Graphic Design: Elements of Design

I am not a graphic designer. However, having worked closely with these highly skilled and talented people, I have acquired some knowledge of their trade. Before I pass along a few concepts, do realize that to fully appreciate graphic design takes several years of schooling and plenty of hands on work in the field. Graphic designers know and understand how to effectively use visual tools to allow the user to get the most out of a given communication piece. If art and design are not your thing, I highly recommend you hire the services of a professional designer.

The Elements of Design

LINE - Line is any mark connecting two points. Many different types of lines appear everywhere. Look around you and you’ll see lines that are straight, curved, squiggly, thin, fat, and dotted.

Lines can be used to:

1. Organize information (use of tables).
2. Highlight or stress words (underline - but not ideal for the web).
3. Connect pieces of information (guides the users eye).
4. Outline a photo or set it off from other elements (use of a border).
5. Create a grid. (A grid is the underlying structure of a page.)
6. Create a chart or graph.
7. Create a pattern or rhythm by drawing many lines.
8. Direct the reader’s eye or create a sense of motion. (Create a sense of action by using a diagonal line.)
9. Suggest an emotion.

1. Crop a photo in an interesting way, such as in an oval.
2. Symbolize an idea.
3. Highlight information. You could add a screened or tinted shape to highlight important information.

1. Give a web page a mood or personality.
2. Create contrast for interest.
3. Fool the eye.
4. Provoke emotions.
5. Create a feeling of richness and depth.

1. Give the eye a visual rest.
2. Highlight an element. Put a lot of white space around something important to call attention to it.
3. Make a layout easy to follow.
4. Make type as legible as possible.

1. Show which element is the most important by making it the largest.
2. Make all elements easy to see.
3. Attract attention.
4. Contrast two elements to create interest.
5. Establish a consistent look throughout a printed publication or web page.

1. Lead the eye across a page, such as running a dark to light graded area in a background.
2. Create a pattern.
3. Give the illusion of volume and depth by adding shading to an area.
4. Make a layout dramatic with large areas of dark or light shading.
5. Emphasize an element.
6. Make objects appear to be in front of or behind each other (drop shadows).

1. Highlight important elements such as headlines and subheads.
2. Attract the eye.
3. Signal the reader where to look first.
4. Create a mood or provoke emotion.
5. Tie a layout together.
6. Organize or group elements together or isolate them.
7. Provoke emotion.

Design Problems to Avoid

Try to avoid these design problems:

Trapped white space – Avoid holes in the middle of pages. Trapped white space occurs when a hole appears between a headline and an adjacent graphic, or when an article is too short to fill the column down to the next headline. Solutions include adjusting the size of the graphic to fill the hole or adjusting the text so that the white space falls at the bottom of the column.

Claustrophobic pages – Always provide sufficient white space (breathing room) around columns of text. Claustrophobic pages result when columns of text crowd each other and the edges of a page. Solutions include increasing the size of the margins on the page and adding more white space around individual elements.

Whispering headlines – Headlines should be significantly larger, and often bolder, that the text they introduce. Gray pages result when there’s not sufficient contrast between headlines and text. Whispering headlines fail to attract attention to the text they introduce.

Similar typefaces – Strive for maximum contrast when using more than one typeface on a page or within a publication. When using different typefaces for headlines and text, go for contrast. Avoid typefaces that are similar in appearance (style, size, and weight).

Too many typefaces – Avoid a large mixture of typefaces, type sizes, and weights. Discipline yourself to use the minimum number of typefaces, type sizes, and weights necessary to organize your information and create a hierarchy of importance. Each variation in type slows the reader down.

Underlining – Underlining undermines readability. Try to use boldface type or italic type instead of underlining. More than a few underlined words cause visual clutter and confusion. Also, it takes more time for readers to separate the words from the horizontal lines.

Box-itis and rule-itis – Avoid overusing boxes and rules. Too many bordered elements on a page lead to overly compartmentalized pages. This can easily occur in newsletters if you use a box to frame each page, then add internal boxes around elements such as nameplates, mastheads, pull-quotes, sidebars, and the table of contents.) The result is a busy effect that interferes with easy reading.

Jumping horizons – Start the text the same distance from the top of the page throughout a document. Jumping horizons occur when text columns start at different locations on a page. The up and down effect is bothering to the reader and creates an unprofessional appearance.

Excessive spacing after punctuation – Avoid placing two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence. Two spaces following periods are needed for typewritten text. But in desktop-published type, the extra space creates large holes between sentences, which is especially noticeable in justified type.

Floating heads and subheads – Be sure headlines and subheads are closer to the text they introduce than to the preceding text. The impact of a heading is weakened if it isn’t immediately clear which text it belongs to.

Unequal spacing – Strive for consistent spacing between elements. Pay particular attention to the space between:

• Headlines in relation to the top and side borders and headlines and text
• Subheads and text
• Captions and artwork
• Artwork and text
• Column endings and bottom margins

Cramped logos and addresses – Sometimes a firm’s logo, address, phone number, and other buying information are difficult to read because they’re treated as if they were squeezed in with the other information. To avoid this, place the logo first and other important information on the page first, then build the document around them.

Irregularly shaped blocks of body copy – This makes type harder to read. Flush left type is the easiest to read. Lines without a consistent starting point take more time to read and may cause readers to lose their place as they read.