1. Principles of Graphics Design
Howell Istance

2. Principles in Graphics Design
Visual language - visual characteristics of a set of objects (point, line, plane, volume) and the way in which they are related to each other (balance, rhythms, structure, proportion)
Design is valued for its fitness to a particular user and task design aesthetic is always related to the intended function of the resulting product
3 design themes
Elegance and Simplicity
Scale, Contrast and Proportion
Organisation and Visual Structure

3. Elegance and Simplicity
Seen in the immediately obvious success of a novel
approach that solves a problem completely yet in a
highly economical way
Principles
Difficult to achieve understatement through conscious effort
Elements in the design must be unified to produce a coherent whole
The parts (and the whole) must be refined to focus the viewers attention on the essential parts
The fitness of the solution to the communication problem must be assured at every level.

4. Elegance and Simplicity
Techniques
Reduce a design to its essence
Regularise the elements of the design
Combining the elements for maximum leverage
"Simplicity doesn't mean poverty, it does not mean the absence of any décor or absolute nudity. It only means that the décor should belong intimately to the design proper and anything foreign to it should be taken away."

5. Scale, Contrast and Proportion
Scale - feeling of the design fitting into its space and surroundings
Contrast - noticeable differences along a common visual dimension
Proportion - metric that guide choice of scales in a contrast relationship
Differentiation - contrast essential for differentiating elements from one another

6. Scale, Contrast and Proportion
Emphasis - scale and contrast used to emphasize important elements
Activity - scale and contrast move viewers eye through a composition in a predictable sequence
Interest - scale and contrast can add visual interest by counter posing elements with strongly opposed visual qualities

7. Scale, Contrast and Proportion
Principles
Clarity
Harmony
Activity
Restraint
Techniques
Perceptual layering
Sharpening visual distinctions

8. Organisation and Visual Structure
Principles
Grouping - related
Hierarchy - of importance for elements and groups
Structure - to reflect relationships between groups
Balance - in resultant composition
Techniques
Using symmetry to ensure focus
Using alignment to establish visual relationships
Optical adjustment for human vision

9. Rules of Thumb Understand the medium Establish a visual hierarchy
Direct the reader’s eye
Avoid graphics distractions
Be consistent

10. Visual Scanning
Readers see pages first as large masses of shapes and colour
second, they pick out specific information, initially from graphics...
..then starting to get information from text
image taken from Yale Style Manual at

11. Establish visual hierarchy
...through graphic balance and organisation of the page
image taken from Yale Style Manual at

12. Direct the reader's eye In the West, readers of English
read from left to right,
top of the page to the bottom.
In page layout top of the page most dominant location,
Subtle pastel shades of colors for background or minor elements
Avoid bold, highly saturated primary colors except in regions of maximum emphasis
Type must always contrast sharply with any background color

13. Avoid graphic distraction
Use horizontal ruler, bullets, icons sparingly to avoid a patchy and confused lay out
image taken from Yale Style Manual at

14. Consistency
Consistent colour schemes aid user orientation about where they are
image taken from Yale Style Manual at

15. Consistency
(main page)
(subsequent pages)
Consistent navigation mechanisms retain elements of the ‘look’ (visual appearance) and ‘feel’ (behaviour - response to user input)
image taken from Yale Style Manual at