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3 Basic Principles Of Graphic Design To Help Improve Your Content Presentation
Graphic design is an in-demand skill, required by all industries. Society is concerned with the appearance of things, and there is an ongoing demand for high-quality design, whether for ads, websites, logos, films, banners, or digital content. You do not have to be a professional designer to generate highly shareable content—especially when adding design elements to existing pictures is as simple as a few taps on your phone.
Nonetheless, sleek tools are only one piece of the problem; you must also acquire an eye for which design choices enhance your work and which ones distract from your message. There are three fundamental design concepts to remember while working with visuals and designing graphics, along with templates to get you started. Design! Simply tap to begin creating!
1. Hierarchy
When designing with many visual elements, you want to ensure that your most essential statement receives additional visual weight. This is called hierarchy, and it can be achieved in a variety of ways—by using larger or bolder fonts, physically elevating your most essential message above other bits of information, or framing the core point with forms.
Utilising this essential design concept begins with your message and the design’s objectives. Determine the most critical piece of information first. Then make that your design’s primary focus. How can you determine if you have created the proper visual hierarchy? Squint when seeing your design. Is your most critical message easily readable? Are you still unsure? As a test, have someone unfamiliar with the topic determine which piece of information they read first and which information they read second.
Principals of Visual Hierarchy
There are other visual hierarchy concepts, but these are the ones we always want to integrate. For all you rule-breakers out there, these are some that you might want to adhere to.
Dimensions & Scale
The larger an element is, the more attention it attracts, which signals to the reader that the thing is significant. That is why the largest element inside the design should be the headlines or calls-to-action you want to be read first. Thus, body copy and supporting information come next and should be scaled down.
Contrast + Colours
Another no-brainer is that vibrant colours stand out more than subtle hues. The lighter colours seem more subdued and so rank lower in the hierarchy. Utilizing a single bold hue amid muted colours effectively reinforces the visual hierarchy, especially for tiny components like buttons or links.
Lines of Influence
Being aware of leading lines and utilising them effectively may assist enhance the flow of your designs and naturally direct the consumers’ attention to the desired location. Using linear components in your designs is another way to organise your material and direct the visitor with purpose.
Spacing
The contentious design feature that designers adore but customers typically dismiss. Ample white space (or empty space) is a straightforward yet critical technique for drawing attention to and emphasising your most important information. Without a well-balanced visual hierarchy, the visual hierarchy can become confused and lose its effect.
What Is the Importance of Visual Hierarchy in Design?
Visual hierarchy does not require you to be a graphic designer to appreciate it. Even if you have never studied the phrase, you will recognise it upon seeing it. It is all around you.
The term “visual hierarchy” refers to the way elements are organised and presented within a composition.
In graphic design, visual hierarchy is critical because it establishes the relative significance and sequence of components within a composition. It affects how your audience sees your material. The order has a profound effect on comprehension, impact, and value.
Naturally, certain compositional components are more significant than others or serve to frame other compositional elements. You may utilise various visual hierarchy concepts to direct the viewer’s attention to those critical parts first.
By establishing multiple degrees of importance and intuitive flow, the good design deliberately draws the audience to the “total” composition and guides them through its “parts.” Graphic designers are aware of how the human brain processes visual information and the effect that visual information has on cognition.
2. Colour
Colour is a significant design concept because it enables emotional and subconscious communication. Understanding the fundamentals of colour theory may help you make the most of colour. For example, blue elicits feelings of serenity or trust, but red may elicit strong emotions and motivate individuals to act. That is why stop signs–and frequently, purchase buttons–are typically red.
The Use of Colour in Graphic Design
Colour is a worldwide language and a highly effective means of communication. Among the many components that comprise a visual design, colour is arguably the most critical. Psychologists and marketers have undertaken research to demonstrate how colour may affect our emotions and perceptions. Colour schemes are frequently utilised to highlight specific elements of a design or to elicit a desired mood or emotion in the viewer. Designers employ colour sparingly to achieve harmony, balance, and consistency.
It is self-evident that colour is a critical consideration when creating marketing materials or developing a brand. This blog is about colour psychology and how insights obtained from it can determine the most successful colour schemes for branding and marketing material design. Graphic designers and marketers must always be aware of the subtle but crucial role colour play in how viewers perceive and feel about a marketing message or brand.
3. Alignment
Alignment is a critical design element. It contributes to the creation of a crisp, organised look, resulting in ultimately superior designs by ensuring that your different parts have a nice relationship with one another. While the text that is aligned to the centre, right, or left is the most frequent, you may also align text to other elements in your picture. If something appears to be out of alignment in your design, double-check your alignment! To learn more principles about graphic design, check out the graphic design course by Blue Sky Graphics.
