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NAF Graphic Design

Lesson 7Proximity, Alignment, Repetition,

and Contrast

Teacher Resources

Resource Description

Teacher Resource 7.1 Presentation and Notes: Principles of Graphic Design (includes separate PowerPoint file)

Teacher Resource 7.2 Examples: Repetition (separate PowerPoint file)

Teacher Resource 7.3 Source File: Contrast (separate Word file)

Teacher Resource 7.4 Source File: Menu Content (separate Word file)

Teacher Resource 7.5 Image: MenuLogo.jpg (separate JPEG file)

Teacher Resource 7.6 Assessment Criteria: Restaurant Menu Design

Teacher Resource 7.7 Key Vocabulary: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast

Teacher Resource 7.8 Bibliography: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast

Copyright © 2011–2015 NAF. All rights reserved.

NAF Graphic DesignLesson 7 Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast

Teacher Resource 7.1

Presentation Notes: Principles of Graphic Design

Before you show this presentation, use the text accompanying each slide to develop presentation notes. Writing the notes yourself enables you to approach the subject matter in a way that is comfortable to you and engaging for your students. Make this presentation as interactive as possible by stopping frequently to ask questions and encourage class discussion.

This presentation illustrates how to apply the principles of proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast effectively to create designs that draw viewers in and help them organize information effortlessly.



Proximity: Items that are related should be close to each other. This helps the viewer organize and understand information quickly.

Alignment: Every visual element should be connected by an invisible line with at least one other element. This helps the viewer see connections and brings organization and unity to a design.

Repetition: Repeating visual elements in a design adds interest and unity. It helps the viewer make connections.

Contrast: If elements are not the same, make them very different. This contrast creates both organization and visual interest in a design.

Visual hierarchy: By adding visual weight to an element, you can make it pop out so that the viewer’s eye goes there first. A visual hierarchy leads the viewer through the design, making him or her look at the most important item first, then the next most important, and so on. The most important item is often called the focal point. The focal point can be emphasized in different ways—it can be the largest element, or the brightest, or the most unique—something that makes it stand out.

Balance: Equally distributing the visual weight of elements on a page creates a pleasing and clear layout.

You will learn more about visual hierarchy and balance in the next lessons in this unit.



In this image, it is hard for the reader to organize information because elements that go together are not grouped together. The viewer doesn’t know where to start and where to go next. There is no sense of unity.



Putting items that go together in close proximity to each other helps the viewer understand what this image is about.



Aligning items results in a stronger cohesive unit. It tells the reader that even elements that are not physically close to each other belong to the same piece.



In this image, you can immediately zero in on the information you are looking for because the alignment shows you where you should look. Your eyes don’t have to wander around looking for patterns.



Repetitive elements can be fonts, lines, bullets, color, a design element, a format, or a spatial relationship.



In addition to creating unity and organization, repetition adds visual interest to a design. The circles draw you in and get you interested in discovering what the best restaurants are. The repetition breaks the design elements down so that you can easily spot the circle for the best restaurant in the United States, for example.

Creating diversity among repeating elements adds interest and helps the viewer distinguish differences between elements that are similar.



Contrast creates interest on a page and aids in organization. Our eyes are drawn to contrasting elements.

Examples of contrasting elements are large type and small type, an old-style font and a sans serif font, a thin line and a thick line, a cool color and a warm color, a horizontal element and a vertical element, a small graphic and a large graphic.



With this image, the viewer is drawn in to the page to find out more about the band. Who is that “special guest”?



In something as simple as a book cover with very little text on it, adhering to the principles of graphic design draws viewers in and makes them want to pick up the book.

As you work through this lesson, be sure to keep your eyes open for good examples of applying the principles of graphic design. And every time you create a graphic design, check your own work to make sure it adheres to the principles of proximity, alignment, contrast, and repetition.




