Basic Design Principles
- 1. Introduction to the Basic Principles of Design
- 2. Principles of Design • Are guidelines for designers. • Help us understand what looks “good” and why a design or composition seems “right”. • Helps you to explain your ideas, and why they “work”.
- 3. The Basic Principles of Design • Rhythm • Variety • Emphasis • Balance • Proportion • Harmony/Unity
- 4. Rhythm occurs when elements are repeated in a design or layout. Rhythm From Rhythm , we can get a feeling for what comes next, the same way we know how to follow the beat when we listen or dance to music. When we repeat the same shape with the same kind of placement and spacing, we call it a REGULAR RHYTHM.
- 5. In this arrangement, what would you expect to see here next? Rhythm and Patterns This expectation of what’s supposed to come next also creates a sense of PATTERN. ?
- 6. Rhythm and Patterns • Sometimes it is the unexpected that makes a pattern interesting. • By “messing” up the rhythm of the pattern, a designer can add variety or emphasis to create interest in the composition.
- 7. Variety • Variety is using difference to add interest to your design. • Playing with expectations, adding different colours, experimenting with different sizes of elements, or styles of fonts, are just some of the ways to play with variety.
- 8. Emphasis • Emphasis refers to how a graphic designer gets your attention. • It is a way of making important things stand out.
- 9. Balance • When all the elements are placed in a way the gives the impression of equal weight or “steadiness” on a page. • To help understand Balance, you first need to understand what “weight” means in the world of graphic design…
- 10. Examples of Weight • “Weight” in design means “visual weight”: • Elements can “feel” or look like insignificant, unimportant specks, or they can grab your attention with their size, line thickness or placement on the page.
- 11. In this case, the difference in size directs attention to the bigger, heavier, happy face on the right... …therefore, more visual weight in the bottom right corner than top left corner.
- 12. Two types of Balance
- 13. Symmetrical Balance Also known a Formal Balance
- 14. Asymmetrical Balance Also known as Informal Balance
- 15. Symmetrical Balance • We tend to use Symmetrical or formal balance to create stability and a “straight forward”, no nonsense approach to composition and layout.
- 16. Asymmetrical Balance • We tend to use Asymmetrical or Informal balance to create “movement” and interest in the layout, but still trying to create stability and balance in the composition.
- 17. Proportion • Proportion has to do with different sized elements and the relationship of one thing to another. • For example, something can’t be big unless there is something smaller beside it. • Working with proportions on a page, you must look at the overall composition and ask yourself, “Is this comfortable to look at, or does something seem out of place or out of balance with the rest of the page?”
- 18. Harmony/Unity • Harmony or Unity in design refers to how all the elements in the composition work together to keep it working as a “whole”.