FOUR DESKTOP PUBLISHING DESIGN ELEMENTS THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW

Presented by Jerry Smith

Where We’re Going Focus on four basic design elements

Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity

Examples of Each Simple changes make a HUGE

difference

The Big FourContrastRepetitionAlignmentProximity

There is no clever acronymn: You’ll have to figure that one out on your own…

Before I Begin… Framework by

Robin Williams Buy this Book:Non-Designer’s Design Book

ISBN:0321193857

Subjectivity Yep, most of this is quite subjective These elements provide structured

options Even if you don’t get it right the first

shot, you’ll know some things you can change to create an entirely different look

Eliminates poke-and-hope mentality of design

Framework is to English… True or False: The English language

is always consistent? These rules can (and should be)

broken sometimes It’s a framework, not a set of laws

Something is wrong…

but you can’t put your finger on it.

In many cases, the thing that’s wrong is one of these elements

By having a name for the broken elements, you’ll find that it is much easier to fix

The four elements overlap quite a bit This is a very good thing. It leads to near

infinite possibilities.

Contrast (the king element) By definition, refers to the degree of

noticeable differences in something There are lots of ways to provide

contrast Color Alignment Typography (fonts) Size Shape

Color Contrast

A simple logo with no contrast

Color Contrast

Same simple logo with color contrast

A little contrast goes a long wayBefore After

Alignment Contrast For years, most of us have been

conditioned to believe that centering everything is the way to go:

Alignment Contrast But centering everything is overly

formal and boring! With a little alignment contrast:

A Tale of Two Alignments

Before After

A Tale of Two (More) Alignments

Before After

Typography Contrast Choose fonts that differ greatly!

Bad: Times New Roman and Garamond Good: Times New Roman and Comic Sans

MS Most common typography contrast

involves serif vs. sans-serif

How NOT to do type contrast

Proper Type Contrast

One Small Change of FontBefore After

Put It All Together

A pinch of font, a dash of color!Before After

Size Contrast Just as with fonts, if you’re going to

do size contrasts, make it count!!! Two basic reasons to use size

contrast: Emphasis Shock Value (Stress)

Yawn!

A Little Size Makes a Big Difference

Yawn to Yay!

Before After

Change the Size, Change the Message

Change the Size, Change the Message

Shape Contrast Angular vs. Rounded

Contrast Review Differences stand out

Emphasis Stress

Color is easy Be really different with

Fonts Sizes

Repetition By definition, to repeat The antithesis of Contrast

Humans like patterns Makes things very comfortable

The thing you see the most without realizing it The silent design element!

Things to Repeat Colors Fonts Shapes Sizes

Humans are very good at intrinsically associating a repeated element with its function

Page 4 of a very long book

…and 690 pages later

What’s repeated? The page number formatting The heading font, size, and weight The body text font and size The weight of emphasized text

Repeatable Elements with Distinct Function

Repeatable Elements with Distinct Function

Repetition Review Create patterns where patterns are

important Headings Body Other stuff

Main Menu and Navigational Elements should be repeated

Be careful not to overdo!

Proximity By definition, the spatial relationship

between items Human beings naturally make

associations between proximate objects The closer things are to one another, the

more they must be related Good designs exploit this intrinsic

trait

Same example, different context

One tiny adjustment…

Bye-bye extra box!

Before After

You saw it but didn’t know it!

What about Alignment? What about it! Think about the other three elements

we’ve discussed… Alignment can be

Contrasted Repeated Used to create proximation

How Do We Teach This Stuff As with everything else: Patiently Tackle individually at first

Don’t go over all in one day Possibly a week long unit??

One element per day with examples and practice

Tie them together on Friday

Pavlov’s Children Give specific praise for using the

elements “I really like your use of contrast there,

Sally” “Nice proximity with your grouping of

information, George!” The framework is great for

constructive criticism “Think about what kind of contrast you

could use here.” “Is there something you could do to

make this information seem more related?”

In Review… Focus on four basic design elements

Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity

It’s all subjective Simple changes make a HUGE

difference

In Review… The framework is a tool, not a crutch Teach it slowly and consistently Don’t become a slave to it: HAVE

FUN!

Thanks for playing along! Any questions or comments?