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The visual relationships describe how certain elements in a design interact with each other to create visual meaning. These relationships aid in establishing the primary and secondary principles in a design composition.

1.) Density

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• This poster has a high density of shapes on the lower, right side of the image.
• The juice bottle, red splash, and watermelon pieces are all overlapping and located within the same area.
• Your eye is drawn to the busiest area of the poster, without the image being too crowded.

2.) Direction

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• This poster immediately pulls you in, with the big red tomato at the upward center.
• The stems lead your eyes outwards and down as you start to notice the red text.
• As you read the text, you start to notice all the objects within the tomato.
• The tomato comes to a point at the bottom that leads your eyes downwards to the pasta sauce bottle.

3.) Discord

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• This poster is in discord because it has too many different things going on.
• There are multiple sizes, angles, styles, and colors of type. This makes the poster lack harmony.
• There is also text overlapping the check mark, X, and birds that is visually distracting. This makes the poster way harder to read.
• The birds do not match the theme of the poster.

4.) Economy

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• This advertisement has very few words and images, making the design clean cut and simple.
• Even though the design looks simple, it is very well thought out.
• Ford is able to get its message across, “The city is in your hands,” by showing a city scape as the edge of the key.
• This is a very clean, fresh, and interesting design.

5.) Focal Point

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• In this advertisement, your eyes are immediately drawn to the lady in the middle.
• She takes up about 2/3 of the frame and has lots of interesting shapes and colors.
• Once you see her, your eyes are led up with her hand, and you can see the brand name.
• Following her lower hand leads you to the drink that is being advertised.

6.) Harmony

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• This poster is consistent with its colors, font choices, images, and background.
• The black and white image of a lady, goes well with the black and white crocodile head. These elements mesh nicely to backup the idea presented, “Reimagine your world.”
• The background is split in half equally. The top teal half matches the rectangles framing the text at the bottom.
• All the text is the same style and white.

7.) Motif

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• This advertisement displays motif by using the same type of style for all three icons.
• The hammer, pencil, and magnifying glass icon are all contained in yellow circles.
• These circles are the same size.
• The icons are spaced evenly apart and have a coordinating caption that explains them.

8.) Tension

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• •This advertisement shows a lot of visual tension with the placement of the fire, the main characters, and the scene in the foreground.
• •The chaotic scenes in the foreground clash with the seemingly romantic main characters.
• Her arm is overlapping the foreground, splitting it up into two distinct scenes.
• •The fire in the background seems like it is coming off the characters, giving them an air of passion and danger.

9.) Theme

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• This advertisement shows an overlapping theme through its text, color, and layout choices.
• The light pink text matches with the border at the top and bottom of the image. This color also helps to represent the idea, “Land of the Sweets.”
• The blue and white colors in the image back up the idea of it being cold and tie in with the snowflakes.
• The lady on the right looks like she is signing and dancing, previewing what the show is going to be like.
• Visually, the text nicely frames the woman. This leaves enough space for information, while retaining the pretty background and other elements.

The elements of design encompass what designers use within a composition.

1.) Space

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• This panel from the manga Fruit’s Basket uses white space to draw your eye to the intended focus.
• The text bubbles have a lot of white space around words, making them stand out from the busier background.
• The text that is meant to be read in the character’s head, doesn’t have a text bubble.
• Tohru’s thoughts are just outlined with white strokes, distinguishing this text from the background and spoken text.
• The pages of the manga have a white area in the center, where the pages turn. This is necessary, so that the important images and text are not cut off in the page fold.

2.) Shape

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• This panel, from the Nancy Drew graphic novel, shows the element of shape.
• Through its use of splitting up the rectangular images diagonally, the scene is presented in a more interesting way.
• The image of the bear in the top right corner is draws you in first, then you notice Nancy coming out of this frame and connecting to the others.
• Nancy breaks up the rectangle shape of the first image to create a dynamic shape that draws your eyes downwards.
• By following her outline, you are led to read and view the scene in order.
• The bottom images being sliced in half adds drama and tension to the scene, and gives the impression of sharp claws.

