from thinking outside of the box when it
comes to layout design to learning lesser known theories about layout today's compilation
video is surely going to help you master layout design in your designs so the first thing I'm
going to do is establish a grid for the layout now of course you should know the dimensions
of your document so maybe it's A3 as an example using a grid can inform the position of
different elements on your page and you're going to create a connection between the
different elements that make up your design this can provide a sense of order to your page
layout providing the reader or the viewer with a clear structural reference to fall back on and
this also increases the success of your design now the grid you use is entirely up to
you but here are some popular choices now column grids utilize well pretty much
columns and they do this by creating areas that run down the page or your design column grids are
typically used in magazines or brochures but also a lot of websites incorporate them as well now in
layout design the areas that are in between the horizontal flow lines or vertical lines are also
known as modules and these areas will be set up for your content or your negative space more about
that later now modular grids are similar to column grids apart from they have rows as well as the
columns that go down each module is often a square in modular grids and you don't need to fill up all
of the squares in your modules again we're going to see more about that later now modular grids
are very easy to apply to pretty much any design so these are the two main grid systems
but there are many more and you can create hierarchy by just using Square modules but of
course there are things like rule of thirds or even the golden ratio but yeah you can use
any grid that fits your design but when you're working on a print project you have to be
mindful of the bleeds and the margins as well so once you have your grid let's move on to
the next stage you should have a good idea of what your Design's message is or what you want the
design style to evoke that's all concluded in the research phases that you should be doing today's
video is about laying those ideas out efficiently so one of the most effective ways to provide
a sense of balance right out of the gates is to choose a single focal point for your design
now a good example of a solid focal point is the use of a large image as the biggest single
element or a large source of simple typography the focal point is going to be that thing that
pulls in the viewer to your design and that grabs attention with a hook without a focal point
A Design Falls flat and is easily missed or forgettable the focal point is where the viewer
starts the journey on your design but where did you go after that initial attention grab so
we want to direct the viewer's eye around our designs and that's because we want them to stay
with our work and then we want to lead them to information that they should consume this can be
achieved by creating little pockets of interest on your designs or you can use the principle of flow
good white space is crucial for a good layout and white or empty space is actually a friend not to
enemy now it gives your design a room to Breeze and it helps establish which groups of design
assets actually belong together not to mention helping establish hierarchy and on this crude
downloadable template here we can use grids to establish white space and I'm actually using a
modular grid system here which seems logical more about space and layout later in today's video
a repetition can also provide a strong sense of connected design balance to a composition
the idea is that by identifying and reusing a motif or a design element throughout your design
layout can provide a reference for the reader so that separate areas feel connected and are part
of the same overall composition so you can do this by repeating shapes or symbols and areas of
your design or the method I really like to apply is to use colors to connect different aspects
of my design together now we're going to learn a few things about layout design that aren't
just the basics we're going to take things to the next level with lesser known techniques and
approaches to layout design in graphic design to start a design from scratch in regard to
layout we need to first ask what what is the message allow me to explain with this design right
here this is a magazine cover designed for Wired Magazine but what would you say is a message on
this design or the vibe well to me the message or Vibe is about danger chaos and importantly a shock
Factor aimed at the audience now ask yourself this question will a minimal and clean design Express
this message the answer is probably no a minimal layout here wouldn't help give the impression of
chaos or destruction so instead a very radical composition that is busy and chaotic has been used
on this magazine design now let's compare that to this second design here the answer to the question
of what is the vibe or the message on this design is of Health Simplicity and calmness the previous
layouts that was chaotic and disordered would not be able to express the same sort of message on
this design right here so already in today's video you can see that layout design is more than
just grids and guides but hey let's keep going the next thing you want to do before designing
anything is ask yourself where is a design going to be shown if your design is for a business card
then you need to be aware that the limited space on the business card is what you have to work
with but if you are designing something for a website things change again in terms of how you
will structure the composition because of the size of your workspace how the audience views and
interacts with the design depends on the shape and the size of the thing your design is going to be
put onto now that's very very important to keep in mind the third question I can determine your
layout on a design is what is the purpose of the design is it to inform somebody of an event or
something else or maybe is your design trying to sell something like this design is right here you
see when you ask what is a design trying to do you you can then make a very specific design decisions
in terms of your layouts this design wants to make a sale so it first tries to grab the attention of
the viewer and it does this with a bold colorful background and a focal point of the guy at the
very top then the designer wants to take the view on a visual Journey down to the bottom of the
design where they click the shop now button and a sale is clinched so the path to the button is
straightforward and is cleanly laid out however if we take a look at this design we see things are
very different in terms of layouts this design is trying to shock people into quitting smoking and
so the message needs to be very striking and very stuck as a result the layout is very minimal
