Designing Information Material

Designing Information Material 4(1+3)

Lesson 2: Principles of Design

Unity

The concept of unity describes the relationship between the individual parts and the whole of a composition. It investigates the aspects of a given design that are necessary to tie the composition together, to give it a sense of wholeness, or to break it apart and give it a sense of variety.

It is the sense of ONENESS, of things belonging together and making up a coherent whole. Designers do this by repeating elements, overlapping shapes and directing the eye of the viewer around the work from one similar element to the next or along a line or shape. The eye is directed by the principles of design and composition so that the design has UNITY.

Beginning a design: Unless a publication is based on a well planned design layout, it will not impress the readers. Apart from the visual appeal of a publication, other factors such as the text content, the way the text is organized, the fonts used etc are to be considered while designing a document.

Designing is done by following the steps given below in order:

1. A good design is a result of careful planning and attention paid to details of the project such as, the photos included, type of fonts, type of paper used for printing etc.
   Before starting the design of a project the following questions are to be considered carefully
• Who will read the project and what are their expectations?
• What obstacles are to be overcome for the project to succeed?
• In what format will readers prefer the project presentation to appear
• How does the present publication relate to the other publications already released?
2. Make a rough sketch on paper of the designs envisaged. This may contain just simple hand sketches and the proportion between various components which may be only a rough approximation.
3. Try to study the works of others. Make a collection of various works and analyze why they are, or why they are not impressive.
4. Collect various images and fonts from different websites and CD’s as also paper cuttings from different newspapers/brouchers and advertisements which can later be scanned and used in different projects. Nowadays, a number of clip arts are available for use in projects. Clip arts are ready made illustrations, logos and cartoons which can also be customized as required.