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.

Figure and Ground

Usually the figure is the model/product/image used on a page that the eye is immediately drawn to, as the figure defines where the emphasis should be and the 'white space', whatever colour it may be, is the background. Although it is just the space in the canvas left it can be used very cleverly as active space in terms of negative space and a lot of space due to printing costs is considered a luxury. Apple are very spacious in their advertising, which shows confidence in their brand and product and that they can afford to have a lot of ground.

Breathing space is another factor that is very important and something I always consider when designing layouts which is well done in this magazine as it is one of the most well known women's magazines.

The literal figure is Ellie Goulding, but also the text surrounding which is varied in size/typeface/colour to keep the eye bouncing between the sub headings

The figure stands out a lot in this Loreal advert due to there being a lot of active and passive white space, to keep the focus on that idea of having luxurious hair by buying one of their products.

Imagery and shape can also be used in layout to be decorative with its arrangement and negative space and to fit products on a page. It can be frowned upon to layer figures but as they are mostly pattern it works nicely.

This is a good example of using a certain size and typeface to draw the eye in, and is a very minimal but subtly femininely fitting for the article.

The models/figures fill the page really well and is a good way to arrange certain sections, in this for example the colours/textures. This magazine is about getting the information to the readers but being very visual on one side of a double page spread, and then using and filling the space with typography and detail on another. They have a decent balance of both, and enjoy using most of the white space.