Principles of Design

Rhythm Rhythm is how the eye moves throughout the composition; leading the attention from one aspect to another. This can be achieved by using repeating or alternating elements or patterns. How often something repeats and the intensity of its contrast creates rhythm. What exactly  is  a tessellation? Tessellations are patterns resulting from arranging, or tiling, shapes without any gaps. They can be made by positioning the same shape with one of these three operations: translation rotation reflection Translation can be thought of as sliding the shape along a plane. This is the type of tessellation you can make easily with a sticky note. Rotation tessellations are accomplished by rotating the tessellated shape. Reflection tessellations are mirrored. You can also create complex tessellations by combining multiple operations.

 Emphasis Emphasis is a strategy to get the viewer’s attention to a specific design element. This can be in any form: a button, a website, or an image. The purpose is to create something that will stand out from the rest of the page. You can use different elements to highlight a specific part of your design, like lines, color, positive/negative relationships, and many more. As long as you can create contrast, either with elements or color, you’ll be creating emphasis.  Lines create direction on a page by pointing to specific elements that help the viewer’s eyes know where to go.  Shapes can also draw attention. Using a group of similar shapes and breaking the group with a different shape will create tension and draw the eyes.  Color can create an emphasis in any design. Buttons on a website tend to contrast with the background to create a sense of urgency and attention. Texture can be seen in materials to enhance tactile features. For instance, a business card ca...

Balance Sometime it makes sense to go deep in details of design that we are doing. Because design nowadays is more how it feels whether how it looks and small minor things matter a lot. We can form the whole concept of what kind of feelings people get from a design we create. One of these details is a balance that people usually do not see but they feel it and I want to highlight this topic here. Balance is equal to visual weight in a design. Our eyes require the visual weight to be equal on the two sides of a visual area. The most obvious way to achieve a balance is to create a symmetry. Symmetrical balance Symmetrical balance usually can be achieved through repetition on both sides of an imaginable axis in the center. Asymmetrical balance While symmetry achieves balance through repetition, asymmetry achieves balance through contrast. Asymmetrical, or informal balance, involves different elements that have equal visual weight. The weight is equal but the elements are not identical. In...