Introducing the CRAP Design Principles
- 1. the four basic principles of design CONTRAST, REPETITION, ALIGNMENT & PROXIMITYCRAP for short
- 2. It's important to understand is that if you can get these four principles under your belt, then over time you’ll develop a feel for why something doesn’t work, and you’ll identify that really, really fast. CRAP
- 3. C is for Contrast Make your elements different to increase understanding CRAP
- 4. Contrast is all about making things stand out You make things stand out by making sure they look different from other elements on the page. You do this to ensure your users know where to look first, second, third, and last. CRAP
- 5. CRAP Weak vs Strong Contrast Step away from your design. Good contrast is easy to spot from a distance.
- 6. Light and Dark elements Just a bit of Colour creates impact Large Text gets noticed first CRAP
- 7. R is for Repetition Repeating visual elements to create strong unity . CRAP
- 8. CRAP Repetition is about recognition and rhythm By using consistent fonts, type sizes and graphical elements throughout your work, give a sense of unity that makes it easier for the reader to understand your design.
- 9. CRAP Even though this designer uses different images on each page, they keep a sense of unity by using the same type of fonts and same red box throughout.
- 10. CRAP
- 11. CRAP Alignment is about purposeful placement The whole point of the alignment principle is that nothing in your slide design should look as if it were placed there randomly. Elements should be connected with the rest by some invisible line.
- 12. CRAP By adhering to the principles of alignment, you can keep your design united into one coherent piece.
- 13. Place related elements togeth CRAP
- 14. CRAP Proximity is used to separate & group elements Proximity is the quickest way to relate similar content or distinguish one group of content from another. Objects that are close in proximity are often associated with each other.
- 15. CRAP In this poster design, the artists places the related items closer together, like the actors at the top left, the title in the bottom middle, and the lesser important information along the bottom of the poster.
Editor's Notes
- #2: Today we will be looking at the four basic principles of design known as Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity, or the acronym CRAP for short.
- #3: Did you ever try to make something look nice and just went by instinct? Deep down everyone can appreciate something that looks good but not many can explain why it looks good. This class is going to look at some basic design principles that once you learn them, you’ll develop a feel for why something doesn’t work, and you’ll identify that really fast.
- #4: Now the C stands for Contrast. Contrast simply means difference. It means giving your work impact and making it so people notice a difference to interest them in the work. It could mean using a large image, large text, a vibrant colour, darkness, or even a different text font.
- #5: Contrast is what we notice, and it’s what gives a design its energy. Making use of contrast, you can inform the viewer what item is clearly the dominant item, and which ones are less important. If all items are of equal or similar manner with weak contrast then the viewer will not know where to begin. Let’s take a look at some examples.
- #6: One of the best ways to tell if there’s enough contrast in your design, is to do what’s called a “Floor Test”. Place your document on the ground below you and stand up and look at it. Can you see the important parts right away? Is the contrast obvious? In the above examples, you can see that the left side is very hard to read from a distance, while the one on the right is much more dramatic. When you create your projects, you need to be sure that the reader sees immediately what you are trying to tell.