Test Your Skills 2
Test Your Skills
Let’s take a look at a rectangular grid page and analyze it for how effective it is. To review, here are the 7 Design Principles:
- Focal Point (if you have photos, one or all of the photos need to be the focal point.
- Flow
- The Rule of Odds
- Proximity
- Repetition
- Balance
- White Space
Take the Quiz
Is this page a “true” rectangular grid?
What does this page have going for it? How does it measure up to the 7 design principles? Is there anything you would change?
- Yes, this page is a true rectangular grid. There are at least 2 columns (the columns are horizontal) and the outer edges of the grid pieces form a rectangle.
- The cluster is well executed and close to the grid (Proximity).
- There’s plenty of White Space (plain paper with no elements).
- The Flow is basically circular around the photos, which is fine. No elements lead the eye away from the center.
- There’s Repetition with the color red.
This is where it gets tricky, though. Having so much red actually causes the page to be out of Balance. Red is one of the “power” colors. It can overpower a page, making it the true focal point. Be very careful with powerful colors—highly saturated, fluorescent, or traditionally “strong” colors like red. Use them sparingly.
Even though my photos are in the center and appear to be the main focal point, my eyes can’t really focus on them because my peripheral vision keeps looking at that powerful red color!
Let’s see if we can fix the problem of red overpowering the page.
SHOW PAGE 2
Aaaah. This is a lot better, but my eye is still stuck on that red mat, especially because it shows up around every photo. If you look at your page and feel like something is wrong, check to see what paper you’re using. It should draw the eye to the photos, not eclipse them. Let’s try again.
SHOW PAGE 3
This is MUCH better. I changed the mat for a simple red stroke that matches my other red colors. The photos are finally the main focal point without a powerful color to distract me. The paper strip at the top enhances the design and isn’t enough to derail my eye.
So now we get into some pickier things: It’s hard to see at this smaller size, but all the photos have a small black stroke outline, so there are a lot of strokes and the photo strokes don’t match the outer stroke color. How about if we change the outer stroke to black?
SHOW PAGE 4
Yes! This is much better! I would not give any suggestions for improvement if I saw this page in the gallery.
However, I did make some tweaks to the design before declaring the page “done.” Want to see them?
SHOW PAGE 5
I removed the outer stroke entirely, and changed the background paper to a textured white paper to make the black and red elements pop a bit more.
Here’s a zoomed in view so you can see the texture. The whiter paper makes the snow man stand out a bit more since it’s a different shade of white, and it complements the white in the black and white photos.
I also added one more minor element that created a triangle—three red dots to the left of the title. We now have a triangle of red that goes from the paper strip to the cluster to the red dots.
Here’s another possibility for how to use the red as an accent rather than the main focus. This time I did use red as a mat, but I placed a white mat behind the photos to make it less distracting. Note how I’m still using the Rule of Odds with the red accents: the striped bar, the red mat, and the red in the cluster.
And here’s the last variation I’ll show you, though there are many more you could do.
Conclusion
A powerful color can overpower your page or photos if you’re not careful, even if you just use them for a mat. Better to use powerful colors as accents.
Linda Sattgast
Credits
Photos & Page: Winter 2017 by Linda Sattgast
Kit: Time For Mistletoe And Holly by Jady Day Studio
Background paper: Cardstock Blank Canvas by Susie Roberts
Font: Caleigh or Orator STD