PRINCIPLES OF AESTHETICS IN-DEPTH

Hierarchy setting priorities. What's the most important thing, visually, in this layout? Is it the most
important, most attractive or most convincing part of the message? What's next? What's last?
Emphasis and focus the visual expression of hierarchy. Once you know what's important, use
visual emphasis to focus attention through size, position, value and color.
Contrast big/little, crowded/open, orange/blue. Contrast is the tool of emphasis,which helps you
set that hierarchy, focus attention and create drama.
Tension throwing things off a little. You create tension by manipulating relative position. Place
things a little too close together, or set up a little too much contrast in their visual weights. Tension
helps make the design athletic.
Balance creating a gravitational axis. Balance doesn't have to be a symmetry. By opposing dense
detail with open space, or heavy elements with lighter ones, balance can be asymmetric and, again,
athletic.
Rhythm variety and pattern. Variety relieves the eye, and pattern helps the mind make sense of it.
In multipage works, rhythm creates pacing across the whole.
Flow leading the eye across the surface. This should happen in a desired sequence.
Depth leading the eye beyond the surface, or making things jump put from the surface. Depth is the
most inherently contradictory illusion of 2D design, and, therefore, one of the most compelling.
Scale the illusion of size. The size of elements relative to one another is important, of course, but the
size of things in relation to the format and the size of the format itself are also worth considering.
Movement the illusion of physical interaction among elements. Usually figurative with elements
angled or poised like bodies in motion movement can also be created with such optical effects as
linear repetition, visual vortexes and the like. Used deliberately, suggested movement can have a
marked emotional and physical impact on a viewer.
Unity that which holds the piece together. Color can unify a design, as can a grid, visuals that
represent related subjects or a consistent style of imagery. In an age of over-stimulation and cacophony,
unity is often underrated.