Assessment Criteria: Restaurant Menu DesignStudent Names:______________________________________________________________

Date:_______________________________________________________________________

Using the following criteria, assess whether students met each one.

Met Partially Met

Didn’t Meet

The design respects the client’s wishes as expressed in the creative brief. □ □ □The design is clearly appropriate for the target audience. □ □ □The design shows creativity and originality. □ □ □The design adheres to the principle of proximity. □ □ □Alignment is used effectively so that each element in the design has a visual connection to other elements. □ □ □The design uses repetition effectively to draw the viewer in. □ □ □The design demonstrates effective use of contrast. □ □ □The final product shows careful, accurate work in both text and graphics. □ □ □

Additional Comments:

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________




Key Vocabulary: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast

Term Definition

alignment Underlying principle of graphic design. Except for in the case of asymmetric alignment, every visual element in a design should be connected by an invisible line with at least one other element. This helps the viewer see connections and brings organization and unity to a design.

asymmetric alignment The beginnings and ends of lines do not align with each other. This alignment conveys a sense of informality and energy. It is visually very interesting, but difficult to read. The viewer’s eye has to work to find the beginning of the next line.

centered alignment Each line of text is centered, making both the right edge and the left edge ragged. This alignment implies formality and is often used in headline type. The irregular left edge makes it difficult for the reader’s eye to find the beginning of the next line of type.

concrete alignment The arrangement of the text takes on the shape of an action or object it describes. This alignment is often difficult to read but is visually very interesting. This text alignment has much creative potential, but it is not easy to move type into an identifiable shape.

contrast Underlying principle of graphic design. Contrast can be used to create both organization and visual interest in a design, because our eyes are drawn to contrasting elements. Examples of contrasting elements are large type and small type, different type weights (bolds, italics, lights), old-style font and sans serif font, thin line and thick line, cool color and warm color, horizontal element and vertical element, small graphic and large graphic.

flush-left alignment The first letters of the text are aligned on the left while the right edge is allowed to flow naturally into a ragged edge. Typography experts consider flush left to be a very readable alignment.

flush-right alignment The end of each line of text is aligned on the right while the left edge flows into a ragged edge. This option works best for short amounts of text, because it is hard for the reader’s eye to find the start of the next line, especially if the text line lengths are very long.



Term Definition

justified alignment Both the left edge and the right edge of each line of text are aligned. Justified alignment is very readable when set properly and is widely used in books, magazines, brochures, and other text-intensive pages, because this alignment allows for a higher word density. Because of the word density, justified columns tend to look visually darker. Justified columns also tend to develop “rivers” of white space that require the lines of type to be adjusted. These larger blocks of type are best composed in a page layout program like Adobe InDesign.

proximity One of the gestalt principles of graphic design. Items that are related should be physically close to each other. This helps the viewer organize information quickly.

repetition Underlying principle of graphic design. Repeating visual elements in a design adds interest and unity. It helps the viewer make connections. Repetitive elements can be fonts, lines, bullets, color, a design element, a format, or a spatial relationship.

runaround alignment The text wraps around a picture or another piece of text. This alignment is commonly used in newsletters and other text-intensive pages. It is also called text wrap.




Bibliography: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast

The following sources were used in the preparation of this lesson and may be useful for your reference or as classroom resources. We check and update the URLs annually to ensure that they continue to be useful.

PrintGraham, Lisa. Basics of Design Layout & Typography for Beginners, 2nd ed. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2005.

Hembree, Ryan. The Complete Graphic Designer. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2008.

Landa, Robin. Graphic Design Solutions, 3rd ed. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning, 2006.

Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer’s Design Book, 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2008.

OnlineAIGA: The Professional Association for Design, http://www.aiga.org/ (accessed June 25, 2015).

Raster Vector Free Images, http:// www.rastervector.com/resources/free/free.html (accessed June 25, 2015).

Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed June 25, 2015).


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.rastervector.com/resources/free/free.html

http://www.aiga.org/

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