| DESIGN ELEMENTS & PRINCIPLES DESIGN ELEMENTS: point line shape form tone texture colour letterform FOR TEACHERS DESIGN PRINCIPLES: figure-ground balance contrast cropping hierarchy scale proportion pattern |
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| DESIGN PRINCIPLE HIERARCHY HIERARCHY can be established by POSITION by being above or on the left side because we read down the page and from the left (another important position is in the centre) SIZE by being BIGGER COLOUR by being warmer or brighter TONE/VALUE by being lighter/darker on a dark/light background WEIGHT by being 'heavier' The foundation of all good information design is a well-designed hierarchy A visual hierarchy means that information is organized to make the scanning and understanding of it easy and accurate Develop an order of emphasis of your information, and be sure your visual hierarchy reflects that order If everything is bold, nothing will be emphasized. Keep in mind that images usually draw the eye before text, so if your image isn't your most important element, reduce it's contrast or shrink it down. The primary task of graphic design is to create a strong, consistent visual hierarchy, where important elements are emphasized,and content is organized logically and predictably www.metatoggle.com/design_crs/purpose.html also at www.webstyleguide.com/page/hierarchy.html The overall ..... organization of the page is crucial to drawing the reader into your content www.cofc.edu/~learning/visualhier.html To better understand what variables influence this visual hierarchy, an eye tracking study was conducted (Faraday, 2000). The main factors were found to be size, scanning, images, text style, and position. www.presentersonline.com/basics/visuals/gooddesign.shtml Hierarchy and Contrast: The Basis of Good Design by Margo Halverson The basic question: What do you want the viewer to see first? www.headscape.co.uk/view_article.asp?PageId=5&ArticleId=54 Graphic design is getting a bad reputation on the Web ..... In other media, such as print publishing, the role of design in the production process is fairly well understood ..... I believe if anything the role of the graphic designer has been overlooked and that it should be fundamental in improving the usability of any web site especially when it comes to its information hierarchy. Information Hierarchies Information Hierarchies are the cornerstone of good usability. Creating an informational hierarchy for your web site is about organising your content into logical, user-orientated sections. It is also about prioritising content in order of importance. This is an area where graphic designers have been hugely influential in print publishing for years. You only need to pick up any newspaper to see how the size and positioning of headlines indicates to you which stories are of the greatest importance. Using visual cues to establish hierarchies of information can be achieved by considering factors such as: Relative Size Placement and Position Colour Animation The same information in both, but creating a visual hierarchy (right) makes the information clear HOME |
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