There are many concepts that come together to create an ideal design. These elements have the potential to give the piece a voice and to evoke the proper emotional response from the viewer. In this blog I will be addressing five concepts: typography, color, rhythm, balance and form/function.
What Am I Even Reading
If design was a movie, Typography would be the lead actor. Typography gives context to the piece, creates a voice and tells a story. There are many rules when it comes to Typography use, which includes avoiding all caps, limiting the number of typefaces used and being aware of alignment and spacing. When it comes to choosing certain typefaces there are a few classics that you can always rely on such as Helvetica or Gill Sans. However, there are also some that you should avoid and that is why I chose this CASA flyer as my visual for the Typography section. Comic Sans has sort of become the butt of the joke these days and unfortunately it was used in this flyer. In my opinion, it takes away from the legitimacy of the organization, which can distract from the goal of the flyer.
All The Feels
Color is incredibly important to design, because it digs deep into the brain of the viewer. Color has the ability to evoke different emotions and feelings within people and each color has its own set of attributes. Warmer colors are bolder and aggressive, while cooler colors are stable and calm. When it comes to picking the ideal color swatch, it is important to study the color wheels as well as have an understanding of how to group different tones.
Does It Look Good & Can I Use It
Form and Function are pretty straightforward concepts. Form refers to what the design piece looks like. Is it visually appealing? Do the colors work together? Can I read the typeface? Function refers to the designs ability to serve its intended purpose and be used for other mediums, like print. I chose the logo for CAC Winter Welcome Week to display form and function. The colors execute the feeling of a brisk winter, while the typeface is fun and easy to read. This logo was used on posters, t-shirts and stickers. Not only does this show that it can be utilized on many mediums, but it shows that it serves its purpose of advertising the event.
Rhythm and Blues
In design, Rhythm is essentially all about consistency. This repetition or pattern throughout your design could be a consistent image, background color or typeface. This approach to design allows the viewer to understand what is coming next and follow along. As this post from Vanseo Design beautifully states
“As soon as you place more than one element on the page you create a pattern and pattern is the seed of rhythm.”
I am using another Winter Welcome Week example because of the consistent use of the color blue in all of the advertising. This pattern tied everything together and made the advertising feel uniform.
Let’s Weigh in on Balance
The concept of Balance is important for the success of any design, and all bad puns aside, it is the key way to make sure that your piece has visual weight. It is the structure that guides the eye through the piece and tells it where to look next. There are a few types of structure and those include symmetrical and asymmetrical Symmetrical balance means that the weight is distributed evenly throughout the piece. This allows for a more stable feeling. Mark Masters posted the perfect example of a symmetrical image in his blog post here. Asymmetrical is the opposite of symmetrical as it allows for an imbalance of weight and often produces white space. Though this might sound like chaos, it has the ability to make pieces unique and appealing.
