JRN 302: Introduction to Graphics and Visual Communication - Proximity, contrast Tuesday, 11/9/15

Class Objectives Lecture Design Principles: Proximity, Contrast Homework assignments Read art/elements-and-principles-of-design/ Newsletter due at the end of class

Design Principle of Proximity Position related/similar items together Make them appear as a cohesive group rather than fighting for individual attention Implies closeness or relationship of items Also allows for easier understanding of items Think of a menu- all appetizers are in one area, all entrees in another Is yet another way for a designer to control where the eye goes and the stopping and starting of the reading

Proximity and Novice Designers Very often, novice designers try to fill up the entire space of a design When pieces of a design are scattered all over, the page appears unorganized and the information may not be instantly accessible to the viewer. Do not fear white space created by moving elements because of using proximity.

Proximity Can achieve proximity by physically moving elements closer to each other Quick test is to squint at design and look for chunks of visual data Make it without a doubt that elements go together Esp. if your audience is quickly looking at design

Example of use of proximity Ask yourself these ?s for each… Where do you first look? Where do you look next? How do your eyes travel around the design? How fast can you access information?

Example 2 Top design definitely has everything together… But proximity is more than just placing all elements near each other; try to have an reason why groupings occur Bottom design, 3 readings being close together show they are connected While bottom information is further away

Proximity Answers the “who”, “what”, “when”, “where” questions quickly You don’t lose the viewer because they just give up Clear communication of message is better than amateur design

Design Principles for Newsletter Proximity (somewhat important) White space between title, byline, body copy Images near stories Alignment (very important) Box/chunk out your design Suggestion to only use one type of text alignment (either left or fully justificed) Repetition (very important) Colors, symbols, styles, from page 1 to page 4 Contrast (somewhat important) Many ways to do this…

Contrast Occurs when two elements are different The greater the difference the greater the contrast – book says “Don’t be a wimp!” Goal is to add interest to a design, show what’s most important and direct the reader’s eye On a design without contrast, the viewer doesn't know where to look first or what is important. For you newsletter, although it looks conservative, there are a lot of ways to add contrast…

Color Contrast If they are very similar then they have low contrast. Harmonizing color = adjacent to each other on the color wheel (analogous)

Color Contrast If two colors are different to each other they have high contrast Complementary colors B/W

Color contrast Adding a spot of color Makes a design less costly to professionally print

Size Contrast Big and small images Big and small type Also called Typographic Scale Newspapers are best at this... log/contrast-through- scale

Contrast of images: Photographs or illustrations

Contrast with the Text Title text of stories should contrast with body copy… think about Color of the text Size of the text (body copy limitation, but not on title text) Styles can change (so same typeface.. Because you are limited to 3 overall) Bold, italicize