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7 GRAPHIC DESIGN PRINCIPLES TO

UP-LEVEL YOUR

GRAPHICS

www.mariahalthoff.com

BALANCE

Each design element carries visual weight (ie. darker colors have morę visual weight than lighter colors, thicker lines have morę visual weight than thinner lines, etc.). Use this visual weight to create balance in the composition of the graphic.

SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

ASYMMETR1CAL BALANCE

PROXIMITY

Use proximity in your graphics by grouping together like items so that it is obvious to the viewer that they’re related. This also helps organize the composition while also making your graphic easier to read and digest.

HEADER1

SUB-HEADER

HEADER2    HEADER3

SUB-HEADER    SUB-HEADER

ALIGNMENT

Every design element placed in your graphic should be visually aligned to something else on the page. Whether that’s the side of the page, the edge of an image, the text that’s above it, etc. Nothing should be arbitrarily placed.

LEFT ALIGNED    CENTERED    RIGHT ALIGNED

REPETITION

Repeating certain characteristics (ie. fonts, colors, layouts, design elements, etc.) within your design will keep the design unified and cohesive. This then creates a visual theme that creates this unification and consistency. This is especially helpful when creating a brand or a series of images.

CONTRAST

lf two items are not exactly the same, make them different. And it most cases, make them really different (while still keeping them within the same visual theme, of course). This creates morę interest on the page and makes certain elements stand out among the rest.

WHITE SPACE

White space, or the lack of any design elements (ie. negative space), is your friend, so use it! The morę white space, the cleaner, morę modern, and morę organized the graphic.

HIERARCHY

Hierarchy should rank each design element by importance, creating a path for your eye to move around the graphic. Viewers will start with the most dominant feature of your graphic, then move to the next dominant, and the next until they’ve looked over the entire thing.