Layout and Design
Often the layout makes the first impression on the viewer.
It can decide whether design is worth exploring more for a few additional
precious seconds or whether it should be ignored completely. As a person in charge
of communicating a large amount of information to the viewer your job is to
organize it in a manageable digestible way. You could prioritize certain parts
of the layout simply by its position and composition of elements.
Do we want to prioritize the photo? Are we selling a
product? Then yes, the photo might become the mainstay of the design. Do we
want to deliver a strong stop in your tracks message with a straight forward
call to action then the way we layout type without photos might make that
message clearer?
Bad examples of layout mostly consist of poorly placed
photos, too many or awkward photo cropping. These can also include too much
information for the viewer to read often discouraging them from reading more.
What we need to do is entice and lead the viewer on a journey through our
design in a planned order. We want to set the mood and tone for the piece by
having the right photo. We also want the photo to be the first thing they see.
Layout can communicate emotions just like photos and
typography. Having a layout that is uniform and rigid with perfect alignment
can communicate a sense of professionalism, cleanliness and tidiness.
Whitespace
Whitespace is the spacing between elements. Having a large
amount of white spacing can continue the feeling of openness and express a
feeling of calm. Whitespace that is tide can spark emotions of anxiety. It
generally doesn’t work when having a little whitespace around your elements/
Margin
When we see design work that needs to be tweaked or revised
most of the time is because there’s not enough whitespace or breathing room
around the margin of the piece or the outer edges. Print design’s always safe
to keep text and important information inside the margin area that goes around
a designed piece. Not only for it to printed properly for it to feel clean and
professional.
Design composition
The balance or overall composition of the design is very
important in maintaining the emotional responses. If the balance of design is
off, it mayn’t evoke your desired response. That’s why it’s important to
maintain the right balance between photos, type and other design elements which
is known as composition. Unbalanced design seems to lack a sense of purpose and
meaning and seems disorganized. But with a few tweaks we can change the design
from confusing to simple and striking.
Focal point
It is an important aspect in the layout of a design,
maintain one clear focal point. Having two competing focal points makes it hard
to digest the information as the viewer doesn’t know which focal point to draw
their eye on first.
Effective layout
The good, The Bad and The Awful. Sometimes its’s easier to
learn design by studying why bad examples are bad than looking at good design.
When we look bad layout design, we start to discover what we don’t like about
it. This in turn helps us find out what not to do in our own designs. We start
to develop a viewer empathy.
There is a science beyond good layout and some of the techniques
are using grids and the golden ratio. But there’s also a feeling that you
develop on whether a layout works or not. And being able to hone that ability
it takes time and practice trying out and experimenting with lots of different
layout options.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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