Principles of Design

In addition to Gestalt principles, there are some general guidelines from the visual arts and graphic design fields that will aid in maximizing the user experience, creating a professional look for your site, and making your pages visually appealing.

When designing pages, keep the following principles of design in mind:

• Balance - don't overhwhelm users with a lot of images or paragraphs of text; instead, use both text and images together
• Unity & Proximity - objects that appear near each other can appear to be one larger object (remember your Gestalt principles)
• Alignment - justify your text on one side to make it easier to read
• Repetition & Consistency - make your site look polished and professional by using the same template, colors on all of your pages
• Contrast - pair different sizes, colors, fonts, etc. together to make your page interesting, draw the eye to a particular element or part of the page
• White Space - leave space without graphics or text to maximize readability and attractiveness of the page