Malaymail Personal Layout

Typeface.

Different typefaces can give different ambience or feel to a design, below are example of different typefaces in reference to each word.

1. Strong - showing strength

2. Weak - showing weakness

3. Happy - showing happiness, joy

4. Sad - showing sadness, desperation (maybe?)

5. Sexy - showing femininity, curves, intimacy

Fonts extracted from : www.fontspace.com

Design Principles

As an introduction to this blog, firstly, we will be talking about the Six Design Principles. These principles are to be understood before proceeding with designing any publications. The six principles are as listed below.

1. EMPHASIS
2. CONTRAST
3. BALANCE
4. ALIGNMENT
5. REPETITION
6. FLOW

EMPHASIS

According to about.com, written by Jennifer Kyrnin, she describes emphasis is the where the focal point of an element is being focused on, its "a way of making the element that is most important stand out in the design." Emphasis also refers to the dominance of an element in the design. (J.Kyrnin, 2013)

Examples:

http://issuu.com/fender/docs/2010_fender_amer_deluxe_brochure?mode=window&pageNumber=1

The photo above shows the element that is being emphasised is the guitar.

http://issuu.com/eephotome/docs/ee-photography-entire-pricing-pdf

As for the photo above shows the element that is being emphasised is the married couple and their pastor.

CONTRAST

Contrast is easy to understood by the differences of each element through values, colors, textures, shapes, and other elements that complements it. It creates "visual excitement, and add interest to the work." (NHS Designs - Graphic Design - Elements and Principles of Visual Design - Contrast)

Examples:

http://issuu.com/stylemepretty/docs/stylemepretty_fashion_beauty_magazine

From the photo above, we can observe that the natural greenery of the leaves and the sun ray behind the model complements with her dress, of which makes her stand out in the photo.

http://issuu.com/achemagazine/docs/january2013

The photo above, as we observe, the model is under the red chiffon, lying on the green grass which balances out the colour in the photo, and because of the natural lighting and colours, the model's features stand out through the red chiffon. It shows how tone of colours, textures and other elements complements each other.

BALANCE

It refers to the state of equally distributed elements on a design. It is also understood as the visual weight of a design or image. Balance is achieved through colour, shape, lines and sizes. Balance is also divided into three categories such as symmetrical balance (evenly placed), asymmetrical balance (uneven spaces, sense of imbalance) and radial symmetry (from a point). Another concept of balance is the Rule of Thirds, this is usually applied for photographic composition, where the use of grids and centralisation is practised.

Examples:

- http://issuu.com/topboutiqueshop/docs/february_2013_issue

The photo above shows that the handbag is placed directly in the centre of the two pages, this is an example of a direct symmetrical balance.

http://issuu.com/fasesmagazine/docs/fases_diciembre_2012

The photo above shows asymmetrical balance, as we observe there are many elements as a whole, but it is well balanced with the positioning of the models and the gift boxes.

ALIGNMENT

It refers to the placing of texts and images in a design layout. It is applied to create order, it allows us to organise page elements, grouping other elements and also create visual connection. When the alignment of said is good, readers would not be able to notice it is lined up neatly for their ease. (J.H Bear,2013)

There are several types of alignments, such as: 
(http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/a/alignment.htm)

• Horizontal Alignment -  left and right margins are exactly or visually equal
• Vertical Alignment - top and bottom margins are exactly or visually equal.
• Edge Alignment - lines up text or objects along their top, bottom, left, or right edges.
• Centre Alignment -  may be horiztonally or vertically aligned, or both.
• Optical Alignment - objects may not be precisely aligned but to the eye they appear lined up.

Examples:

http://issuu.com/topboutiqueshop/docs/february_2013_issue

Optical Alignment

 http://issuu.com/eephotome/docs/ee-photography-entire-pricing-pdf    

Centre Alignment

REPETITION

Repetition refers to the multiple duplication of the same element throughout a page layout, it is also often means the same thing as consistency. According to about.com, written by Jacci Howard Bear, he mentions that there are at least three types of repetition, which are as follow:
(http://desktoppub.about.com/od/glossary/g/Repetition.htm)

• Repeating Colors, Patterns and Shapes, and Words - the same colors and patterns throughout pull this composition together.
• Repeating Content Elements - a repeated theme which reinforces the message in this composition.
• Repeating Elements for Page-to-Page Consistency - while the images and the fonts are different on each page, repeating the same grid and alignment pulls the spread together.

Examples:

http://issuu.com/scpfshn/docs/scapa_classic_cataloog_lr?mode=window

http://issuu.com/eephotome/docs/ee-photography-entire-pricing-pdf

FLOW

In design, flow is said to be the movement and combination of elements that helps to guide through the design in the correct direction. It begins and ends with a dominant element to help keep the eye constantly moving without a stop. It is important to have flow as we would want readers to be able to read with ease, and to achieve flow is by applying lines which helps the eye to start from there until the end. Another way to achieve flow is by applying texts like headlines, and not forgetting as well adding in abstracts. (NHS Designs - Graphic Design - Elements and Principles of Visual Design - Movement)

Examples:

http://issuu.com/xurbanmusicmag/docs/email_version_media_guide

It starts off with the headline, followed by the rest of the body copy and other information. The flow goes top centre to bottom centre.

http://issuu.com/butterfield/docs/2013_br_big_book

As for this publication, the flow starts off on the top left with the texts then followed by the photo below it then goes to the middle, circled image to the top right photo and then followed by other information on the other page. The flow is snake-like.