so the viewer gets the idea very easily and the main focal point is highlighted really really
immensely the visual Journey or the direction isn't as important here as the design is just
about shocking and some information the message and reason behind the design are intertwined
as you can actually probably see so here are a pair of meme sunglasses and we want to make
a design that advertises and showcases these in a magazine so the first question is what is the
message or what is the vibe of this design well I want to show off the sunglasses to the viewer
and the viewers are actually going to be younger people considering the kind of product this is
so the vibe is going to be bold and pretty trendy second question where is the design going to be
shown this design is going onto a single page of a magazine and so with that in mind I'm thinking
of a downward Journey from top to bottom because A4 is quite narrow lastly what do we want the
design to achieve well that's appreciation for the sunglasses and a potential sale so I'm gonna
try and attract the viewers with the product at the very top and so I've split the layout into two
halves a bright and bold color will play into the current 2022 meme sector audience and then we can
lay the product into the section at quite a large scale again this is the hero of the design it's
the focal point so I want people to be attracted to this area and this is also where people are
going to start their Journey at the very top of the page we also can take into consideration
the bleed or padding of our composition but these are more technical layout matters that have been
discussed in previous videos here at photographics but next to continue the bright color scheme
that's going to appeal to the younger Generations who are into this kind of product I have
three shapes here that continue the downward moving layouts and within those squares the text
content I give some selling points to the product and then lastly at the bottom with a viewer
finishes their Journey the trigger or call to action that's going to encourage people to want a
product even more and below that it's the traffic destination information that will actually drive
the people away from the magazine to the website because this design is selling something
I wanted to keep it minimal and open to make sure the product is obvious and then
also the call to action is just as obvious as you can see knowing the viable the message
where the design is going to be used and what the intention of the design is really can dictate
Your Design layouts like I said before space is insanely important when it comes to layout
design and so we're going to learn some really cool techniques and a few tips when it comes to
using that space on your designs I'm sure most of us know about white space and negative space
in graphic design but do you get confused or lost when it comes to actually applying these things
to your designs in real time and we're going to be looking at design principle of space so we can
end up with beautiful designs that wow clients so before we look at some real life examples
it's important to understand the benefits of mastering space in your designs firstly if you
utilize a space properly it's going to enhance a visual hierarchy which is another very important
principle in the communication of your design secondly space prevents your designs
from being cluttered and cramped that's not something you want in your designs space
Also simply adds style and elegance to your designs if done correctly and that's
what we're going to talk about soon but also when used correctly space Also
emphasizes bonds between visual elements essentially it just enhances proximity this is
useful for allowing your designers to make sense when designing something in regard to the use of
space firstly ask yourself what is the content you're working with what has the clients given
you it's important to distinguish between macro web space and micro white space at this point
macro web space is the large expanse areas of nothingness that exists on your design whereas
the micro white space are the areas of smaller sections of nothingness between lines of text
paragraphs of text and closely packed together design objects for example if you're working
on a design where a client is giving you Reams and rooms of text to work with you're not
going to be focusing much on macro white space simply because you don't have much
of it to work with your whole vision and approach for that design should then shift
to focusing on using more micro white space effectively however you will still have elements
of macro white space to consider albeit a lot less now if you find yourself in a situation on a
project where you're able to work with both micro and macro white space it's important
to consider the message of the design and also the target audience you want to find
the right balance of micro and macro wet space for targeted people who'll be viewing
it if the design is a poster targeting mainly young business professionals who will
view the design whilst briskly walking along the subway to work you want to tip the
balance towards using more macro white space this is so your design remains easy to
digest and recognizable at a first glance having lots of macro white space will just create
emphasis and hierarchy on the focal point making the design more noticeable one rule of thumb
that you can use is that more macro wet space can suggest minimalism modernity and luxury while if
the balance is shifted more to microwave space the design can be seen as more informative and serious
things do go deeper than just macro and micro wet space however we can enhance our designs with the
use of passive white space and active white space passive white space refers to the microwave space
that helps legibility and the Aesthetics of our layouts that is without guiding the view in terms
of structure and viewing order active web space on the other hand relates to helping the viewer
move through your designs in order and structure if we take a look at this example of a paragraph
this design has poor use of microwave space it's essentially just not even that legible if
we add in some passive white space we can now read it properly and the viewer has more of
a pleasant experience but we can go further and apply active white space to control the order
and the movement of the reading experience things are now broken down into digestible chunks
which helps the viewer move between each part of the design easily and this ensures they will
remain on your design for a longer periods of time to summarize when considering the use of
space on your designs it should always be legible whatever you're designing also unless
they're brief specifically calls for it you don't want the viewer to feel cramped and
have a tough time navigating Your Design you then need to consider the balance of micro
and also macro white space that you're going to use things that determine this are the
