GIU Day Four - Design Principles

Hello and welcome back to day 4 of  my GIU week. Remember to comment for your chance at winning some deeply etched red rubber.

If you're just joining in, I've been tackling some design principles this week. Today I'll talk about balance. And while I'm not so much talking about not falling off a balance beam or curb, I am referring to visual weight, and oddly enough, it can feel like a 2-D creation is going to topple or tilt. Why is this? Our brains are cool. I watched a series on Netflix last year about how the brain works that was fascinating. There were entire episodes on how our brains are fooled by what information the eyes pass on. Balance principle is example of this. If our eyes are showing a visual imbalance, our brain actually feels that it might tip or topple. Interesting, huh? Today I will discuss three ways to achieve balance.

First up is symmetrical balance. I'm sure it seems self explanatory; symmetrical insinuates equal measures on either side of center. If you use one of these on the right side, be sure to add it to the left too. You can think of  it as a mirrored effect. That said....it's always good to bring just a bit of asymmetry into a symmetrical design. If you remember what I said yesterday about the brain liking order so it can move on, you'll remember that we want to invite it to stay and linger. Just a bit of asymmetry accomplishes this. Such at in the two sentiments being on top and bottom, but swapping sides of the main images.

Lil Bunny Peeps

So if we have symmetrical balance, that must mean we have asymmetrical balance. This means our mirror is gone, but we still achieve balance by arranging our elements so that the sides have equal weight. If you have a large image on the left, have a group of smaller ones on the right. If you have a large sentiment in the bottom right, add a banner cluster to the top left. This gives balance to the overall design. It's all a matter of perception; how the arrangement makes the brain feel.

Lucky Dog, Vintage Burlap

Finally, there is radial balance. You achieve this balance by creating circle with your elements. Using the Gina K wreath builder system a perfect example of radial balance. You can see that there is symmetry horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.

Purrty Wonderful, Cat's meow, Meow Purr Baa

I hope you return tomorrow for my wrap up to design principles and my week as the GIU gal.  Be sure to comment for a chance to win the deeply etched red rubber prize and consider subscribing to this blog to keep up with what is going on in my craft room.

Until tomorrow, happy stamping!