Me = Very Slack... I should blog more...

Just in case, you're behind the story, I'm in Australia! Here for another 3 months. I left my lovely husband to do a short graphic design course.

I'm 9 days into the course, and wow, I can't believe how much I have learned! Seriously! Heaps!

So I thought I would recap a little to help all of you out.. cause no matter what we do, at some point we design something.. well.. generally speaking, it seems as though my followers are a bit creative though.

So.. first lesson.. "Design Principles".

1. Alignment - Don't underestimate the power of alignment. Even some designs that look haphazard, but still remain pleasing to the eye, are probably lined up to some sort of invisible grid! And If you're going to offset something, make sure it's obvious, otherwise, people will either get a strange feeling looking at it, or think you've made a mistake.
2. Hierarchy - it's no accident when you're eye instantly goes somewhere on an advertisement. It was strategically done. Think about what things you want people to see and in what order. Then you go about making emphasis on those things using a variety of colour, size, font weight, and surrounding space... and I'm sure there are many other things - but I'm still a student, so I can be excused for not being an expert!
   
3. Repetition - I don' t think much needs to be said here. But a good design will always have repetition. It could be repeating fonts, or graphic elements. Something that shows your design was well-planned, and easy for the mind to grasp.
   
4. Balance - Now there are two types; balance using tension, and balance using symmetry. The first is a balance where there are for example two items on a page, and one is bigger then the other. There is a tension between the two elements, yet it is that tension which pulls the design together. For instance, if you have a big image and lots of white space, you should balance that out perhaps with a small logo on the other extreme of the page.
   (I think a tiny spider just ran into my laptop - not cool!!) Anyways... balance using tension is simpler to explain. Pretty much when your design is a mirror image. You'll see this used for more high end products - just check out perfume boxes for examples.
   
5. and finally Contrast! (I couldn't remember it! Had to look it up :-\ ) - So, contrast is all about using contrast to your advantage. This block of text has contrast. Imaging reading white text on white paper.. ok that's an extreme, but you get what I mean? You need contrast. This also makes your design more interesting. And it's not necessarily contrast in colour that you can play around with. Think about contrasting the size of things, or the contrast between two type fonts. Without contrast, your design is .. hmm ... not well designed.

So there's some very good information there! I may not have articulated the principles very well.. but hopefully you get the point!

I'll take some time out soon to share the designs that we done so far. And another tip, if you're going to design a poster or whatever from scratch... start it in black and white.. because adding colour into the works is a whole other ball game. One you're happy with the design, then go and add colour!

Hope this helps!!!

Kimanh

p.s I went our for dinner tonight to a vegan restuarant. LOVED it!!! So yummy.. and vegan.. woo hoo!
p.p.s I know my blog isn't "designer" (YET!)... or using all the designer principles... I'll get there one day!