Four Desktop Publishing Design Elements that Everyone Needs to Know

1. Four Desktop Publishing Design Elements that Everyone Needs to Know Presented by Jerry Smith

2. Where We’re Going • Focus on four basic design elements • Contrast • Repetition • Alignment • Proximity • Examples of Each • Simple changes make a HUGE difference

3. The Big Four • Contrast • Repetition • Alignment • Proximity There is no clever acronymn: You’ll have to figure that one out on your own…

4. Before I Begin… • Framework by Robin Williams • Buy this Book: Non-Designer’s Design Book • ISBN: 0321193857

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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 (fonts) • Size • Shape

9. Color Contrast A simple logo with no contrast

10. Color Contrast Same simple logo with color contrast

11. A little contrast goes a long way Before After

12. Alignment Contrast • For years, most of us have been conditioned to believe that centering everything is the way to go:

13. Alignment Contrast • But centering everything is overly formal and boring! With a little alignment contrast:

14. A Tale of Two Alignments Before After

15. A Tale of Two (More) Alignments Before After

16. Typography Contrast • Choose fonts that differ greatly! • Bad: Times New Roman and Garamond • Good: Times New Roman and Comic Sans MS • Most common typography contrast involves serif vs. sans-serif

17. How NOT to do type contrast

18. Proper Type Contrast

19. One Small Change of Font Before After

20. Put It All Together

21. A pinch of font, a dash of color! Before After

22. 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)

23. Yawn!

24. A Little Size Makes a Big Difference

25. Yawn to Yay! Before After

26. Change the Size, Change the Message

27. Change the Size, Change the Message

28. Shape Contrast • Angular vs. Rounded

29. Contrast Review • Differences stand out • Emphasis • Stress • Color is easy • Be really different with • Fonts • Sizes

30. 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!

31. Things to Repeat • Colors • Fonts • Shapes • Sizes • Humans are very good at intrinsically associating a repeated element with its function

32. Page 4 of a very long book

33. …and 690 pages later

34. What’s repeated? • The page number formatting • The heading font, size, and weight • The body text font and size • The weight of emphasized text

35. Repeatable Elements with Distinct Function

36. Repeatable Elements with Distinct Function

37. 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!

38. 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

39. Same example, different context

40. One tiny adjustment…

41. Bye-bye extra box! Before After

42. You saw it but didn’t know it!

43. What about Alignment? • What about it!  • Think about the other three elements we’ve discussed… • Alignment can be • Contrasted • Repeated • Used to create proximation

44. 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

45. 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?”

46. In Review… • Focus on four basic design elements • Contrast • Repetition • Alignment • Proximity • It’s all subjective • Simple changes make a HUGE difference

47. In Review… • The framework is a tool, not a crutch • Teach it slowly and consistently • Don’t become a slave to it: HAVE FUN!

48. Thanks for playing along! • Any questions or comments? 