Hello and welcome to this beginner's guide series to graphic design.
From what graphic design is, skills to be a graphic designer, design theory, education you need, equipment you need to the graphic design portfolio and interview advice.
This series is for anyone at any level.
So if you're interested in graphic design and considering becoming a graphic designer
join me as I discuss a series of graphic design topics.
Now graphic design is not simply about making things look good
in graphic design there are rules that could be considered
these rules are called the principles of design and these are typically separate
good design from bad design. These principles all have a relationship
between each other and appear in every well designed piece of work you see.
A good grasp of design theory will mean there is always substance behind your work.
The key principles of design are: Contrast, hierarchy, alignment, balance, proximity, repetition simplicity and function.
Whatever work you produce be it for a magazine, a poster, a website or advertisement
the principles of design should be considered. A good designer keeps these principles as guidelines in
their toolkit and will consciously use them to develop their ideas.
In this video I'm going to discuss the fifth key design principle and discuss proximity
as a design principle in graphic design. In this video I'll be referring to some
visual examples if you wish to take a closer look at these you can find them
can find them in the downloadable PDF document that accompanies this series
link is in the description.
So proximity is the grouping and shaping of objects in a in composition.
In design we use proximity for two main reasons:
First to create connections. Proximity can create relationships between visual elements
in a composition, create relevance, hierarchy, create organisation and structure.
The second reason is to dispel connections. Proximity can also be used
to suggest no relationship between visual elements, to break organisation and structure.
By moving visual elements closer together or further apart we are
applying the design principle proximity. In design these two forces can be
applied in various degrees to help achieve a particular effect or outcome to communicate a message.
Typically in design related elements should be grouped together so that they
will be viewed as a group. Unrelated elements should have distance and should
not be in close proximity to each other. Audiences will assume that elements that
are not near each other in a design are not closely related.
A good sense of proximity in design can help differentiate visual elements to reduce
visual clutter and make design more comprehensible. Proximity is influential
to the design principal balance and hierarchy. Space between visual elements
will communicate a particular dynamic on a page. Depending on the intended purpose
or look and feel a designer must sense which type of balance to execute to suggest hierarchy.
So looking at the PDF. Here are some proximity examples.
So first is a simple layout design. Now audiences should never have to work
at trying to figure out which caption goes with which graphic or whether or not a
line of text is a subtitle or a line of text unrelated to the title.
Viewers should never have to work trying to figure out the connection of information in a design.
This makes for a poor user experience and an inability to digest information.
Here we can see the same message but laid out in various different ways.
We can see which one is the most comprehensible here.
In design one should try and avoid the appearance of having made arbitrary decisions.
When visual elements appear randomly or poorly positioned it is noticeable
and can devalue a piece of work if done intentionally.
When we begin to place shapes together we create a particular relationship between them.
In this example we have three individual shapes
if placed together with just the right proximity negative spaces is made
to suggest a new visual shape entirely. This gives new meaning to the individual
shapes that make this composition. If we move them apart ever so slightly this visual
this message is lost. Now from a young age we learn shapes and symbols that are
imprinted into our memory. The alphabet for example, these shapes and symbols are
used to communicate visually as a visual language or represent meaning.
When we think of all the symbols and logos we know so well it's through the
combination of shapes and proximity that works to imprint images into our memory.
If we take some of the most simplest well known shapes and alter their proximity
they no longer have their meaning and become something entirely different.
However simple or complex it's this relationship or lack of relationship
between shapes that can trigger feelings, convey messages, engage an audience,
add emphasis to a portion of the layout and create dynamics. Proximity is a powerful
principle to use in design. A good grasp and sense of proximity can be the
difference between good and amazing design.
So that is the fifth key design principles in graphic design.
When you look at design ask yourself
How has proximity being considered? What relationships has the designer created
or dispelled? How has proximity been used to create the overall composition?
and how well does it work as part of the design?
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So the next key design principle is reputation.
In the next video I'm going to talk about repetition
as a design principle in graphic design.
So see you in the next video!