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Visual Hierarchy

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Balance

When I think of balance in my design, I am reminded of architecture. If the page I am designing were a building, would it stay upright? Sometimes, the building's construction would be quite precarious, but on the page, the design is visually pleasing.

Balance doesn't mean boring. Balance can be intentionally asymmetrical to add interest.

Rhythm

Designers often refer to rhythm. They are referring to how the eye flows across the design. Rhythm can be achieved with type size, colour, positioning and much more. We want to avoid locating design elements in a way which will be jarring. In a way which will arrest the eye part way through the design. We read from top left to bottom right. The eye should be lead across the page that way to obtain a rhythmic design.

I can hear the devil's advocates out there thinking "What if I want my design to be jarring?". "What if I want it to shock?" That's fine. You can obtain that result with the a more jarring rhythm. We're talking about Rob Zombie compared to Madonna. They both have rhythm, one is just more bumpy than the other.

Proportion

Proportion tells the viewer what has visual priority on the page and what has less. This is where you can use your skill to emphasize certain elements with more than just size. There are many other methods at your disposal to increase or decrease focus on an item.

Dominance

Dominant objects are usually bigger or brighter. If you have no dominant elements, your design will tend to lack variety and rhythm.

Unity

Unity in your designs is essential. Unity is the glue that holds everything together. Even in the most chaotic designs, there is unity. It can be found in colour, texture, type, size, shape and much, much more.

Typographic Hierarchy

Typographic hierarchy goes beyond big headlines and small body copy. With strong hierarchy, you should attain rich page colour. The result is also better organization of information. The eye can travel the page and distinguish between areas with ease.

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Asssignment #1

• Design nine cards on the provided template.
• Keep a white background, except for one card
• Preserve black text + one colour
• Use only one font family throughout the nine.

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Asssignment #2

• Download the provided InDesign file
• Use only the provided elements on the page to design three different layouts in one document which have hierarchy, rhythm and balance.

You are permitted to:

• re-size the text frames.
• re-position elements on the page.
• re-size grey boxes (the three similar ones are photo placeholders, so don't make them any smaller).

You are NOT permitted to:

• delete text
• add elements
• change font or font size
• change colour