Do you know your design principles?
Before a child can run, he would have to walk first. Before that, he would learn to crawl and before that, he must have learnt how to sit, right?
Those are the principles surrounding a child’s ability to run.
Just like everything in life, principles are our guide to creating good designs too. Take for instance the picture above, if you are to judge by looking at both images, which is easier on the eyes? Sure it is the one on the left. That, in a nutshell, is the importance of following the principles of designs.
For those of you still confused about what principles of design mean, they are simply the way a designer or an artist put elements of design to create visually pleasing things and optimises the user’s experience. Before a design could be said to be good or bad, it must have or lack some things, some of these things are basic elements of designs which are;
Line, Shape, Form, Texture and Balance.
Let’s take them one at a time.
Line is a shape that connects two or more points, they can be fat or thin, wavy or jagged. They appear frequently in design especially in illustration and drawings and graphic elements like texture and pattern. They can be used for emphasis, division or organization of content. Width, colour, texture and style should be paid more attention when working with lines.
Shape is a 2-dimensional area with recognisable boundary. Shapes fall in 2 categories; geometry/regular and organic. Shapes give images heft and make it recognisable. They help create simple illustrations, they also add interest to work. Imagine a big circle surrounded by small triangles with two little circles inside the big circle then a semicircle just below the small circles. If that mental image is not a smiling sun, I don’t know what else it could be. Symbols, signs and abstract drawings are understood because of shape.
Forms are 3D shape. They can be dimensional and exist in the real world and they can be implied by using shadow, light and perspective to create the illusion of depth.
Texture is the physical quality of a surface, It can also be 3D or implied. it makes great background images and commands a lot of interest to your work.
Balance is the equal distribution of visual rates. It is how much anything attracts the viewer’s eyes. It can be affected by many things; colour, size, number and negative space. It can be symmetrical or asymmetrical.
These elements have to be merged before that can be appealing to the eyes, the process involved in doing that is where the principles come in.
Images; before readers or viewers go through your work, images are the hooks that get them glued to your work. Images can be drawn from lines and even shapes.
Colour; it plays a vital role in designs. It could draw your eyes to an image. evoke a certain mood or emotion, even communicate something important without using words at all. Why do you think the traffic lights are only represented by colours?
Layout and composition; in a way, we could say they are the foundation of design. They give your work structure and make it easier to navigate. Here is where we have;
Proximity — it is about using visual space to show relationships in the contents.
White space — is the spaces between contents.
Alignment — this is to show how your contents are arranged.
Contrast — this shows the difference between contents.
Hierarchy — it is used to help readers navigate your work (what to read first and where to go next).
Repetition — it is used to reinforce designs and to create consistent look and feel.
Every piece of design work is made up of design elements and design principles. When the principles are combined and used correctly, a design commands attention and is hard to ignore. The design guides your eye through the story, keeping you visually entertained and engaged.
