• The principles of design suggest how a designer can best arrange the

various elements of a page layout in connection to the overall graphic

design and to each other.
• How these principles are applied determines how effective the design is
conveying the desired message and how attractive it appears.
1. Alignment
2. Hierarchy
3. Contrast
4. Repetition / Consistency
5. Composition
6. Balance
7. Movement
8. Proximity / Unity
• Alignment allows you to arrange elements in a way that matches how
people naturally scan the page.
• Alignment brings order to the design. How type and graphics are aligned on
a page and in relation to each other makes the layout easier or more
difficult to read.
• Helps balance your image so that it’s visually appealing.
• Creates a visual connection between related elements.
• Hierarchy help signal the importance of each element.
• It directly relates to how well content can be processed by people.
• Hierarchy is most easily illustrated through the use of titles and headings
in a design.
• The title page should be given the most importance, and therefore should be
immediately recognizable as the most important element on a page.
• Headings and Subheadings should be formatted in a way that shows their
importance in relation to each other as well as in relation to the title and body
copy.
• In design, big and small elements, black and white text, and graphics all
create contrast.
• Contrast create emphasis via light vs dark , thin vs thick etc.
• Contrast helps different elements stand out.
• Does the design have enough contrast? Is there enough contrast between
text and background for it to stand out and be readable? Are the more
important headlines, calls to action contrasting enough to stand out?
• Repetition helps tie individual elements together.
• Repeating design elements and consistency of style shows a reader
where to go and helps them navigate the design.
• Do the page numbers appear in the same place form page to page?
• Are headlines consistent in size, style and placement?
• Is the style consistent throughout?
• Composition is your design arrangement, Scale, Hierarchy.
• It is the placement or arrangement of visual elements
• Visual Balance comes from arranging the elements so that no section is
heavier than another.
• Sometimes elements are thrown out of balance to give emphasis or
create a certain mood.
• Balance ensure no one element overpowers the others.
• Movement refers to the way the eye travels over a design.
• It is creating an instability, making motion to blur the image.
• Create movement via blurring, motion lines or wave effects
• The principle of proximity is simply the process of ensuring related design elements
are placed together. Any unrelated items, should be spaced apart.
• The relationship between people or elements in design is affected by proximity. How
close or far apart elements suggests a relationship or lack of.
• Unity can be created by using a third element to connect distant parts. Are all the title
elements together? Is contact information all together? Are all related elements
together?