Design Theory IIb
This is the follow-up article to “Design Theory IIa,” elements. These two articles follow and contrast to the Design Theory I, the “CRAP” theory of design.
When you have elements on a page, you’re looking at the lines, the shapes; the negative space and the positive space. You’re looking at the pieces of the page. Now, we’re looking more at how these elements combine.
The first principle is that of “Balance.” Balance can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetric Balance is easier to assess than the informal Asymmetrical balance. Symmetrical balance has to do with … do you have a long border shape on both the left and the right margin. If you fold your paper in half to make a vertical crease up the middle, do the left and the right sides match up? Symmetrical balance is more static and more structured than asymmetrical.
Asymmetrical balance is somewhat more interesting. When you have three photos, a large one and two small ones, do you place two on the same side as the third, lined up? Or do you stagger them a little bit? How do you get the smaller photos to “weigh” as much, visually, as the larger one (or do you even worry about it; balance is above all a guideline.) You can get more “weight” to an object by giving it more contrast ( a small black object versus a larger grey object), or embellishments.
Another way the objects combine is to show emphasis. Usually a larger photo would get more emphasis. However, by placing it behind other objects, perhaps laying a vellum overlay over the larger photo or printing it in black and white, you could get more emphasis on the smaller objects. If you have several journalling blocks on a page, you could use the same color (from the same sheet of paper) for the lesser important ones, but use a different one (maybe in the same hue) for the border of the more important one.
When you use similar photos cropped similarily, or repetitive elements to connotate a link, you’re using the principle of “Unity.” That means there’s a design plan behind bringing the elements together, to tie things together. Not only is this visual unity, like shapes that repeat, but also two elements aligned along a common border, or their relative proximity to each other as compared to the rest of the page. This brings together the elements in both body and mind.
I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at scrapbook pages through classical “design theory.” This might give you some framework to base how you think a page works together; sometimes we “know” something works, but not why– this may give you some words to describe what you like and why you like it.
