Design Principles Balance Study Task

In this session we discussed in groups our personal interpretations of elements of graphic design that apply to layout. These involved

Elements on a page are typically followed religiously (unless you're a Carson type, which I find looks visually interesting and is quite refreshing), such as:

Ratios- People apply theories or become really intrigued of ratios such as Fibonaccis golden rule which has been seen to apply to the most successful designs usually associated with an aura/mystery such as the Mona Lisa.

Legibility- Designers like David Carson can work against this or it can be opposed in pieces that are just meant to be visually interesting and for artistic purposes, however for a publication to be at its full success/communicate the info to the masses/sellable legibility is one of the most important elements.

Typeface- Typeface can subconsciously communicate to our emotive interpretation of what we are reading, the size/font/kerning/bold/italics etc, and this is usually thought out imperatively by the designer and type is carefully chosen as we are learning currently.

Colour- Colours have to be considered in terms of how the colours used work/affect each other, for example it is quite popular to choose two contrasting colours on the colour wheel to get full contrast against each other which is helpful if you are stuck on colour choice, and it usually makes the text strongly legible. Tones and hues are important to consider as some shades of colours are well known to not be readable. According to a person in my group 'there are no ugly colours, only ugly colour combinations!'

Grids/alignment- The balance of weight is a fool proof way to get a good design layout and is aesthetically pleasing to designers such as ourselves. Having grids, that come in many variations, can help inform our design decisions and make a stale design look a lot better and give it some order which looks more professional.

Figure and Ground/Hierarchy- Doesn't always refer to a human figure like on magazine covers, it is titles and text that is designed to contrast and catch the eye against the background. White/breathing space is also important to consider. its all balance.