I have another principle of design that I’d like to discuss with you today, because it is a concept that will be very useful to keep in mind when you are working on a scrapbook page. It’s the Rule of Odds.

Basically, this rule says that it is better to work with odd numbers than with even numbers whenever you work on a composition of any kind. Whether you take photos, create a painting, or – like us – design a scrapbook page – knowing about the Rule of Odds can improve your composition significantly. In other words, to ensure that your page turns out more dynamic, work with groups of three, five, or seven, instead of two, four, or six.

Naturally, what happens with the human eye or brain is that they try to pair things up or group them together. This may be, because in nature we often find pairs. Even our body is designed in pairs: two eyes, two ears, two legs, two arms and hands, … you get the point!

So, if you use even numbers when working on a composition, it means that your brain can easily match things up, and put things together, with the result that you get bored with the image more quickly, since you’re able to fully assess everything without much effort.

When you use odd numbers, however, trying to pair things up, will always leave one part left over, which keeps your eye moving across the composition.

Take the illustration to the right, for example. In the top image, you see four flowers arranged together, and your eye will try to pair them up – two at the right, or maybe the two centered ones, or maybe the pair to the left. With the two bottom images, however, the pairing doesn’t work, since one flower always will be left over. This keeps the images interesting and dynamic.

How do I apply the Rule of Odds to scrapbooking?

It’s very simple. Whenever you work with papers, and even more with elements, use an odd number, instead of even numbers. For example, use three flowers, instead of two or four. Use five or seven elements, instead of six. You can even apply this rule to the number of photos you use, or how many papers you stack in the background. You can implement it on the number of clusters you use as well. Instead of doing two clusters of photos, papers and elements, try to add a third one (maybe a small one, on the edge of your page!).

Take a look at this page:

Summer Time

Even though the composition consists of four blocks in the center of the page, the rule of odds still applies, since those four blocks are broken up into three paper blocks, and one photo block – keeping the page dynamic. The little element clusters throughout also utilize the rule of odds, and you can even combine different kinds of elements, too: flowers combined with buttons, bows, strings, cardboard elements, etc.

Of course, you don’t have to apply the Rule of Odds on every page from now on. Working with pairs might be just what you want to do – especially when trying to contrast things, or when you want to demonstrate a certain kind of order with your page. Rules in graphic designs are just guidelines, they are not set in stone!