5 laws of design layout & composition *golden rules*
Summary
TLDRThis video tutorial introduces five essential design principles to elevate your layouts and compositions. It covers grid systems for alignment and organization, creating hierarchy and proximity for visual engagement, layering for depth, harmonizing colors for consistency, and establishing focal points to guide viewer attention. The presenter demonstrates techniques in Adobe Illustrator and emphasizes the importance of these principles for professional and engaging designs.
Takeaways
- 📐 Grid systems are essential for creating professional layouts; they help with alignment and organizing text and imagery through rows and columns.
- 🔍 Hierarchy and proximity are vital for creating pace and visual engagement; they help in guiding the viewer's attention in the right order.
- 📚 Layering adds depth and movement to a design, creating a sense of uplift and enhancing the viewer's engagement with the content.
- 🎨 Harmonizing colors is crucial for a cohesive design; using a consistent color palette helps maintain a professional look and feel.
- 🎯 Creating focal points directs the viewer's attention to the most important elements of the design, ensuring key messages are not overlooked.
- 🖌️ Using a modular grid in Adobe Illustrator involves creating a rectangle around the artboard, adjusting for gutters, and splitting the grid into columns and rows.
- 🔑 Proximity in design helps group related information together, making it easier for viewers to read and understand the content sequentially.
- 📈 Icons and photography can be used to break up text and create visual interest, but should not overpower the main communication elements.
- 🖼️ A bold border and subtle grid systems can frame a poster and add a layer of creativity and organization to the design.
- 🌈 Global colors in design tools allow for easy adjustments to color schemes across multiple elements or artboards.
- 🔍 Pre-defined color palettes can be sourced from image searches, providing a multitude of options for a natural and harmonious look.
Q & A
What are the five laws of layout and composition discussed in the video?
-The five laws are: 1) Grid systems and modular grids, 2) Hierarchy and proximity, 3) Creating layering, 4) Harmonizing colors, and 5) Creating focal points.
How do grid systems help in design?
-Grid systems help with alignment and provide a professional layout structure, making it easier to organize text and imagery in designs.
What is the purpose of using a modular grid in Illustrator?
-A modular grid in Illustrator helps create a structured layout with rows and columns that separate into modules for organizing content, enhancing alignment and professionalism.
How does creating a hierarchy in design improve visual engagement?
-Creating a hierarchy improves visual engagement by establishing a clear order of information that guides the viewer's attention and helps communicate messages effectively.
What is the significance of proximity in design hierarchy?
-Proximity in design hierarchy is important as it groups related information together, making it easier for viewers to read and understand the content in the intended sequence.
Can you explain the concept of layering in design and its benefits?
-Layering in design involves stacking elements to create depth and movement, which adds pace and enhances the visual appeal, making the design more engaging and dynamic.
How does harmonizing colors contribute to a cohesive design?
-Harmonizing colors ensures a consistent and visually pleasing palette, which helps integrate elements within the design and makes it more aesthetically coherent.
What is the role of focal points in a design?
-Focal points in a design serve to draw the viewer's attention and guide them through the content, ensuring that the most important elements are noticed and read first.
How can using global colors in Illustrator streamline the design process?
-Using global colors in Illustrator allows for easy and consistent color changes across multiple elements or artboards, streamlining the design process and ensuring uniformity.
What is the recommended method for selecting a color palette for a design?
-The video suggests using the eyedropper tool to select colors from the design's existing elements or searching for a suitable color palette on Google images for inspiration.
How does the use of icons in a design contribute to better communication?
-Icons in a design help to break up text, making individual points more distinct and easier to understand, thus improving the overall communication of the design.
Outlines
📐 Mastering Layout with Grid Systems
This paragraph introduces the first law of layout and composition: the use of grid systems for professional design structure. Modular grids, consisting of rows and columns, help organize text and imagery, facilitating alignment and enhancing visual appeal. The speaker demonstrates creating a modular grid in Adobe Illustrator, emphasizing its utility in various design complexities. The grid system aids in aligning elements, making the design process more systematic and visually coherent.
🔝 Establishing Hierarchy and Proximity for Visual Engagement
The second law discussed is the importance of hierarchy and proximity in design to create pace and engagement. By structuring information in a logical order with varying text sizes and placements, designers can capture the viewer's attention and communicate effectively. The example provided illustrates the correct use of hierarchy with a 'Black Friday sale' headline, followed by the discount information and logo, concluding with product details. The paragraph also contrasts this with a poorly structured design that lacks visual engagement due to improper hierarchy and proximity.
