Principles of Design

1. Principles of Design CRAP or PARC

2. The PARC or CRAP principles • Proximity • Alignment • Repetition • Contrast

3. Proximity • Group related items together • Do not group unrelated items • this grouping gives the reader an instant clue to the organization pattern • When items are spread out: • do not know where to start reading • can not distinguish flow • eyes tend to wander, can’t be sure if everything has been read • not sure when you are finished

4. Cont’d • Closeness implies relationship • By grouping • More organized • Know where to start reading • Know when you are finished • White space more effective • Establish relationships through closeness, or lack of closeness

5. How to get effective Proximity • Write items separately on paper, board, etc. • Look at elements and group according to relationships • After groups are formed, play with the arrangement of groups • Make your design

7. Analyze Proximity • Look at the garage sale flyer that you created. Analyze the proximities of your items and answer the following questions. • Are there examples of good proximity in your flyer? Where? • Explain why these are good uses of proximity. • Are there examples of poor proximity? • Where? • Explain why these are poor uses of proximity. • Make revisions the your flyer, improving your use of proximity.

8. Alignment

9. Alignment • The principle of Alignment states that: • Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily (randomly). • EVERY item on the page should have a visual connection with something else on the page. Find a strong line and USE it.

10. Using alignment: • forces the designer to be conscious of what he/she is doing. • When items are aligned, it creates a stronger, cohesive unit.

11. Example

12. Center Alignment • Creates a more formal look • Works well for invitations, greeting cards, etc. • Safe, easy • Sometimes it can be sedate and/or boring • Be conscious and creative with centering.

14. Mixing Alignments • This should be avoided at first. • Stick to using left only, right only or centered only for now. • Mixing can disconnect items on a page if it is done incorrectly.

15. Example

16. White Space • Don’t forget to watch your white space • Outside white space can add an invisible border, strengthening alignment. • Interior white space can strengthen lines, or push items apart if used incorrectly.

18. Summary of Alignment • Every item on the page should have a visual connection with some other item. • Find a strong line and use it. • Basic purpose is to unify and organize. • Be conscious of where you place things. • Avoid using more than one alignment. • Be careful with centering. • Watch your white space

19. Analyze Alignment • Look at the garage sale flyer that you created. Analyze the alignments that you used and answer the following questions. • Are there examples of good alignment in your flyer? Where? • Explain why these are good uses of alignment. • Are there examples of poor alignment? • Where? • Explain why these are poor uses of alignment. • Make revisions the your flyer, improving your use of alignment.

21. Repetition

22. The principle of Repetition states… • You repeat some aspect of the design throughout the entire piece. • Examples include a bold font, and thick line, a color, a design element, a spatial relationship, or a particular format. • Can be thought of as consistency.

23. What does it add? • Adds cohesiveness to the look and feel of a multi-piece work. • It is a conscious effort to unify all parts of a design

24. Where to find it? • Take an existing element and push it further. • Don’t be afraid to be bold, creative and original.

25. Headlines, for instance

26. Multi-page publications • Repetition is a major factor in the unity of pages throughout a multi-page publication. • A reader should be able to instantly tell that pages 7 and 12 are from the same document.

27. What is the same?

28. Business packages • Consistency is critical. • Use a STRONG display of repetition within each piece and between each piece. • When making your letterhead, create a layout that allows you to align the printed letter with some element in the design. TIP:

29. Letterhead basics

30. Organization • Helps guide the reader through the piece. • Helps unify parts of the design that might otherwise be disconnected.

31. Bold Typefaces Light Text Square Bullets Spacing Indents Alignments What elements are repeated?

32. Any element can work • If there is an element that interests you, go with it. Try as many ideas as you can. • Don’t just use large or obvious elements. Using small elements can be just as effective. • The objects do not have to be exactly the same, but they must be similar enough. • You can even add something completely new just for the sake of repetition.

33. Note the different sizes and orientation of the triangles. • Also. Some are filled, some are empty.

34. New from old • You can often pull an element from an existing design and create a new design based on that element. • Just find an element that you like and play with it.

36. Less is more… • The suggestion of a repeated design can be enough. In other words, it may not be necessary to repeat the entire element, just a part of it.

38. Summary • Basic purpose… • Unify and add visual interest • Strengthen a piece and tie it together • How to get it… • Take an existing element and push it further. • Don’t be afraid to experiment. • What to avoid… • Avoid repeating the element so much that it becomes annoying, or overpowering.

39. Analyze Repetition • Identify two types of repetition in your existing designs. • Are these two examples of repetition used effectively? Could they be made more effective? If so, then do so. • Create a new element in your design and repeat it in an effective way.

40. Contrast

41. The principle of Contrast states… • If two items are not exactly the same, make them different. REALLY DIFFERENT!!! • DON’T BE A WIMP!!!! • Can be created many ways: • Font size (large and small) • Font face (graceful old style serif against new bold sans serif) • Thin lines and thick lines • Cool colors against warm colors, dark against light. • Shape (tall and narrow against short and wide), geometric. • Wide and narrow spacing • Smooth texture and rough texture

42. Which one would you look at first?

43. Compare/Contrast • Both news letters are neat. • Both are arranged the same. • The info is the same. • The difference is the contrast.

44. Organization… • A reader should be able to glance at a document and understand what is going on. • Information can be organized, but blend together. This can make the content unclear at first.

45. To clear things up….

46. Make it obvious…. • Elements that are made to contrast may not contrast enough. To repeat, DON’T BE A WIMP. • Make the contrast as obvious as possible. Wimpy contrast can look like a mistake.

47. Make it obvious…

48. Shapes can be fun… • Shapes can easily be contrasted. Circles against squares, for example. • Shapes can also be found in other places. Columns of text, for example, are rectangles. Use these to your advantage. • One way to do this would be to contrast vertical columns with horizontal rows.

49. Horizontal vs Vertical

50. Oh the Drama… • Contrast can be the most fun element to work with, and is usually the most dramatic by far. • Simple changes in contrast can have a huge effect. • High contrast can get the reader to give your piece a second look, which is what you want.