Principles of Design

The principles of design are rules that help designers use the elements of design in a visually pleasing way. Put simply this is how you arrange all those pretty ribbons, papers and embellishments onto your blank card and come up with something stunning at the end of it!

Proportion - Your use of this principle will begin when you choose your first card blank. Standard card blanks are designed to pleasing proportions whilst giving you lots of choice. Your blank card must be in proportion to the embellishments you use. Imagine taking the largest A5 card blank and one small flower, with just these two items, the proportion will be wrong and the flower will look lost amongst all that blank space. However several flowers together would sit well on a large card. If you have chosen embellishments you want to use, try them on several sized card blanks to compare proportion before finalising your design.

Balance – Balance appears in two main forms. Formal balance, where everything is centred on the card creating a traditional, formal invitation, and informal balance, where elements are placed off centre but still balance each other visually. Examples of the two types of balance are ‘Pressed Rosebuds’ a traditional symmetrical design and ‘With this Ring’ design which is more dynamic, but still balanced.

Rhythm –This describes how the eye moves between different elements, design trying to make sense of them and looking for a pattern. If your design involves a series of several items placed evenly be sure to place them accurately, if they are slightly out of place in the pattern the design will jar the eye. Another option would be to place the items more randomly using a flowing rhythm. Natural or organic shapes or patterns tend to follow this less formal flowing rhythm.

Emphasis – This is the focal point of a card. Emphasis on a particular embellishment can be increased by mounting it on layers of coloured card, creating a frame effect. Dark shades will have more emphasis, appearing to advance whereas lighter tones will recede.

Contrast – It is important to note that the contrast between elements does not have to be dramatic to work well. The same colour can be contrasting by using different textures, for instance burgundy ribbon, text and paper. Other contrasts worth considering in your design are, Light and Dark, Textured and Smooth, and Pattern versus Plain.

Unity – This is how the different elements of a design come together to produce a whole and finished professional looking item. Unity in your design can be achieved by carefully considering the elements you are using, how the colours function and questioning if you are following the principles of design.

If you have an invitation design that you are struggling with, read through these articles while looking at your invitation. Consider the elements, colours and principles to see if there is something you can change to improve it. As always, design preferences are an intensely personal thing and some of the most respected designers do sometimes ignore these guidelines. If your design looks good and you like it, but breaks a design rule then don’t worry about it!

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