Basic Alignment Principles in Graphic Design (with Examples) about:reader?url=[Link]

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Basic Alignment Principles in Graphic

Design (with Examples)
Printwand Staff
7-9 minutes

A design with poor alignment is a little like a poorly organized

desk. If you’ve ever had a workspace covered in clutter, you know
how frustrating it can be; documents that should go together are
nowhere near each other, nothing’s where you expect it to be and
the whole thing is just plain unattractive to look at.

Chances are you’ve seen graphic design examples that give you
a similar feeling. When the principles of alignment aren’t used
properly, it makes marketing collateral look disorganized,
haphazard and visually illogical.

This business card is poorly aligned; it’s disorganized and nothing

seems to line up with anything else.

Alignment is vitally important in print graphic design because it:

allows you to arrange elements in a way that matches how

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people naturally scan the page

helps balance your image so that it’s visually appealing

creates a visual connection between related elements

Finding the “invisible line”

Alignment (like the name suggests) is all about organizing

elements relative to a line or margin. This doesn’t have to be a
literal line in your design; in fact, it’s usually an invisible margin
implied by the way your design is arranged.

The two basic alignment principles are edge alignment and

center alignment. Each is essentially a different way of utilizing
an invisible line.

Edge alignment naturally positions elements against a margin

that matches up with their outer edges. This is a quite common
technique; even this very article uses edge alignment to keep the
text flush against the left margin.

Center alignment places design elements so that they line up

with one another on their center axes. Technically every shape
has a center axis (though they’re generally easiest to judge on
simple, regular shapes).

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Note that this doesn’t always mean that elements are placed in
the horizontal center of the page. You can place shapes side-by-
side or diagonally oriented and still align them on their center
axes.

Here’s a redesigned version of our business card from earlier:

By making those “invisible lines” visible, we can see how this

design makes good use of both edge and center alignment.

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Because this business card’s elements are logically aligned, the

design is more balanced-looking and easier to navigate.
Additionally, the fact that the details at the bottom are aligned with
one another helps make it clear that they’re related (specifically,
they’re all pieces of contact information).

Common Types of Horizontal Alignment for Text

When dealing with alignment theory, most people immediately

think of the horizontal placement of text on a page. This is only a
single aspect of the alignment principles, but it’s undeniably an
important one since you’ll be dealing with it anytime you work
with text.

There are four common types of alignment when dealing with text
placement: center, flush left, flush right and justified.

Centered

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A trap that designers sometimes fall into

is placing every element on the center axis of the page. While this
is a more organized and symmetrical look than placing test
haphazardly, it tends to be a pretty weak and easy choice. When
your entire page is symmetrical, it often ends up looking boring
with no visual interest.

Center alignment works best when dealing with just a few short
lines of text. You should never use it for full paragraphs because
it makes them more difficult to read; the audience has no straight
margin so their eyes must move to a new position every time they
start a new line.

You can add interest to an all-centered graphic design by playing

with text shapes, fonts, and colors. Check out the example to the
right–the design is centered, but uses different orientations and
letter sizes to create the shape of a sword. Just because your text
is center-aligned doesn’t mean there’s no room for creativity.

As a general rule, if you use center alignment, make sure it’s

clear that you’re using it intentionally–not just because you’re
lazy.

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Center alignment works best when you only have a few elements
to deal with. Try varying fonts and colors to add visual interest.
Photo Credit: Tatiana Girman

Flush Left

Text aligned against a hard left-hand margin is generally

considered the strongest, “safest” choice and is the most
common orientation. It results in a very comfortable, secure and
conservative look (though again, there are plenty of ways to use it
creatively).

Flush left alignment is a great choice whenever you have large

paragraphs of text; the hard edge on the left naturally
complements the way we read English. If your paragraphs are
flush left, remember to keep your headlines flush left as well.

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Notice that even though the text here is on the right side of the
page, it’s aligned against a flush left margin. Photo Credit: Jodie
Oliver

Flush Right

Flush right alignment is much less common than other types, so

it’s often used to give elements a unique or “offbeat” look and
feel. With this orientation, text is aligned against a hard right-hand
margin (with the left side left “ragged”).

Like with center alignment, you should avoid using flush right on
large paragraphs since the ragged left edge will make them
difficult to read. With shorter lines of text, it can help give your
words extra weight and importance since it requires more effort to
read. It’s more interesting than centering everything, but
overusing it may frustrate your reader.

Flush right alignment is also used in place of flush left in terms of

readability when dealing with languages that read right to left
(such as Chinese, Japanese or Arabic).

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Flush right alignment isn’t used very often, so using it can give
text an unconventional look. Photo Credit: James Green

Justified

With justified alignment, both the left and right sides of the text
are effectively flush against hard, straight margins. This is
achieved by individually adjusting the spacing of each line of
text–so a line with fewer characters will be more broadly spaced,
while a line with more characters will have less space between
them. Ideally, the difference in space will be subtle enough that
you won’t really notice the difference, but the end result will be a
neat and organized look that’s more formal-looking than flush left
alignment.

You’ve probably seen this technique used in books, newspapers,

magazines and other publications. Justification is especially
useful when working with multiple columns of text because it
helps to keep them visually separate from one another as well as
fit more characters into a smaller amount of space.

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Justified alignment helps to keep multiple columns of text looking

neat and organized. Photo Credit: Cheryl Greene

Justified text comes with one major complication. If individual

words are too long or the columns are too narrow, it can
sometimes create large unsightly gaps of blank space. If you’re
having these types of issues with justification, try using a longer
line length, a smaller font, or shorter words.

Conclusion

When working with graphic design, you should never place

anything arbitrarily. Using the principles of alignment helps bind
and unify all of your elements together into a strong, cohesive

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structure.

Was this article helpful for you? Leave your thoughts (as well as
any other alignment-related tips) in the comments below!

Posted in Print Design

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