OUGD404
Study Task 05
Balance & Canons

Notes made in lecture

Balance
Visual balance comes from arranging elements on page so that not one section is heaver than the other, or in other instances the designer can intentionally arrange elements to create tension or a mood.

Proximity 
Proximity or closeness creates a bond between elements on a page, how close together or far apart elements are placed suggests a relationship between what are otherwise seperate parts. 

Alignment
Alignment brings order to chaos. How you align type and graphics on a page and in relation to each other can make your layout easier or more difficult to read.

Repetition / Consistency
Repeating design elements and consistent use of type and graphic styles within a document shows a reader where to go and helps them navigate your design and layouts effectively.

Canons
Canons are principles of page layout design used to measure and describe proportions, margins and print areas. Popular canons to use include the Van de Graaf, Tschichold's Golden Canon and Tschichold's Octavo.

Tschichold Golden Canon



Van De Graaf

Tschichold Octavo

As a part of the study task we had to discuss in groups what we believed the rules of graphic design were. We put together these rules:

Kerning
Readability / Legibility 
Alignment
Layout
Colour Palette

The main basis behind Graphic Design is to communicate through text and image, we should work within rules to achieve this, then again these rules can be broken to communicate to a particular audience or create a new message.