Great design has an important role to play in building a great brand and the elements and principles of design are the building blocks used to create something that makes a lasting impression with your target audience.
There are 6 fundamental principles including balance, proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast and space. Each with its own important role to play when organising or arranging all the structural elements of your designs.
Whether it’s your website or print marketing materials, where you decide to place each element can have a huge effect on how successful a design will be and the impact your branding will make on your target market.
The Principles of Design
1. Balance
When designing your brand collateral, balance provides both stability and structure with its weight distributed by the placement of your elements. Just like balance in physics where a large shape close to the centre can be balanced by a small shape close to the edge.
2. Proximity
Proximity doesn’t mean that your elements have to be placed together but that they should be visually connected in some way. Proximity is what creates the relationship between all the elements and provides a focal point.
3. Alignment
Alignment is what creates order and organisation in all your designs. Aligning the elements is what creates a visual connection between them all.
4. Repetition
Repetition helps pull together all the individual elements which really helps strengthen your design. It also helps create association and consistency as well as a feeling of organised movement (i.e. rhythm). Consider varying the repeating elements for extra visual impact.
5. Contrast
Contrast is used to highlight or emphasise key elements of a design. It is the juxtaposition of opposing elements (opposite colours on the colour wheel, or value light / dark, or direction – horizontal / vertical).
6. Space
Space refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within all design elements. Both positive and negative space are important factors to be considered in all branding collateral design for online and in print.
For branding advice and great design that gets your business noticed, speak to the team at your local Kwik Kopy today.