message of your design the content given by the clients the target audience and the
context of the design in real life situations use space to enhance other principles such as
hierarchy and proximity and then lastly consider passive and active white spaces if you didn't
actually fully understand all of today's video go back and watch it again so you can fully digest
the content also look for white space in existing designs and how they're being used is the white
space there to guide a viewer around the design is it used to help things be more legible so let's
dive into some theories that are actually attached to layer design and these are really important
for you to build constructive and effective layouts in your projects I bet you've heard the
graphic design principles of contrast hierarchy and so on what about visual tension or Rudolph
arnheim's structural net and today you can learn all about some lesser known theories and you will
see just how hugely powerful they can be to you as a graphic designer one thing that took me a long
time to understand the importance of was the four main aspects of visual movement after all people
do engage with our designs using their eyes being able to set up a design where you actively take
the audience on a journey is a master skill and it does go deeper than you think the four aspects
of this are movement shape of element structure and subject matter yes this might seem a tiny bit
confusing or technical but trust me we're going to look at some real life examples in today's video
let's look at shape of element first this is where a designer purposely uses a specific shape one
design that has an Axis or Line running through it and is carried through the entire shape this
causes the viewer to actually follow it along the design on this website here you can see that the
beige peachy rectangle is actually carrying the viewer's eye along it and then to the information
on the left this isn't a mistake it's actually a carefully planned out then we have this poster
here the design has added red slanted rectangles that mirror the viewer's eye as it goes from the
top left across and down the design to the right basically the designer has laid out a path for
the viewer to go along visually speaking and they will do that subconsciously because going against
it will just feel uncomfortable the second point is subject matter which is pretty similar to
shape of elements but it's more about visual cues think of fingers pointing or fists punching
or eyes looking in One Direction as seen here on this poster the arm is directing the attention
up towards the bird and on this website here this woman's hand is literally directing
attention to the main bit of information but what about the third Point movement so
on a design you can have design elements that work together to create a sense of movement an
example is this poster where various different shapes create a sense of movement upward and
then the fourth one we mentioned structure this is where Rudolph arnheim's structural net comes
into play it sounds pretty weird I know but the theory suggests that every canvas has a structure
even before Design Elements and assets go onto it crazy maybe but let's take a look at this in more
depth the structure starts with a point of focus centrally so however the theory suggests that it's
a tiny bit higher than the exact center and this is where most eyes will just naturally land then
we have the axes that run from corner to corner and the points along these axes that are actually
midway between the center and the corners also attract attention these Midway points can then
be connected with a vertical and horizontal line lines which create additional axes of visual Force
so according to Rudolph and his theory the eyes will actually follow these paths and they will
actually land on the points of interest or Focus you may very well be able to see this in action
in real life and when you do start thinking about this you begin to see designs very differently
indeed the next theory that is lesser known among graphic designers is visual tension like with
a lot of theories in today's video you won't see them on every single design and sometimes
designers do them without even realizing however they are very easy to get wrong and we're soon
going to see just that in action but yeah visual tension can be thought of as anxiety or just
visual anxiety it can be achieved when design elements are positioned alongside each other that
disrupt The viewer's Experience now you can think of this as creating this harmony to Rudolph's
structural Nets and that's where Design Elements totally go against the channels or paths so that
you theorizes looking on this website design here we can see multiple elements that come together
and point to random places on a design it just looks simply unorganized and uncomfortable to
look at simply because it's disregarding those paths that we just saw instead we can remove
a random movement and direction from shapes pointing in all directions and create one solid
point of focus like on the second design here now here's a very simple and effective but
forgotten about Theory the theory of overall design composition Direction these three main
directions for a composition can be horizontal vertical or diagonal horizontal compositions are
more calming and stable now I don't mean kind of landscape designs I just mean the directional
movement of the design layout then vertical designs are good to show balance and boldness and
alertness then finally the diagonal compositions will help to suggest the movement and action we
can see here on this first design how everything just feels calm and still the directional movement
of the design as a whole is horizontal and then for the second compositional layout we have
vertical here we see more vertical direction of the form with some slight diagonals with the
red strike marks on the left the design seems more bold more striking and impacting then finally
the diagonal design notice also how this brochure has used the Satori color of yellowy orange and
that's a typical color for action and movement it's no coincidence that the diagonal layout is
matched to this it's kind of like a double whammy of psychological traits on this design as you
should be aware of now movement is a powerful tool not only to direct a viewer around your
design but also to make them feel comfortable or uncomfortable depending on what you want them to
feel but as we've just seen it's possible also to set a base feeling or emotion simply by looking
at the layout and directional movement of your composition never ever underestimate the power of
this stuff now layer design is really important but it's pretty useless if you don't Master
these five principles in graphic design to learn more just click that video on screen and until
next time guys design your future today peace foreign