3.) Size

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• The proportioning of the text, foreground, background, and subjects in this book cover support hierarchy in this composition.
• The text at the top of the composition takes up about 1/3 of the cover. This splits up the text information up from the image below so you can focus on one or the other.
• Making the title, “Nancy Drew” larger than the other text shows its importance.
• Nancy takes up about 1/3 of the image, showing her as an important character.
• The dove in the foreground is larger than the doves in the background, showing the perspective of them flying towards Nancy.

4.) Line

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• The lines in this composition frame the character Kyo perfectly and lead your eyes down the scene.
• Manga panels are read from right to left and up to down, so your eye would be drawn to the top right image first.
• The line framing the right side of the top image leads your eye down to the corner.  Your eye is then led to the bottom right of the top image.
• This repeats for the next two images under the top image, running down the right side of the composition.
• Your eye is then led over to the left. The lines framing the right-side images, also frame Kyo.
• The lines in this composition helps the reader make sense of what is happening and in order.

5.) Color

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• There are complementary colors in this book cover that bring visual interest and contrast.
• The blue text “Drew” stands out against the bright yellow background. This bright yellow also contrasts with the black text, “Nancy.”
• The use of color variety, saturation, and temperature help to promote the theme of the book. The color usage catches attention,  while retaining a unified look.
• The cool blue color promotes the cold temperature they are feeling in the air.
• Nancy’s fiery orange hair and Beth’s red outfit are warm colors and contrast with the cool colors in the background.
• The main colors in this cover are blue, yellow, red, and black. The limited color range helps to control variety.

6.) Pattern

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• There are two different patterns shown in this panel from Fruit’s Basket.
• The first pattern appears in the top two images as repeating flowers.
• The flower is repeated in the same style and spaced evenly apart. This creates a darker, more interesting background for the two characters.
• In the bottom half of the composition there is a pattern of intricate circles.
• These patterns add to the composition by adding interesting backgrounds, as well as helping to visualize Tohru’s mindset.
• The patterns in the background help you visualize Tohru’s change from confused at the top to shocked and freaking out in the bottom.

7.) Texture

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• This panel composition from Maximum Ride uses texture to bring the mountain, cave, and trees to life.
• Instead of drawing every individual leaf and rock, texture is used to create the illusion of depth and detail.
• The texture on the trees is distinct from the texture on the mountain and in the cave.
• The textures in this image help to set a realistic setting for the characters.
• The trees overlap the mountain, creating the feeling of depth. This tells your eyes that the trees are closer than the mountain.
• The cave walls in the foreground also create depth, by being brighter and having more detail than the back of the cave. This creates the visual atmosphere of a tunnel.

8.) Typography

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• This title cover represents the themes of death and justice shown in the manga through its choice of typography.
• The title Deathnote is all conjoined as one word, in a font type that looks like black specs. This creates a dark and mysterious look. The letter “E” is backwards, and the letters “A” and “T” are sideways. This variation from the other letters creates a feeling of tension and unease.
• All the type in this composition is black, white, or grey. The use of white and black in the title represents the conflict of the story. The white is how Light sees himself, while the black is the reality how the world sees him.
• The grey text on the sides of the cross is in a gothic style and fades more into the background. This text is less noticeable and readable, but still adds to the composition.

9.) Contrast

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• This title displays color contrast, in its use of very dark colors overlapping very bright colors.
• The wolves’ bright red eyes stand out against their dark bodies.
• The bright white and pink symbols in the background stand out against the black wolves in the foreground.
• The smooth and delicate nature of the background pattern also clashes with the jagged, harsh edges on the wolves.
• The wolves and the characters are facing in opposing directions, giving the impression that they are against each other.

The secondary principles of design are very important to any good design.

1.) Emphasis

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• This advertisement shows the principle of emphasis by making the words HAPPY HOUR the primary focus.
• This sign immediately stands out with its use of dark, big, bold text on top of a bright background.
• We immediately see this sign and know that it is the primary theme of this poster.

2.) Movement

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• This movie poster uses the principle of movement through its use of a dark frame that draws your eyes toward the middle.
• The text being stacked vertically, draws your eyes downwards as you read the text.
• The foreground of the poster also creates two diagonal lines that frame the characters in the center.

3.) Proximity

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• This advertisement for Listerine uses the principle of proximity, by placing the animals as if they are coming out of the bottle.
• This placement creates an association that Listerine cool mint is as cold and fresh as the arctic.
• The ice growing around the bottle backs up the association to Listerine tasting like a cold, fresh, burst.

