1. 4 Basic Principles of Design  Proximity  Alignment  Repetition  Contrast Credit: Robin Williams

3. Proximity Organization  Group related items together.  Proximity, or the closeness, implies a relationship.  Elements that are intellectually connected, that have some sort of communication relationship, should be visually connected.  When several items are in close proximity to each other they become one visual unit rather than several separate units.

4. Proximity  Squint slightly and count separate elements on the page by counting the number of times your eye stops.  Avoid too many separate elements on a page.  Don’t stick things in the corners and in the middle.  Avoid leaving equal amounts of white space between elements unless each group is part of a subset.

5. Alignment  Always find something to align with, even if the objects are physically far from each other on the page.  To make all the elements appear, connected, interrelated, there needs to be some visual tie between separate elements.  Avoid using more than one text alignment on the page.  Use centered alignment with care.

6. Proximity: Group related items together to organize intellectually and visually

7. Alignment Unification  Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily.  Everything should have a visual connection with something else on the page.  In any well-designed piece, you will be able to draw lines to the aligned objects, even if the overall presentation of material is a wild collection of odd things and has lots of energy.

8. Alignment: The flush right has a stronger invisible line than centered alignment

9. Contrast Interest and organization  If two items are not exactly the same, then make them Very different.  Large vs. small type  Graceful oldstyle fonts vs. bold sans serif font  Thin vs. thick line  Cool color vs. warm color

10. Contrast

11. The Process  Start with a focal point. Decide what you want to emphasize.  Group your information into logical groups. Decide on the relationships between the groups. Display those relationships with the closeness or distance. (proximity)  Create and maintain strong alignments. Find a strong edge and strengthen by aligning text or objects.  Create a repetition.  Create strong contrasts. Remember-If everything is bold, nothing will stand out.