Using Design Principles In Your Digital Scrapbooking Layouts

I was looking over my blog archive and I don't think I've ever written a post about using basic design principles on layouts. Most of what I learned about design I learned in my high school photography class (we shot on film!), so I don't know that I'm an expert, but these are ideas that I use personally when creating my layouts. And remember that breaking the rules can often be as important as following them, depending on what you are trying to achieve.

1. Balance
Balance is an important design principle that refers to the distribution of visual weight in a layout. A well-balanced layout will have areas of interest, as well as whitespace, which helps the eye know where to go when looking at the layout. You don't want to fill the entire layout with stuff, knowing where to leave empty space is as important as knowing where to place elements. Take a look at your favorite layouts and see how they balance elements with empty space.

2. Unity
Unity refers to the harmony and coherence of a layout. A unified layout should have a consistent style, color scheme, and design elements that work together to create a cohesive look. Achieving this on your layout is often easy by using elements and papers from one digital scrapbooking bundle. The designer has already done the hard work for you. I like to make things hard for myself by browsing my elements randomly, but in the end they still need to have something bringing them all together for the layout to work.

3. Create a Visual Triangle
Creating a visual triangle is a useful design technique that involves creating three main focal points that together create the lines of a triangle. This can help to create a focal point and guide the viewer's eye towards important elements. This is one of my favorite design principles and I use it all the time.

4. Repetition
A good design principle to use with the previous triangle rule is repetition. Repeating design elements can create visual consistency and make your layout more cohesive. I will often repeat the same element in my three areas creating the visual triangle, creating a cohesive feeling through the layout. A subtle way to repeat something is to use the same paint or shape in the background. This will tie everything together without being too obvious.

5. Emphasis
Emphasis is the use of design elements to draw attention to a specific part of the layout. In digital scrapbooking, most likely you are trying to create emphasis around the photo(s) on the layout. That's why you will often see a lot of element clustering happening around the photo. But the key for digital scrapbookers is to get the balance right so as not to lose focus on the photo by adding too much detail around it. Unless you have fully embraced maximalism like I have and aren't too worried about the photo being the main feature of the photo.

I by no means covered everything in this post, so let me know down below your favorite design principle. Maybe I'll write a part two.