12 March 2007

Scrapbooks etc - design secret 2006


I had lent this book from a dear friend for a couple of weeks. Design secret is like a blue print for us to build our own designing skills.
Summary :-
Planning - every great scrapbook page starts with a plan for both its story and its structure.

“BEFORE YOU START YOUR LAYOUT THINK ABOUT THE STORY YOU WANT IT TO TELL. THEN KEEP THE STORY IN MIND AS YOU DESIGN “

1. Intention – before you make any design decisions, it helps to know what you want your page to say and to whom. It’s called designing with intention, and it’s the difference between telling a story and simply decorating card stock.
How?
- Who is your audience?
Example -My kids
-What sort of message and mood did you want to convey?
Example – I wanted to capture the playfulness of this day of blowing bubbles
- What design decisions did you make to help communicate your message and mood?
Example – to play up the playful nature of this page, I used energetic, bold shapes and colors. To further the bubble theme, I formatted my journaling text and accents to mimic the shape of a bubble wand. I also chose pattered paper that carried on this circle motif.

2. Composition – the most basic aspect of your layout design is how you arrange elements on the page. Where you place your photos, text and accents in relationship to one another can make a big difference in how effective they are in telling your story.

a. emphasis – before you do anything elase, pick your focal point – the first place you want the viewer to look to quickly get the point of your layout.
b. structure – a deliberate structure is the basic foundation of any page. Thinking of your page as a grid can help you envision that structure. – use a grid as a guide rather than a rigid boundary. You don’t have to stay inside the lines.
c. balance – there are many ways to create balance in your pages where no one element appears to be too heavy.
d. space – empty space can be as important an element in your page design as those things that take up space. White or empty space can make a dramatic impact on your layout.
e. bridging and grounding – once you have formulated the basic structure of your layout find ways to connect your elements.
f. movement – the way you arrange your page elements can help direct the viewers eye through the page.

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