Transcript Four Desktop Publishing Design Elements that Everyone

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 Four
Contrast
 Repetition
 Alignment
 Proximity

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
 Size
 Shape
(fonts)
Color Contrast
A simple logo with no contrast
Color Contrast
Same simple logo with color contrast
A little contrast goes a long way
Before
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!
Times New Roman and Garamond
 Good: Times New Roman and Comic Sans MS
 Bad:

Most common typography contrast involves
serif vs. sans-serif
How NOT to do type contrast
Proper Type Contrast
One Small Change of Font
Before
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?