Wether you design your business brochures, flyers, web page, or ads there are some things that you need to know. There are some basic graphic design principles that those of us trained in
commercial art/graphic design field don’t always share. Here’s a short list of elements of graphic design that you can use today.Color This is first and most important. Color is everything. It’s why we buy HDTV sets to get better color. You want to consider your product first. Is there a color that fits item? Are you selling beach items, chose a sand color. Are you selling electronics, chose a metallic color. Next make sure color is eye-catching but possible to look at. If you can’t stare at color for at least minimum amount of time that you’d want your customer’s attention, then don’t use it.
Line And I don’t mean “a line” I mean line of elements in your project. Stand back and squint at your creation. Notice line of text and images. Where are lines moving? They should all direct your customer’s attention from top of your page to bottom in a seamless movement. If you notice an out of place line directs your eyes back to top of page or stops it all together then you need to rearrange a few items.
Form Related to line. Squint again and notice text as a block, or rectangular form, instead of individual lines. Notice images or art as shapes. And notice entire piece as a form. All of forms should flow from one to another. Each form should direct your eye to next form on page from top to bottom, again in a seamless flowing line.
Movement I’ve already touched on this but this is very important. You want your customer to start at top left corner and end in bottom right corner. The traditional form of movement is a “Z” meaning eye should start in top left, go to top right, make a diagonal to bottom left, and end up in bottom right. This form is ideal for advertizing and web pages with a lot of graphics or images. The exception would be a page with all text, where you would want reader’s eye to move left to right on each line.
