Design is composition
Everything needs to work together and support each other
Determines the total impact of a design
Unity is relationships
- Manage relationships so the work together
Triumph of design is Complex Seems Simple
- Things that are close together and aligned are implicitly connected
- The Grid is old. Simple grids used in scrolls way back when
- old old old old old
Appeals to us and our sense of order.
Powerful way to organize a lot of information.
Zune app is a great example of grid layout
The grid is made to be broken.
Things that are more dominant on a page are more important
- Size, color or shape
Dominance matters when you have density in information.
Sometimes Dominance is an entry point or sometimes it’s a way to show relative importance of different things
Don’t use too much dominance
3 levels of hierarchy works. More than that really doesn’t
- everything else
To make harmony use theme
- “On the road” by Jack Kerouac – Read it
- Speakvisual.com – Great use of theme
tendency to perceive things holistically and find meaning in the way the parts relate
Similiarity – implied realtionship between things that are the same
Contrast – things that are different are implicilty somehow different
Avoid the trap of “sameness”.
Increase contrast and you have the ability to say more things
- increases your visual “vocab”
- What’s on top and what’s the background
- Use negative space to imply other shapes
- Empty space doesn’t have to be empty (WTF)
Same damn thing as figure/ground
Yes, space can be wasted
Empty space is not wasted space (sometimes)
Empty space is not there to be filled. It is there to be manipulated.
- Feeling of quality
- Legibility and readability
- Reinforce order and structure.
- Create interest.