The Importance of Design Principles

A large part of design hinges on creativity. But creativity has to be guided by principles that will make the target audience truly value the aesthetics invested in the design.
I’ll be discussing each principle and why they matter in design:

LINE

“A line is simply the shape between two points on a design"-gcflearnfree.org

The line is a powerful design tool and can take the form of straight, curly, wavy, etc.
Lines mostly interact between assets and can be used to distinguish, complement or organise elements in a design.

SHAPE:

" A shape is any two-dimensional area with a recognisable boundary"-gcflearnfree.org

Shapes like lines have a broader spectrum of usage, they can be used for emphasis, organisation and separation of content.
I particularly find shapes handy for drawing illustrations and adding aesthetics to simple designs.

FORM:

"When a shape becomes 3D, we can describe it as a form".

Forms are an interesting part of the design and this is because it simply adds depth to shapes giving our designs a touch of realism.
A good understanding of lighting, shadow and texture can help a designer imply good form and make objects seem real but it should be used in moderation.

TEXTURE:

" Texture is the physical quality of a surface"-gcflearnfree.org

Texture allows objects to also seem real, they are particularly handy for backgrounds and can aid a users perception about an object by making the surface look rough, smooth or soft.
I would only recommend that texture be used once in a single design piece or on a single object in a design to make that particular object stand out.

BALANCE:

"Balance is the equal distribution of visual weight" gcflearnfree.org

Balance deals with how an object or asset in a design affects the viewer’s perception of the design.
Balance can be affected by weights, colour, number and negative space.
Having balance helps the user navigate the design properly and when properly done will ensure the user focuses on what object in the design is primarily important.
Designers employ the rule of thirds to ensure balance and it is 3 by 3 grid where objects are ranked from left to right as being important to less important.

TYPOGRAPHY:

"Typography is the art of working with text"-gcflearnfree.org

Typography exists in every single thing we do because the text has to be the most fundamental way of connecting in our world.
Choosing the right font for a design project had to be the most exhausting exercise for me but now that I understand the different types of fonts I can go on to select without stress.
Serif fonts are used in traditional media. They are easily identified by the stroke at the end of each letter.
Sans Serif fonts are easier to read on computer screens which makes them more modern and they do not have any strokes attached to the end of each letter.
Display fonts are more decorative and I like to call them " freestyle" fonts.
It is not advisable to use too many fonts. One or two us enough and it is fine to use different don’t together after all opposites attract.

IMAGES:

" In design, they are the hook that draws the user in" gcflearnfree.org

It is important to use high-quality images and we can get free stock images on the internet. Images are either rasterized or in vector form. The best for resizing is the vector graphics because they do not have any distortions. Images can be adjusted by cropping, filtering and resizing.

COLOR:

"It can evoke certain emotions"-gcflearnfree.org

Colours give light and vibes to our design and efficiently combining colours is gotten by understanding colour theory.
While discussing colour we must understand Hue(Color), Saturation(intensity) and Value(lightness or darkness).
There are different formulas for creating colour e.g monochromatic, analogous, tetradic, etc.
We can draw inspirations for colour schemes from the Internet, nature and art.

LAYOUT AND COMPOSITION:

" They give your work structure and make it easy to navigate"gcflearnfree.org

In layout, we must structure our content neatly keeping in mind the rules of proximity, alignment, white space, contrast and repetition.
Proper application of these principles will make designs readable and understandable.

NEGATIVE SPACE IN UI DESIGN:

"It is the area of the design that is quote, unquote; empty".-Caler Edwards

Negative space is crucial in user interface design because it is that principle that will ensure the user has enough space to understand the information embedded in the design.
We can find negative space when trying to align fonts or dealing with the proximity of objects.
One way to go is to set guides for the grid on your artboard so that the design has predefined negative space.

CONCLUSION:

The whole point of the design is communication. The design principles make that communication easy.