Basic Visual Design Principles

Basic Design Principles

Click each card t o learn about one of the six basic design principles.

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ALIGNMENT & PROXIMITY

Visual alignment is about creating order in your content. Proximity denotes relationships. These two principles work together to enhance the flow in how someone navigates or interprets your content.

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REPETITION

The visual design principle of repetition ensures that your audience can navigate your posts with ease and associate your posts with your brand.

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HIERARCHY

Beyond ordering text or graphics in a hierarchical manner, the principle of hierarchy helps you structure your posts in a way that flows seamlessly and denotes importance. Hierarchy can guide the eye, presenting information from general to more specific, or it can signal the importance of certain concepts. Designers call this “visual weight”.

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CONTRAST

Contrast is about emphasizing fundamental aspects of your content and making it more accessible to people with visual impairments by making sure individual graphic components are visible.

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COLOR

The use of color is about embracing a mood or emotions while also complementing the ideas behind the principle of contrast. There is research about how emotions and the subconscious can be influenced by perception of colors.

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NEGATIVE SPACE

Just like other elements in design can guide the eye, the use of white or negative space can also draw the eye into your message. In fact, you can even be clever in creating shapes with your use of negative space.

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