Design

Design is all about communication. When you're a designer, you're not an artist first and foremost (even if you thought you were), you're a communicator.

Sure, it would be nice if you could create works of art for your Web or Presentation pages. But most of us don't have the time or the need. Instead, what you need are concrete rules to follow so that your pages look good and get their message across.

The basic principles of design are true for Web and Presentation design as well as other design. They show you how to put together design elements in an effective manner.

Balance is the distribution of heavy and light elements on the page. Larger, darker elements appear heavier in the design than smaller, lighter elements. The principle of balance shows you how to lay out your pages so that they work.

When most people think of contrast, they typically think of colors or black and white. But there is more to contrast than color. You can have contrasting shapes (square vs. circle), or contrasting sizes (large vs. small), or contrasting textures (smooth vs. rough).

Emphasis is what the eye is drawn to in a design. It's tempting to give everything equal emphasis or try to emphasize everything in a design, but this ends up making the design bland and flat. Instead, as a designer you should determine the hierarchy of the page and then apply the emphasis to the elements based on that hierarchy.

Rhythm is also called repetition. Rhythm brings an internal consistency to your designs. Patterns are easy for humans to comprehend, and repetition provides patterns that make your site easier to comprehend.

Unity is also called proximity. It is the principle of keeping like elements together and diverse elements further apart. Unity pulls elements together.