Graphic design is a highly sought-after skill. Society cares
about the way things look, and there is a constant need to produce high-quality
design, whether it’s for advertisements, websites, logos, videos, banners, or
web content. You don’t need to be a pro-designer to create highly shareable
content—especially when adding design elements to photos you already have is as
easy as a couple taps on your phone. Here are eight basic design principles to
keep in mind when working with visuals and creating graphics.
1. Alignment
Alignment is an important fundamental of design, since it
helps create a sharp, ordered appearance by ensuring the elements have a
pleasing connection with each other. Aligning objects properly will clean up a
design and eliminate the messiness or sloppiness that can occur when elements
are placed randomly. In Spark Post, it’s easy to align elements in relation to
each other or to your background photo thanks to the dotted line that appears
when you move blocks of texts or shapes.
2. Hierarchy
When you have multiple elements in a design, you want to
make sure you’re giving extra weight visually to your most important message.
This is called hierarchy and it can be accomplished in a variety of ways—larger
or bolder fonts, placing your most important message physically higher than
other pieces of information, or using shapes to frame the focal point.
Utilizing this principle in your design starts with your message first and the
goals of your design.
3. Contrast
Contrast is an important principle of design because it lets
you draw out the most important elements of a design and add emphasis. Contrast
happens when two design elements are in opposition to each other, like black
and white, thick and thin, modern and traditional, etc.
4. Repetition
Repetition is an important design basic because it helps
strengthen the overall look of the design. It also ties together different
elements to help them remain organized and more consistent. Consistency and
repetition is especially important in branding because you want your particular
look to be instantly recognizable. Read about how blogger Planning Pretty uses
Spark Post to create a consistent brand with her imagery.
5. Proximity
Proximity is also helpful in creating organization on a
page, since similar or related elements should be grouped together to create a
relationship between them. Ideally you might cluster the elements together in a
way that helps to declutter the overall design.
6. Balance
Balance gives a design its form and stability and helps to
distribute the elements evenly throughout your design; this even spacing will
offer an appearance that is professional and attractive instead of being
jumbled and messy. Balance doesn’t mean elements need to be the same size, or
that they must be distributed evenly across the page — it can be symmetrical or
asymmetrical.
7. Color
Color is a significant part of design and should be
considered carefully each time you start a new design. Colors are largely
responsible for dictating the mood of a design — each color has something a
little different to say. Green tends to make people think of non-profits or the
environment, while red causes stormy emotions like anger, blue is more calming
and passive, and yellow creates a sensation of happiness. You don’t need to
study color theory to get it right—Spark Post suggests color combinations based
on the image you begin with.
8. Space
The parts of your design you choose to leave blank are just
as important as the ones you’re filling with colors, text and images. Negative
space creates shape and can help highlight the most important pieces of
information in your design. Never underestimate the power of simplicity.
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