Every time you view a product or offering, there may be some aspects of its design that may stand out while others remain muted to your perception. Design plays a crucial role in differentiating various products and creates a brand impression or identity in the minds of viewers and target audiences. While there are several technical elements that go into creating compelling designs, what makes them truly memorable has got to do a lot with underlying layers of psychology. The way a person sees, perceives and interacts with a particular design can be generally correlated to patterns created in their minds while viewing it. The Gestalt school of psychology dabbles in exactly this: the perception of patterns and the theory of the whole of anything being greater than the sum of its parts. This is where visual hierarchy in design finds its roots. It concerns itself with the arrangement and creation of all kinds of visual information by synthesizing design concepts with principles of psychology. This ultimately sheds light on how people perceive and interpret visual content largely in terms of orderly patterns and groups. Essentially, visual hierarchy helps businesses and brands set themselves apart from market competition while facilitating brand awareness, recognition and recall.
Principles of Visual Hierarchy in Graphic Design
- Similarity: Birds of a feather flock together, and that is exactly what this principle conveys. It states that like elements – or those that appear similar in terms of shape, color, style or any other criterion – are perceived as a group. The use of this principle can help designers achieve a sense of uniformity in certain visual aspects.
- Continuation / Continuity: This principle presumes that as viewers, we tend to easily first view and recognize elements that are in some form of visual continuity. This could mean that they are placed in a straight or continuous path. Concurrently, the principle also posits that visual discontinuity attracts attention and can be utilized to draw focus on some targeted deviation.
- Proximity: Proximity simply means closeness. In the context of visual design, it refers to the closeness between different elements and how they are perceived. When certain elements are placed close together or in an overlapping fashion, they are regarded as a group while those far apart are perceived to be separate and distinct. Essentially, proximity presents the strength and extent of relationships between visual information and elements. It gives the impression of relatedness and association. This principle can be used when designers wish for certain individual elements to be viewed at once, as part of the same group, as having stronger relationships or for another similar purpose.
- Symmetry: According to this principle, humans often tend to be drawn to perfect symmetry and it can help create winning designs. On the other hand, asymmetry can also effectively capture attention and facilitate the production of memorable designs.
- Color & Contrast: Simply put, this visual hierarchy design principle emphasizes the thoughtful use of color palettes and the implementation of color theory for maximum effect. Certain colors allude to specific ideas and elicit particular emotions while contrast can provide cohesiveness to visual design.
- Perspective: Being one of the key visual hierarchy elements, perspective brings a relatively two-dimensional and flat visual piece to life by transposing it with an illusion of depth. Objects may appear three-dimensional without being so, which can add value to a rather plain design.
- White Space or Negative Space: These refer to the empty space that is left between different elements within a visual piece. White space or negative space helps in decluttering a design and thus presents a more clear idea. It enables communication that does not confuse or say too much all together. It conveniently groups certain elements together and the distance between elements can effectively convey ideas like minimalism, elegance, high quality, clean product or service, directness and honesty.
- Size & Scale: These principles are concerned with the relative proportions of several visual elements and how this can drastically affect the meaning and purpose of a design.
- Typography: Typographical hierarchy in visual hierarchy design deals with all things text-related, including proportions, sizes, fonts, colors, etc.
- Closure: When we see a mildly recognizable pattern or picture with a few missing elements, our brains have the ability to fill in the missing pieces of their own accord. This principle reinforces Gestalt psychology by proposing that distinct visual elements put together are viewed as a whole rather than a sum of their individual parts. Thus, multiple fragments can be arranged in a manner that brings forward a coherent meaning.
There are many more principles and concepts that guide visual hierarchy graphic design that are broadly outlined as follows:
- Composition
- Alignment
- Repetition
- Lines & Grids
- Rule of Thirds
- Patterns
- Texture
- Order
- Focal Point
- Figure & Ground
- Consistency
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