.

Rhythm:

Repetition of items on a page creates a pattern that creates movement from one element to another. Variations of elements can also establish rhythm.

Emphasis:

It is actually the job of the graphic designer to determine how the viewer’s eye is directed across a piece. Emphasis is arranging elements to control what the audience sees first, second, third to get the information across effectively. The focal point is the part of the design that is most emphasized and can be developed by its position on the page, size, color, texture or value.

Unity:

Unity is essential in designing printed literature to be viewed as a coordinated whole to communicate that multiple design pieces or pages go together and are part of the same magazine, packaging, organizational brochure, etc. This is achieved by using design elements consistently across all communication pieces.

Reference:

Landa, Robin. Graphic Design Solutions. 3rd ed. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning, 2006.