The principles of design are the elements of composing or creating your graphic work, they use the elements of design which are the building box of graphic design and they arrange them in a way and that's how you compose a work of art. The principles of design are the arrangement and use of elements of design and subjects in a work of art.

The principles of design are the foundations a designer must follow to create a good and attractive composition. The basic principles of design are Emphasis, Balance and Alignment, Contrast, Repetition, Proportion, Movement, and White Space.

Design differs from art in this it has to possess a purpose. Visually, this functionality is interpreted by ensuring a picture has a center of attention, a degree of focus. Maybe you're thinking, 'But wait! I believed the design was all about creativity?' If you're an entrepreneur or designer who's just starting, you would possibly be tempted to travel wild and mix the first five typefaces and colours that catch your eye, believing you're creating something fresh and new. you'll probably end up with a design that's muddled, unfinished, or well, just plain ugly.

Graphic design, like any discipline, adheres to strict rules that work beneath the surface to create the work stable and balanced. If the work is missing that balance, it'll be weak and ineffective.

1. Emphasis

Say you're creating a billboard for a concert. you should ask yourself: what's the first piece of information my audience needs to know? Is it the band? Or the concert venue? What about the day and also the cost of attending?

Make a mental outline. Let your brain organize the information then lay out your design in a way that communicates that order. If the band's name is that the most essential information, place it within the center or make it the most important element on the poster. Otherwise, you could put it within the strongest, boldest type. Find out about the color theory and use strong color combinations to form the band name pop.

Like writing without an overview or building without a blueprint, if you begin your composition without a clear idea of what you're trying to speak, your design won't succeed.


2. Balance and Alignment

Never forget that each element you place on a page contains a weight. the weight can come from color, size, or texture. just like you wouldn't put all of your furniture in one corner of a room, you can't crowd all of your heavy elements in one area of your composition.

Symmetrical design creates balance through equally weighted elements aligned on either side of a middle line. On the opposite hand, asymmetrical design uses opposite weights (like contrasting one large element with several smaller elements) to make a composition that's not even but still has equilibrium.

Symmetrical designs are always pleasing, if not occasionally boring. Asymmetrical designs are bolder and may bring real visual interest and movement to your composition.


3. Contrast

Contrast is what people mean when they say a design "pops." It comes far away from the page and sticks in your memory. The contrast makes space and Differentiation between components in your design. Your background must be significantly different from the colour of your elements so that they work harmoniously together and are readable.

If you intend to work with type, understanding contrast is incredibly essential because it means the weight and size of your type are balanced. How will your audience know what's most important if everything is in bold?

As you search out examples of really strong, effective design, you'll notice most designs only feature one or two typefaces. That's because the contrast is often effectively achieved with two strong fonts (or even one strong typeface in several weights). As you include textual styles, you weaken and befuddle the motivation behind your design.


4. Repetition

If you limit yourself to two strong typefaces or three strong colors, you'll soon find you'll need to repeat some things. That's ok! It's often said that repetition unifies and strengthens a design. If just one thing on your band poster is in blue italic sans-serif, it can read like a mistake. If three things are in blue italic sans-serif, you've created a motif and are back on top of things of your design.

Repetition is often important beyond one printed product. Anyone considering a startup knows one of the first stuff you need is a strong logo to feature on your website, business cards, social media, and more. Brand identity? Another term for repetition.


5. Proportion

Proportion is that the visual size and weight of elements during composition and the way they relate to every other. It often helps to approach your design in sections, rather than as a whole.

Grouping related items can give them importance at a smaller size think of a box at rock bottom of your poster for ticket information or a sidebar on a web site for a search bar. Proportion can be achieved as long as all elements of your design are well-sized and thoughtfully placed. When you ace alignment, balance, and contrast, proportion needs to develop naturally.


6. Movement

Going back to our concert poster. If you made the choice the band was the foremost important piece of information on the page and therefore the venue was the second, how would you communicate that together with your audience?

Movement is controlling the elements in a composition so that the attention is led to move from one to the next and therefore the information is correctly communicated to your audience. Movement creates the story or the narrative of your work: a band is playing, it's at this location, it's at this time, here's how you get tickets. The elements above especially balance, alignment, and contrast will work towards that goal, but without proper movement, your design is going to be dead on arrival.

If you check out your design and feel your eye get "stuck" anywhere on it an element is just too big, too bold, slightly off-center, not a complimentary color go back, and adjust until everything is harmonical.


7. White Space

All of the other elements affect what you raise your design. White space (or negative space) is that the just one that specifically deals with what you don't add. White space is strict that the empty page around the elements in your composition. For beginning designers, they are often a dangerous zone. Often simply giving a composition more room to breathe can upgrade it from unexceptional to exceptional.

White space isn't sitting there doing anything it's creating hierarchy and organization. Our brains naturally associate ample white space around a component with importance and luxury. It's telling our eyes that objects in a single area are assembled independently from objects somewhere else.

Even more exciting, it can communicate a wholly different image or idea from your main design which will reward your audience for engaging with it. the brand above uses active negative space to speak multiple ideas in one fun, creative design.

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