4.) Repetition

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• The repetition of the links, colors, and characters create unity in this poster.
• The colors used throughout this poster are mostly green and white. This ties the links, text, and logo to the background.
• The repeating numbers and characters in the background represent data on your computer, and tie into the theme of data security.
• The repeating chain links lead your eyes from the top left corner, to the paperclip in the center. This is where the repetition of the strong clear link, is replaced by the flimsy paperclip.

5.) Rhythm

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• This poster showcases the principle of rhythm through its use of spacing, lines, and shapes.
• The background has three panels that are all equal. This gives the poster a look that is centered in the middle and matches on either side.
• Visually, there are five lines that run downward. The two lines in the background tie in with the line running through the center of the tire.
• The gradient in the background also forms a circle that matches with the tire in the middle.

6.) Scale

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• This poster for Shrek uses the principle of scale to show a clear hierarchy, as well as making the characters look right.
• The Letter ”S” in the center is the most dominant aspect of the poster. It is scaled up to fit almost the whole poster, giving it heavy importance and priority.
• The characters are scaled down to be proportionate to each other. This lets you know that Shrek is much bigger than his human counterparts.
• The names of the actors are in large print, making them stand out. They are all equal sizes though, showing that all four acters have the same importance in the movie.

The primary principles are 6 design rule that are used to create effective designs.

1. Unity
   • Unity is the control of variety. To create a unified look in a composition you can use up to 2 typefaces, create a color scheme, and make sure certain elements are repeating. You want things to look like they belong together but its also ok to have some variety and contrast.
2. Variety
   • Variety complements unity and is essential to adding contrast and interest to a design. Variety can create a focal point, and aid in the meaning of messages.
3. Hierarchy
   • Hierarchy refers to an arranged order. Using hierarchy in any composition is important to leading the viewers eye, establishing the importance of certain elements, and establishing depth. A hierarchy can also help in a practical way of breaking up information and helping readers quickly decipher information.
4. Dominance
   • Dominance is the prevailing influence of one element over another. This principle is similar to hierarchy. Dominant elements within a composition help to add contrast and a focal point in your composition.
5. Proportion
   • Proportion refers to the size relationships within a composition. Using appropriate proportions will make a design more understandable to the viewer. You want to make sure your elements feel like they are size and placed appropriately, relative to each other in order to establish the depth and hierarchy you are going to.
6. Balance
   • Balance is the visual distribution of elements in a composition. The four types of visual balance are symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, and crystallographic.
   • Symmetrical designs can be split down the middle horizontally or vertically and the reflecting sides would be very similar. This portrays a sense of evenness as the visual weight is the same reflected both ways.
   • Asymmetrical designs are not the same on each side but both sides feel like they have about the same amount of space being taken.

There are different ways that type functions as texture within a composition as well as how the spacing and placement of type affect the visual and verbal meaning of the type. Type, like an image, is abstract and visual in nature. Individual letters, words, and paragraphs are made up of a series of dots, lines, planes, and fields of texture. Designers can learn how to influence type to better support their verbal and visual message within a composition. While all type should be functional and legible, type doesn’t have to be boring. Typographic color describes the way that type is placed in a format, its rhythm, and its spatial and textural qualities. While the chromatic color of type also influences its texture, space, and meaning, typographic color refers only to the value of the type and not the hue itself. Typographic color separates type from the surface of the design and introduces the illusion of spatial depth.

Larger type appears closer to the reader, while smaller type recedes into the background. The size of type is measured in points and is controlled in the character panel in indesign. The larger type takes up more space, making it stand out more. The larger type standing out more also mimics our visual perception of the world, where objects that are closer to us are larger and objects that are farther away get smaller and smaller until we can’t even see them any more or tell what they are. It is standard in design that an 8-12pt font is appropriate for larger bodies of text. If the text becomes smaller than 8 points, it may be too hard to read easily, especially for screen viewing. Designers must also take into consideration how far away the viewer will be from the design when they are reading it. A flyer will probably be very close to your face when you are reading it, so you can have some type that is smaller, while a billboard will be viewed from a great distance away, so the type must be very large in order to read it. Type size supports the visual hierarchy in the way that the type that is the largest will draw the most attention and stand out first, and then the next largest, etc. You must keep in mind though that if type is too large, it may lose meaning as a letter and become more of a shape to your eye because the shapes, lines, and planes of the letter will stand out more. You must also make sure that your type isn’t all the same size, or it will be very hard to distinguish the visual hierarchy. But if your type is all the same size, like in a book, you can use spacing, bolding, and itilizing instead to create visual hierarchy and interest.

