Elements of Design
Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds refers to the composition of a photograph, and to the best way to organize the object of a photograph to make it as eye-catching as possible.The idea is to imagine 4 lines that would divide your photo into nine boxes, like a Tic-Tac-Toe board, then try to line up the focus of your photo with the places where those lines intersect. Those intersections are places where the eye will be naturally drawn, so if the objects within the photo line up with them it creates a more dynamic, eye-catching layout. Essentially, if you want to make sure that your image is the center of attention, keep in mind that "asymmetrical designs are often more engaging to viewers" (Morey 315).Contrast
Contrast is the practice of using two very different design elements together. The most common example of it is putting black text on a white background, which is a practice that spans across dozens of websites to ensure that text is readable. When using color to create contrast, the highest levels of contrast come from using complementary colors. High color contrast is important to ensure that the aspects of a design are visible, and it's especially important to consider when choosing the color of text and its background. Contrast can also be used between fonts to draw attention to certain information, to show which information is most important, or to separate multiple sections of text. This page, for example, uses headers to separate each element of design.The most important thing to remember with contrast is that while it can improve visibility and create a hierarchy of information, if a document has too much contrast the different elements will start to clash, and clashing can make a design look messy, disorganized, or turn it into an eyesore.