Design Blitz

There are many different concepts that go into designing. These concepts are color, typography, balance, alignment, contrast, repetition, proximity, and space.

Color is a very essential concept because it consists of what will draw a person's eye to your design. It helps stimulate a person's reaction or attitude to the design, but this varies from each individual. When designing your portfolio sticking to the same color scheme is very helpful because of the consistency. In the ad to the left, Outdoor Voices was able to utilize the color concept by having the women wear colors that all are able to work together.

Typography is the next concept and it consists of eight different basic typographical design elements. These include typeface, hierarchy, contrast, consistency, alignment, white space, and color.

Balance throughout design consists of making sure both positive elements and negative space in such a way that no one area of the design overpowers other areas. When there is balance it is very pleasing to the eye.

Alignment is also known as being pleasing to the eye if done correctly. Alignment is when you place a text and other design elements on a page so they line up. I love using Canva and other tools to make my designs because the page has rulers on it so I know when my text and design lines up. The picture to the right shows that the alignment is good and not overbearing.

Contrast in your design helps to add visual interest just like balance. When most people think of contrast they imagine black and white because these two are opposites and work together to create contrast, but color can also create contrast as well. Balance and contrast work together because if they didn't then your design might turn into a confusing mess.

Here is one great example of using contrast, but not just with using white or black. Apple also was able to incorporate another color as well. If you are familiar with this ad then you know they also did the same thing with other ads.

Repetition consists of using the same text and elements throughout your design. Consistency is key in my opinion. Repetition will bring clear sense of unity within your design.

The ad to the right shows consistency and repetition. It catches the person's eye and clearly shows there is a sale.

Proximity is very important when designing because if you had two elements that go together and you didn't put them in close proximity then it will make no sense in your design. It will confuse the person trying to understand the design. But there also still needs to be space in between the two. Proximity is the perfect word because you don't want something too close or too far apart.

Space is the last concept and it is essential. You do not want your design to be overpowered by all of your design elements. There needs to be a balance. This is something that can hurt a design if there is not enough space.Apple does a great job at knowing that their products are well-known and they choose to stick to the simplicity route of their ads. Billboards should typically have a lot of space because people who see the billboards are usually driving and don't have time to stop and read. So in this case, Apple did a good job of utilizing their space.