Week 4 Blog Assignment

Welcome and thank you for reading my fourth blog assignment for my Emerging Communication Technologies course at Western Washington University! The topic of today's post is C.R.A.P. What is C.R.A.P., you ask? In better understood terms, C.R.A.P is a compiled set of basic layout and design principles.

Contrast

1. Make different things different 
2. Bring out DOMINANT elements
3. Mute lesser ones 
4. Create dynamism!

"Contrast creates interest by providing variety in design" http://www.slideshare.net/SherwinM/basic-layout-principles.

Size, weight, position, shape, and color are all various ways in which contrast is used. The links I have provided helped me better grasp the multiple possibilities for how to include contrast. Until doing more research, I always thought of contrast as big vs. little and dark vs. light. But the elements of weight, shape, and color all being intermixed and tied in to one another make contrast much more effective and successful.

Here is a helpful article about using contrast successfully in graphic design: http://desktoppub.about.com/od/contrast/ss/contrast.htm

Repetition

1. Repeat design throughout the interface
2. Consistency
3. Create unity

"Repeat action, performance, production, or presentation creates identity. For web design, often a layout element or the navigation is repeated for each page, so the user knows they are within the same site" http://www.slideshare.net/SherwinM/basic-layout-principles.

If I have learned anything from not only the research I did on the principle of repetition, but being a student and studying for quizzes and exams, it's that I retain information when I have seen/heard/spoke it multiple times. This is a key element to successfully communicating important information and concepts to viewers and potential customers.

 Here is a helpful article about using repetition successfully in graphic design: http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/designprinciples/qt/comfort_repeat.htm

Alignment

1. Create a visual flow
2. Visually connect elements

"Alignment is the placement of text and graphics so they line up on the page. It's one of the principles of design that help us create attractive, readable pages."

 Left, right, center, grid, visual or optical, hanging punctuation visual, and breaking alignment are all different ways alignment can be utilized in graphic or web design. I have found that details pertaining to good alignment are the small things readers or viewers don't recognize initially. Alignment helps the viewed text appear to flow naturally.

Here is a helpful article about using alignment successfully in graphic design: http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/a/alignment.htm

Proximity

1. Group related elements
2. Separate unrelated elements

"The property of being close together, holding that objects or events that are near to one another (in space or time) are perceived as belonging together as a unit"http://www.slideshare.net/SherwinM/basic-layout-principles.

Here is a helpful article about using proximity successfully in graphic design: 

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/glossary/g/Proximity.htm

This video covers all the topics I have discussed in greater detail. I recommend taking the time to watch it!

I will implement what I have larned into my group website, my individual website, our newsletter, my business card, personal logo, podcast script, and all future projects I work on for both school and my career.