In a composition with a white (or light) background, lighter type will appear to recede into the background, while darker type will appear to be closer. This is because the darkest type will have the highest contrast with the background color, making it the most noticeable. This can be used to create depth and aid in visual hierarchy. For example, you may want your headline on a white background to be black, while the body copy is 75% black. This will help the viewer to see the headline first and then the body copy. The value of text can also be used to emphasize certain words or letters. With the body copy, you may have 75% black, but have a few words be in full black so that they stand out more against the paragraph. When you have a black or dark background, the opposite is true. The lightest text color will stand out the most, and the darker text colors will start to recede and blend in with the background color more.

Textural weight is affected by how thick or thin the individual letters of type are. Thicker type will appear to stand out more and have the effect of being louder and more heavy. The thinner type appears to stand out less and has the effect of being quieter and lighter. The weight can be changed by changing the style of the font. Some fonts have more style variations than others, but you can also create a different style manually by adding a stroke or changing the horizontal scale of the letters to be over or under 100% of the original.

Textural density is made up of a combination of space apart from letters and words, sizing, and weight. The closer together letters in a word are, the more dense they appear to be, and it gives the effect of being spoken faster. The farther apart the letters in a word are, the less dense they appear to be, and it gives the effect of being spoken more slowly. Words are more associated with one another when they are closer together, and this aids in understanding verbal messages in a design. Words that are farther apart from each other are more distinctive and are less associated with each other. It is important to make sure that words in a paragraph do not become too far apart vertically because there is a certain distance apart that makes the white spaces between the lines of type more distinctive. Spacing within a paragraph and word can be controlled by leading, tracking, and kerning. Placement of the type also affects the space in a design.

1.) Type Size

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The phrase “I’m lovin’ it,” in this advertisement, immediately catches your eye, because it is the largest font size of all the type within the composition. You will notice “THE ANGUS THIRD POUNDER…GET YOURS TODAY!” next because it is the second largest type size in the composition. Next is the type on the bottom right corner, and then on the bottom left corner. The varying type sizes within this composition help to distinguish a visual hierarchy of information, break up different bits of information, and lead your eye down the layout.

2.) Type Value

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The type in this composition appears to be either white (the lightest value) or black (the darkest value). Against the dark blue sky, “LISTERINE POWER TO YOUR MOUTH” stands out because the light value of the type has high visual contrast. Against the white label on the mouthwash bottle, “LISTERINE COOL MINT,” has very high visual contrast because it is the darkest value. The other information on the product does not stand out as much because the type is the lightest value against a lighter blue-green. The contrasting values of the type with the background colors help with visual hierarchy and create focal points that your eyes are drawn to.

3.) Type Weight

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The type, “SKINCARE BUNDLES,” has the thickest characters within this composition. The thicker weight makes the phrase appear to be the loudest, standing out the most out of the other type. It is very in your face and noticeable compared to the other type. The other type that is thicker is the website. The thicker lines stand out against the other type even though it is not the largest type in the composition. The thicker lines add visual weight, making the type heavier, while the type, “DISCOUNT 20%,” has a very light weight because of the thinner lines. The varying type weights in the composition help to add contrast and visual interest and aid in the tone and cadence of the words.

4.) Type Spacing

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The spacing around, within, and between the words in this composition helps to aid with reading comprehension, visual hierarchy, and direction in the composition. The type, “ANNA FARIS ALLISON JANNEY,” is placed very close to the type, “Mom.” This very close placement between the words lets you know that these two names are very closely related to the show title, presumably the names of the two ladies on the left. This lets you know that these are the leading actresses in the show. The other type on the bottom half of the composition is also grouped together to create a new idea, but they are spaced away from the title. This physical distance creates a differentiation of ideas and breaks up the information so it is easier to read and comprehend.