🎨 Creating Depth with Layering
The third law focuses on layering to add depth and movement to a design. Using a poster set for a fictional company 'Blue Skies', the speaker shows how to create a sense of uplift through layering different fonts, text positions relative to imagery, and adding a bold border. The process involves bringing in a second font, layering text over and behind a photo, and incorporating a grid system and handwritten notes for added depth and creativity. This technique is applicable to various design scenarios to enhance visual interest.
🎨 Harmonizing Colors for Consistent Design
The fourth law addresses color harmony in design. The speaker critiques a poorly chosen color palette and demonstrates creating a cohesive color scheme using the eyedropper tool in Illustrator. By selecting colors from the design's background and elements, a new color group is formed in the swatches panel, set as Global for easy adjustments across multiple artboards or elements. The speaker also suggests using Google images to find and pre-define color palettes, advocating for simplicity in design.
🎯 Crafting Focal Points for Effective Communication
The final law highlighted is the creation of focal points to guide the viewer's attention. Using a design example, the speaker explains how to establish a clear focal point with a figure layered over background graphics, creating contrast and stand-out. The design also includes a large quote as the primary text element, followed by related information and a call to action in a bright color to ensure visibility and prompt user engagement. The paragraph concludes by summarizing the integration of all five layout and composition laws in the presented design, offering a clean and simple format.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Grid Systems
💡Hierarchy and Proximity
💡Layering
💡Color Palette
💡Focal Points
💡Modular Grid
💡Alignment
💡Visual Engagement
💡Pace
💡Creativity
Highlights
Introduction of five layout and composition laws to enhance design professionalism and engagement.
Explanation of grid systems and modular grids for alignment and professional layout structure.
Demonstration of creating a modular grid in Adobe Illustrator using the Marquee tool and object path split into grid.
Application of gutters in grids for better alignment and organization of text and imagery.
Importance of hierarchy and proximity in design for creating pace and better visual engagement.
Example of using hierarchy to emphasize the headline and important information in a layout.
Technique of locking related information together to guide the viewer's reading order.
Use of icons and photography to add individuality and mood to design elements.
Avoiding design pitfalls by ensuring proper hierarchy and visual engagement.
Introduction of layering to create depth and movement in a poster design.
Technique of using different fonts and text positioning to create a sense of uplift.
Utilization of borders and grid systems to frame and organize design elements.
Principles of harmonizing colors for a cohesive and visually appealing design.
Method of creating a consistent color palette using the eyedropper tool and swatches panel in Illustrator.
Advantage of using global colors for easy and consistent color changes across multiple design elements.
Strategy for pre-defining a color palette by searching for inspiration on Google images.
Importance of creating focal points in design to guide viewer attention and improve readability.
Example of using size, color, and layering to establish clear focal points in a design.
Conclusion summarizing the five laws and their impact on creating professional and engaging designs.
Transcripts
hello everyone in this video we have
five laws of layout and composition that
are instantly going to make your designs
look more professional and engaging lore
number one grid systems modular grids
are made up of a series of rows and
columns these are separated into modules
which can be used to organize text and
imagery this helps with alignment and
gives you a professional layout
structure to use in your designs it can
be used for simple Graphics more
editorial style designs or even more
complex examples like these
now I work mainly in illustrator so I'm
going to show you how to make a modular
Grid in illustrator I'm going to take
the Marquee tool we'll press the m key
and we're going to draw a rectangle
around the entire artboard now I want a
three mil gutter around the edges so I'm
going to reduce the height and width by
six mil
[Music]
and I'm going to come to object a path
split into grid
I want a six column grid with a three
mil gutter so I'm going to come put
those values in turning preview on so I
can see what I'm doing
then I'll hit OK and draw another
rectangle around those columns
now to apply the rose so I want eight
rows with a three mil gutter
now if I select all of that and go to
view guides make guides
you'll see that's turned into a grid
system text imagery and shapes will snap
to this making alignment a little bit
easier and you'll see this sort of grid
system in use throughout the rest of the
video
law number two hierarchy and proximity
this is probably the fastest way to
create pace and better visual engagement
in the design it's going to make
whatever you're designing more
destructive to catch the viewer's
attention as well as help communicate in
the right order so if you take a look at
this simple text layout here we have the
headline Black Friday sale which is
taking up half of the page because
that's the first thing we want viewers
to see we're then telling the viewer
what they get exactly with 20 off
everything directly underneath we're
doing this in a black bar to underline
