10 Basic Design Principles was a two-day online class I took at another digiscrap forum in 2008. After participating in the thread Constructive Feedback on LO's I thought I'd share this. Not because these are rules, but because just like in photography we improve when we pay attention to things like color, scale, and composition, there are things to consider when creating a scrapbook page. 1. Grid - The grid provides form and structure. In this class they used a 6x6 grid and discussed how it could be divided up pleasingly, but the photography rule of thirds can also be applied to scrapbook pages. 2. Focus - Where do you want your viewer to look first, and how do you want them move around the page. 3. Space - Leave some so your layout can breathe. 4. Threes - Human eyes are attracted to groups in odd numbers as opposed to even. 5. Scale - Offset something small with something big. 6. Color - It has an impact. 7. Realism - If you want it to look like a paper page, you have to shadow it well. 8. Repetition - This also pleases our eye. 9. Title - font, color, placement, focus, size 10. Journaling - same as title considerations plus spacing and balance The class consisted of further discussing these ten ideas and then discussing them in relation to ten layouts. I think it helped improve my pages. And keeping these things in mind helps us write more constructive comments in the gallery too. p.s. Another class I took at the same place, a couple of years after 10 Principles, was called Intentional Design. It suggested starting every page by thinking about what your focal point and mood will be and then discussed 15 design principles or ideas: white space trapped space patterned papers color schemes directing elements and people in photos inward instead of off the page flow cropping title placement font choice rule of three scale style shadowing realism accidental vs intentional placement Let me know if you'd like me to elaborate on any of these.
Oooh, these are great. Thanks for posting! It's nice to have a list like this... all in one place. Maybe as I keep it mind, I can improve my own layouts in my own time.
great list Michele, i think it's usually something we avoid, white space around a cluster or layout focus seems visually restful etc but trapped space is like if you had a tile mosaic and left out the middle central tile, the eye goes there and kinda doesnt 'see' the page... it's like trapped white space, if that makes sense
The main suggestion in these classes was to keep the title connected to other elements on the page rather than free floating.
Right! Any empty space boxed in by elements on the page, cutting it off from the other white space. It's interferes with the flow of the page; the eye can get trapped there.
I'm fairly familiar with the rule of thirds etc, but I would love to know more about page flow. I didn't know about trapped white space, that's really interesting. Please tell me more about 'directing elements and people in photos inward instead of off the page'! Hit me with more design tips! I really should use ideas like this a bit more, I always just eyeball everything, instead of thinking about it...
I can answer the "inward" part for photos. Generally in photography, you want your subject to be facing inward - i.e. entering the photo. For ex: if they are facing left and you put them on the left edge, it looks like they are leaving rather than entering the photo. So if you have a photo of someone looking left, you would not put them on the far left side of the page. Your eye wants to go where they are looking and so, it would move off the edge of the page. I am curious to see how this applies to elements, as I typically don't think of them as facing a particular way. Here is nice article about when you can break this rule in photography. http://digital-photography-school.com/leaving-space-behind-moving-subjects-composition/
Great stuff, guys! I'm already checking my latest LO because it just wasn't where I wanted it to be somehow. So this is a great checklist!
Love having the list here. Thanks @michelepixels! It's a good reminder for all the things we've learned. And the list will be a great help. I plan to use it when I get stuck and don't know what's not quite right with my layout.
Love this list. My other go to is the "Z pattern." (Once upon a time, I really, really wanted to be a glossy magazine editor. Now I am a boring policy wonk. Why do we give up on our dreams? Anyways...) When people scan pages, their eyes move in the shape of the letter "Z". Think of the upper left corner as the lead in, move it to the upper right with a little more action, and then connect that back down to the lower left, where you put what you want people to remember the most, with additional information in the lower right corner. All of my favourite layouts that I've made are on the "Z" pattern.
@BevG I've seen this in particular when I 've used branches or such things that curve. When they are going in the 'wrong' direction I'll often flip them horizontally so they 'look' right. I hope this makes sense to you!