5.) Type Density

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The type in this advertisement, “THE THING YOU WANT WHEN YOU ORDER SALAD,” appears to be very dense and heavy in the composition. The characteristics that make this type appear very dense are that the characters are very thick, large, and close together. The density makes the type pop out, takes up a lot of space, and almost creates a shape of its own. The type at the bottom of the composition, “I’m lovin’ it,” is very light, subtle, and has a low density. The type is very small, has thinner letters, and the letters are not as close together.

Chromatic interaction has to do with the way we perceive color and the effects that occur when different colors interact. One common tool to help organize and understand color relationships is the color wheel. A color wheel helps to show the differences in hue and saturation among a variety of hues. The primary colors that all other colors can be created from in the system of light are red, yellow, and blue. The color wheel shows these primary hues and some of the main color combinations that can occur from mixing them. When it comes to these hues on the color wheel, blue has the darkest value, while yellow has the lightest value. It’s important to know that color relationships can only occur when two or more colors are interacting together. This doesn’t apply when only one color is used in varying degrees of value and intensity in a composition.

Colors on the color wheel that are close together have similar wavelengths, so they are perceived more similarily and create a harmonious feel when used together. For example: red and orange, orange and yellow, yellow and green, green and blue, blue and purple, purple and red. These are considered to be analogous color combinations. Complementary colors are those that are opposite on the color wheel. For example: red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange. These color combinations have the highest amount of contrast. Complementary colors can be used successfully in a composition to create a point of interest and aid in visual hierarchy. Triadic color combinations occur when three colors are 120 degrees away from each other on the color wheel. These color combinations are more highly contrasting than analogous colors but less contrasting than complementary colors. These are good combinations to add interest without being too in your face.

Value can be used within a composition to create contrast, movement, and depth. Value takes a hue from the lightest possible to the darkest possible version and reflects nature. We perceive in the real world that light comes from above and darkness is below. We can see this with the sun and ceiling lights being overhead. The way the light comes down from above creates shade from different angles. We also perceive that light is closer to us and darkness is farther away. This is also a reflection of the fact that things that are closer to us are easier to see and understand, and the farther away something is from you, the harder it is to see the details. With these relationships exhisting in nature, this is also what we will naturally perceive within a composition. You can, however, play with these relationships and alter the expectations of the viewer as long as you do it effectively.

Temperature relationships among colors are based on nature and have an effect on the depth, mood, feelings, and atmosphere within a design. In the real world, the sky is blue. Because of this, water also appears blue because it is a reflection of the sky. Blue is considered a cool color because the elements that contain it in nature are considered to reflect a cool, crisp, refreshing nature. Colors that are closest to blue, blue-green, indigo, and violet are also cool colors because of the close association with blue. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the sun represents warm colors. Warm colors include magenta, red, orange, yellow, and yellow-green. Warm colors represent heat, passion, and food. Warm colors appear to pop out more than cool colors and appear in the foreground. This is because warmer colors tend to be brighter and more saturated than cool colors. Brown can be either cool or warm because it is a combination of multiple colors at once.

Depth and heirarchy within a composition can be created using various color combinations. When there is a white field in a composition, cool colors appear to recede and warm colors advance. More saturated hues and hues of darker values also appear to advance. When there is a black field in a composition, hues of lighter values advance. When the field of the composition is a color, the relationships change. The greater the difference of contrast between value, saturation, and temperature among colors, the greater the distinction between elements is for viewers.

Overall, it’s important to consider color relationships within a composition and how they will affect your message to the viewer. It is critical to create a plan for what colors you will use in a design and the reason you want to use them. Consider the natural color relationships that occur in nature, but also when it is appropriate to subvert the viewer’s expectations of how these colors function.

1.) Complementary Colors

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This advertisement for Nintendo uses complementary colors in the headline to draw you in. In the word “GLOVE,” which is the largest word in the composition, there is a distinctive wavy orange shape on top of a blue background. Blue and orange are complementary colors, so this combination stands out and catches your eye right away.

2.) Analogous Colors

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This advertisement from McDonalds uses a mostly analogous color scheme to tie in with their branding and create a sense of unity. McDonald’s colors are red and yellow, which are reflecting in this composition with the use of red, orange, and yellow at different values. The brown is also warmer and is closely related to the red. The only color that stands out is the green lettuse and the silver nozzle.