Black Friday sale and notice I've locked
those two up together in the same
proximity the reason being because those
two bits of information relate to each
other we want the viewer to sort of read
them together one after the other we've
then got the logo applied again to
create a bit of pace and visual
disruption but not in a way that's
overbearing or drawing your eye away
from the headline too early we've then
got some product information at the
bottom of the page which the viewer can
get into once we've managed to get their
attention using icons in this case
really helps to pull each point apart
and make them more individual and I've
personally kept the photography more
paired back be more of a mood setup we
don't want this to be one of the main
pieces of communication in this instance
now I'm going to show you how not to do
it so in this example I've still
technically got okay hierarchy but
there's just not much Pace or visual
engagement and everything is kind of
bunched up together in the same
proximity so it's going to be harder to
get the viewer to read the design in the
correct order that's why it's always
important to consider hierarchy and
proximity law number three create
layering
this poster set is for a fictional
company called Blue Skies they provide a
creative shared workspace with the aim
of lifting creative opportunities and
creative businesses to the next level so
I really want to create this sense of
uplift and you can do that with layering
so let's take one of the posters for
example I've got all the information
laid out and step by step I can create
much more layering depth and movement so
first I'm going to bring in a second
font which instantly starts to create a
little bit more Pace then we're going to
layer that over the photo start to
create some depth in the poster so I'm
going to layer that a bit more having
some of the text in front of the photo
and some of it behind so you really
start to get the sense of movement going
up the page I've also added a bold blue
border to frame the poster and really
draw your attention and finally to add a
sense of creativity and organization
I've added some subtle grid systems and
handwritten notes over the top of the
imagery just to give that a little bit
more depth and here you can see the full
transformation
the principles of layering and depth can
be applied in all sorts of other ways
and we'll get some more of that later in
the video law 4 harmonize colors
so look at this garish mess the only
thing really wrong with this is the
color palette I'm going to show you how
I create color palette that integrate
into your workflow and are easy to keep
consistent across large or complex
designs so I've just drawn two squares
here I'm going to use the eyedropper
tool to select one of the lighter colors
in the background of the photograph
that's slightly too yellow so I'm going
to make it a bit more neutral
then I want a darker color so I'm going
to take that from the tree then I'll
select both of them that come to my
swatches panel click new color group you
want selected artworks tipped or you can
leave the settings as they are and click
OK and you'll see that's created a new
color group in your swatches panel you
want these to be Global colors you'll
see why in a minute so just double click
each one hit Global and click ok
now we're going to come and change my
background to the lighter color and
change my text to the brown easy way to
select all the text if you click one
element come to select and then select
same fill color
foreign
let's say I decide the background is a
bit too yellow and I want to make it
more earthy because I made it a global
color I can just come in and double
click the Swatch and change the color
from here which really helps when you're
dealing with a lot of artboards or if
this color is applied to a number of
shapes and text it just means I can
change it all at once without having to
select anything so I've made that more
green I'm going to click OK and then I'm
going to change the brown a little bit
as well make that a bit more green
and I'll come in and change the stroke
to Green as well just by breaking the
feel to The Strokes down the left here
now let's say you want to pre-define
your color palette there are a lot of
fancy tools out there but personally I
just like to come to Google images and
just search for the sort of color
palette you want so I'm just going to go
for a natural color palette and as you
can see there's a multitude to pick from
so yeah keep it simple onto law number
five create focal points
so let's come back to this design that
we saw earlier I've created a clear
focal point on the man on the left in
the suit but he is layered on top of the
background Graphics which is sort of
cutting across him in a slightly
different direction that gives him a lot
of standout so he'll be the first thing
that viewers see when they look at the
design next we have the quote on the
right again much larger than the rest of
the text in the design so that will be
the first thing that viewers read then
we've got some qualifying information
locked up with that in the same
proximity so viewers are likely to read
that after quote and finally we have a
call to action in this yellow band at
the bottom and the reason we put that in
this bright yellow is to make sure it's
not forgotten about and try to Spur the
user into actually clicking it so in
this design you can sort of see the
other four laws of layout and
composition all coming together in quite
a clean and simple format
thanks for watching today guys I hope
you found it helpful for more creative
tips and tricks just click through to my
next video
[Music]
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