Visual Organization

Not directing the audience through a design is misdirecting them.

Eye Movement

• Typical eye moves left to right and top to bottom.
• Controlling eye movement within a composition is a matter of directing the natural scanning tendency of the viewer's eye.
• The eye tends to gravitate towards areas of complexity first. In pictures of people, the eye is always attracted to the face and particularly the eye.
• Light areas of a composition will attract the eye, especially when adjacent to a dark area.
• Diagonal lines or edges will guide eye movement.

Optical Center

• The spot where the human eye tends to enter the page. Optical center is slightly avove the mathematical center (exact) and just to the left.

Z Pattern

• Our visual pattern makes a sweep of the page, generally in the shape of a "Z."
• Effective page design maps a viewer's route through information. The designer's objective is to lead the viewer's eye to the important elements or information.

Fonts/Composition 

• no more than 2 fonts
• compliment each other (1 decorative and 1 simple)
• avoid all CAPS in necessary
• chose the right font (works with the tone, feel, theme of the composition)
• don't overuse fancy and complicated fonts

www.typography.com/email/2010_03/index.htm 


The Grid-A way of organizing things on a page using any combinations of margins, guidelines rows and columns.

• invented by modernism
• assists the audience by breaking info into manageable chunks and establishing relationships between the text and images
• consists of a distinct set of alignment-based relationships that acts as guides for distributing elements across a format
• every design is different and requires a different grid structure, one that addresses the particular elements within the design
• used to help clarify the message & unify the elements