Do you ever get hung up on designing an email, social media post, or web page? Something doesn’t look quite right? Try these four principles of design for your next project and watch your design come together!
Contrast
Implementing contrasting elements is important for legibility and the hierarchy of your information. The goal is to make your content as easy to read as possible, without making your reader fight to see content clearly. Try using dark text on light backgrounds and vice versa, larger text in headings with smaller text in paragraphs and use complimentary colors.
Alignment
Creating neat paragraphs not only gives your design a uniform look, but it also helps your reader focus more on the purpose of your content. Rather than getting distracted trying to make sense of the layout, a clean design eliminates any distraction for your viewers, ultimately making your designs more effective.
Repetition
It’s important to create a cohesive design throughout your website. As a general rule, all of your headings, paragraphs, and decorative text should maintain the same sizing and color on each page of your website. The heading on the homepage should be the same size as the heading on your about page. In addition to maintaining text formatting, good repetition also looks like using the same elements for bulleted lists and implementing a graphic theme that carries across multiple pages.
Proximity
When proximity is done right, it eliminates confusion by bringing context to your design. Headings should be close in proximity to paragraphs. And images should be relevant to their conjoining text. Similarly, creating an appropriate amount of white space gives your design space to breath and visually cues your audience that you are moving on to a new topic.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you’re ready to conquer your designs!
Using these principles will bring uniformity, structure, and professionalism to your designs.
Using these principles will bring uniformity, structure, and professionalism to your designs.