Design Principles Representation

Ronda Dorsey NeugebauerR541 Instructional Development & Production

Professor Rod Myers 4 May 2014

Principles of Design

“the laws or rules of design” Sue Jenkins, Design Aesthetics for Web Design, Lynda.com

*not the same as elements of design, which are the basic components involved in creating design

Alignment

visual connection with something elseunified by vertically flipped and curved arrows

font, color, alignment the same for like information

Balance

visual balance is preferredequivalent balance between left and right images

images are similar in shape although different in value

Chunking

organize information in clusters for easier processing and recall

all words begin with same letterorganization related to open license

Contrast

make different components distinctly differentsans serif and italic serif typefaces

dark navy and black colors against bright orange

Decoration

message should not contain much irrelevant informationsparingly use of mining shaft decorative picture

only one gold nugget decoration to represent OER

Emphasis

attention focused within single area of designsuspended placement of lantern in corner

illuminates breadth of CC licensed materials

Graphs

visualization of data makes information easy to grasp

treemap makes effective use of spaceshows comparative amounts of hierarchical structure

Pattern

way to organize and build harmonybrown glaze pattern ties together units

functions as decoration and containment

Proximity

reduce visual clutter and organize informationparts are perceived as perceptual unitsunits are close to each other in display

Relevance

connect material to learner knowledgemotivation is strengthened by simple description

metaphor connects learner to process

Repetition

repeated with consistency throughoutsame size section headlines unify design

color of gold nugget repeated in section headlines

Unity

aesthetically pleasing design element balance presents information in a logical structure

sense of order with visual interest engages viewer

Chris Clark, Former Chief Designer at Black Pixel

Q: Tell me about your design process.

A: The process is Iterate, Iterate, Iterate