3.) Value Relationships

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This advertisement from Absolut Vodka uses different colors with different values to place emphasis on certain parts of the composition. Because a black background is used, the colors with lighter values stand out more than the colors with darker values. Yellow has the lightest value, so this is used behind the brand name, emphasizing it the most. Red and green are the second colors noticed because they have the second lightest values. The colors then fade from blue
to purple. Because of the way the colors are placed with each other, it creates a sense of rhythm, movement, and fading from the background to the foreground and then back again.

4.) Saturation Relationships

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This Dior advertisement uses saturation to create a sense of depth and emphasis within the composition. The less saturated color recedes to the background, while the highly saturated gold color pops out to the foreground. Her skin tone is more saturated than the background but less saturated than the foreground, so it appears in the middle.

5.) Temperature Relationships

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This magazine cover uses temperature relationships to create a mood as well as establishing depth. The photo emphasizes this perfectly, with the cool blue ocean in the background gradually becoming a little warmer as it approaches the warm landscape. The title, “HAWAII,” is a very warm orange, contrasting with the cool water and giving a mood of a warm sunny vacation. The teal circle behind the words, “20+ PLACES TO DISCOVER ON MAUI,” is a cooler color that contrasts well against the land.

Angel Larson

Space on its own is neutral or inactive until it is broken up by form. Just like a document starts as a blank white rectangle, the addition of type creates new shapes and blank spaces that change how we as viewers see and interpret the information. Usage of space must be handled intentionally by the designer to aid in the message and make things easier to interpret for the viewer.

When designing 2D layouts, it is important to create a sense of depth and movement with shapes and forms, so that the composition appears more dynamic. When arranging forms, a designer should consider using a symmetrical or asymmetrical layout. Symmetry occurs in a layout when both halves reflect over a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal central axis. Symmetry can occur around a single axis or multiple different axes at a time. Symmetrical layouts may not always be the best course for a design, as they may come off as static, boring, or too repetitive in many cases. Asymmetry relies on proportional relationships in shape and space to balance out the composition. Asymmetrical designs may appear more natural, as many forms in the natural world are not symmetrical.

The structure of forms in space affects the viewer’s perception and meaning that they interpret from a design composition. There are many different structural relationships that you can achieve by placing forms by each other with consideration to the space between them, the angles of the forms, the sizes of the forms, and the shapes they are creating. Arrangements of forms can be perceived as geometric, organic, rigid, or irregular. Very complex layouts can have hundreds or thousands of different individual shapes, forms, structures, and meanings. For example, in a magazine cover, there might be a person on the cover. We recognize a person as a person, but they are also built up of thousands of different smaller shapes and parts that create a whole that we can visually understand. The same could be said about type. Each letter and shape holds its own meaning, and when combined, letters become words that we can understand when certain letters are placed together.

Proportional relationships have to do with controlling eye movement through establishing recognizable, repeated intervals. The rule of thirds splits the space in a composition into thrirds, vertically and horizontally. The rationale is that our eyes will focus on the points where the composition splits into thirds. Musical logic establishes different repeated intervals that can be used to make a layout make more sense to the viewer. For example, in this paper, the space between the lines of type is all the same. The height of the ascenders of the letters to the decender of the letters is also the same.

The margins are also the same on each side. The height and width of a capital T in this paper are all the same. This creates a logic that makes the shapes and sizes make more sense across the layout. Mathematical logic creates a fractional relationship between elements in a composition to each other. For example in zoo maps, the shapes and sizes of the elements of the map are shrunken down from the real world but are still proportional. The paths are more narrow than the buildings, and the spaces the aimals are in are much larger than the buildings. Having this sense of forms being proportional to each other makes the map more realistic and understandable to the real world. The golden section creates a point of focus by breaking down a composition proportionally. The composition can be broken down repeatedly into a larger section and a smaller section. This appears to create a spiral shape downward.

