All posts tagged: design principles

Behind the Scenes: Principles of Design – Creating Active Space

Published by Sula H.

It’s been a long while since I talked about principles of design the last time. So, today I want to discuss something that I’ve meant to share for a long time, and that is the Composition Principle of Active Space. Generally speaking, this rule applies to composition in photography and art, but today I’ll show you how it is useful to know about this principle in scrapbooking as well. What Do I Mean With “Active Space?” Active space is the space “in front” of the person/object; the space a person/object is moving or looking towards. When you look at a photography, your eye usually will be lead through the image. If the composition is bad, your eye doesn’t actually know where to look, or what exactly to focus on, but if you have some understanding of composition, you can determine where you want the observer to look first, and how you want their eyes to move over your picture. This is where the principle of active space becomes important. Example If the subject in your …

Behind the Scenes: Principles of Design – Rule of Odds

Published by Sula H.

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, …

Behind the Scenes: Principles of Design – Static and Dynamic Composition

Published by Sula H.

Since (digital) scrapbooking is no less than another form of graphic design, I thought that once a month I’d start to share some insight into the principles and rules of graphic design. Lots of things can be learned in this area, and I’m sure that knowing a little about these rules and principles will help us create even better pages in the future. Now, keep in mind, I’m no artistic pro. All I know about this is self-taught with a few tips by professionals here and there, and I’m making no claim that what I have to say is exhaustive by any means. My goal is simply to share some insights with the hope that it will help us become better scrappers.  But if you are a pro and have something to add to what I’m going to talk about, feel free to do so. So, today I want to talk about a very basic principle of composition – the principle of static and dynamic composition. Static Composition In a nutshell, static composition means that …