Need a Logo or a Website? Compare 8 Free Bids Today. Over 50,000 Designers Worldwide. DesignQuote.net

DQ News: Remember Visual Hierarchy in your Advertising

Whether you are creating bill board, an exhibition stand or leaflet you need to pay attention to how you will direct people around your publication. The concept of visual hierarchy is one of the first things that graphic designers learn and it allows you to emphasise important elements in your publications with ease.

In fact I’m using it right now and you’ve probably used it today as well. Visual hierarchy is useful when it comes to creating attractive, easy to read adverts, ensuring that potential customers easily absorb your message.

Contrast

This will come up again and again in this post, but anything that contrasts from the rest of a piece will stand out and be seen as important. For example if you pattern of blue dots with one red dot then the red dot will immediately be noticed.

Size

It is fairly obvious that larger elements tend to be ‘heavier’ than smaller elements. So the more important the image is the larger it should be in comparison to other images. So you would usually want to make the most important part of an image the largest. Though there are exceptions to this rule. For example a single small but contrasting element surrounded by larger elements, will stand out creating a vulnerable impression.

Position

In Western cultures we tend to scan pieces from the top left to the bottom right in an ‘E’ pattern. Having said that the first place we tend to look at is the centre. So a distinctive central image will attract the most ‘weight’ and after that whatever is in the top left corner. Think of a billboard as opposed to this article. Probably the first thing you notice when you look at a billboard is near the centre. In contrast when you look at this article the first thing you notice is the title. This is because there is nothing distinctive in the centre, just a block of text.

Position has another crucial role. If you arrange everything in an organised pattern then anything that breaks that pattern will stand out. (Type dare to be different into Google Images to get an idea of what I’m talking about).

Colour

For some reason different colours tend carry different weights, with red and black seeming to be the ‘heaviest’ with green and yellow being the ‘lightest’. You will see over and over again red being used to distinguish an important item, think of fire extinguishers and alarms, there is a reason why they tend to painted red.

Whitespace

Whitespace, though it can be blackspace, or green whatever your background colour is really, helps to organise the information and prevent it appearing overwhelming. If you have ever tried to scan a long text message for details you will know how annoying a stream of text is. By putting spaces between elements then it allows you to group them.

Grouping

By grouping elements together you can show that they are related. For example without reading this paragraph you can still tell all the words are related because they are closer to each other than they are to the words in other paragraphs. In addition the whitespace between the paragraphs helps to establish them as separate groups. You can also establish relationships by repeating elements, so for example the sub headings in this article are seen as a group because they bolder than the rest of the text.

I hope this article has helped give you a basic idea of the principle behind visual hierarchy and how they can help make you publications easier to read and more informative. There is a wealth of information out there which can help you understand

About the author: Daniel Frank regularly blogs about marketing and design is currently writing on behalf of Nimlok Exhibition Stands.

Photo Credit: jasleen_kaur

Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…

Need a Logo for your new company? Compare 8 Free Bids Today. Over 50,000 Designers Worldwide. DesignQuote.net

Everyone Is Getting In On The Party

House parties touting direct sales products like makeup or Tupperware have been around for a long time. The success of the house party is well-known, and it is quickly growing into a marketing tool for all. With the help of one company, many popular brand

Advertising on Rental Cars

Wrap Media Group has partnered with Budget Rent a Car of Atlanta to wrap rental vehicles with the eye-catching Sheets™ Brand Energy Strips. For the first time ever, renters will be able to get a significant discount when driving a Sponsored (wrapped) Rent

Advertising on School Buses

Fox News: In an effort to close widening budget deficits, states throughout the country are slashing funding to education, leaving school districts looking for ways to beef up revenue, and some have gone as far as to sell ad space on school busses. Cash-s

The 3 Best Reasons Why the Time is Ripe to Get Your Business Valued

  If you have no immediate interest in selling your business then you might think a business valuation is an unnecessary expense. But there are a whole host of reasons why you should be getting an understanding of the value of your business that don’

Overcoming Management Confidence Issues

A new survey, conducted by CIPD, suggests that 21% of employees fear that they will imminently lose their jobs and that over a third believe their standard of living has dropped in the last six months highlights what a stressful time it currently is for w

How Small Business Owners Can Use Open-Source Code

Open-source code is a big part of the Web 3.0 revolution because it fits one of the key driving factors: collaboration. Open-source code is developed by several people (even thousands) working together to make a usable tool or program. Even when it’s fini

How to Improve Your Online Business through Testing (“Signups Increased by 60%”)

You run a small business and use your website to sell goods or generate interest from consumers. You might even use analytics tools to track your visitors’ behavior. If you want to make more informed decisions about your website, include testing in

5 Ideas to Market Your Company in the Digital Age

The game has changed – or, rather – the game is changing. The way we conduct business today is drastically different than it was a few years ago, and it’s still evolving. The internet, and specifically social media, has changed the way people and companie

The Law of Emotional Connection

The Law of Attraction is a multi-billion dollar industry that has as many critics as it does fans. Its fans rave over its benefits, while its critics point out flaws in its approach and its inability to be measured. Whatever side of the coin you fall on,