Depth can be created in a composition by using varying sizes of shapes, overlapping shapes, using transparency, and making shapes bleed past the constraints of the format. Depth in a layout mirrors the real world and creates a more dynamic composition that appears more 3D. We can create the illusion with shape and space that we are looking off into the distance, that some shapes are popping out at you, that the shapes on the page are part of the real world, or that we are looking through a shape to see another. Movement can be created with shape and space to create a desirable eye flow and give life to a composition.

Using a large amount of blank space around a shape can actually be helpful to direct your eyes to the shape faster, show contrast, and emphasize a form. It’s very insightful to learn so much about shape and space and how we as designers can use their unique relationships to our advantage. Shape and space are a natural part of the physical world and can be reflected into our designs to communicate the message we would like the viewer to interpret in our designs.

1.) Symmetrical

(Photo screenshotted from my Instagram. I do not own this material and am using it for informational purposes only.)

This ad is symmetrical across the horizontal and vertical axes. It is not a completely perfect reflection, but the elements across from each other take up about the same amount of space and are about the same shapes as well, with exception to the orange background. The symmetry of the elements helps the ad to balance out the space. Because the elements aren’t exactly the same across the horizontal and vertical axes, it helps to keep the layout from being too boring or repetitive.

2.) Asymmetrical

(Photo screenshotted from my Instagram. I do not own this material and am using it for informational purposes only.)

This ad is asymmetrical but is a well-balanced composition. Top Felton is not looking at the camera straight on; his head is tilted to the right. His head being tilted to the right balances out with “Beyond the Wand,” being tilted towards the left. It is also balanced out by having larger text on the left,
“THE MAGIC & MAYHEM OF GROWING UP A WIZARD,” while the quote on the right, “A brilliant memoir about growing up playing an iconic role,” is much smaller. This is because the way Tom Felton is positioned in the frame, there is more open space on the left than the right, so the text must be different sizes so that they fit into the space better.

3.) Structure

(Photo screenshotted from my Instagram. I do not own this material and am using it for informational purposes only.)

This ad has a few different structural relationships that I noticed right away when I saw it. The first is that the colored boxes are stacked on top of each other. They are not touching, but all the boxes are the same size and shape and have the same amount of space between them. This helps to lead your eye down the stack of boxes from top to bottom. The colored boxes also correlate with the multi-colored wheel. The colored sections of this wheel form a circular structure. This helps the viewer understand that the different sections are all part of a whole circle and that they represent a numerical fraction of the whole. The overlapping structure of the color wheel and colored boxes being on top of the map in the background, also ties in the idea that the DNA is measured from different parts of the world.

4.) Depth

(Photo screenshotted from my Instagram. I do not own this material and am using it for informational purposes only.)

This ad uses various methods to establish depth within the format, including overlapping forms, transparency, varying sizes, and bleeding past the bounds of the format. Most of the depth comes from the picture that was used, but there is also a sense of depth created with the use of the text. The text appears to be in the foreground, closest to the viewer, because the red rectangle that the text sits on is in front of the picture. The picture bleeds off the format on the left and right sides. The picture could have had a border or space left around it, but because it goes all the way to the edge of the ad, it is as if you could image the rest of the studio that we cannot see. The lady in the middle is bigger than the ladies on the sides; this tells the viewer that she is closer to you than the other ladies. You can also see through the windows in the background, giving you a view of the world beyond the photo. This photo exhibits how we can create shapes and forms in space to mimic the real world. In the real world, we are always seeing depth, so it is only natural to recreate this in our designs.

5.) Proportion

(Photo screenshotted from my Instagram. I do not own this material and am using it for informational purposes only.)

This ad utilizes proportion by using the rule of thirds, mathematical logic, and musical logic in the composition. The composition is split vertically into three sections when it comes to the visuals and information under the visuals. “Joan of Arc,” “Richard the Lionheart,” and “Marco Polo” are all on top of boxes that are the same width. This composition uses mathematical logic with the graphics of people by making their heads and bodies the same size. Because they are at the same level of depth, it makes sense for them to be proportionally the same size. Musical logic is used in this composition by the established repeated sizes of the shapes and spaces in-between shapes. The rectangles behind the type are all the same distance from each other from the bottom to the top and from the left to the right sides. The names are all the same size, and the information about the people is the same size of type. The text is also inset to the same amount within each box with text. This musical logic makes the composition easier to read and makes more sense to the viewer.