Within Shabaqo Academy, we started an interesting series called Design principles 101. These design principles will help you learn how elements of the design work and how you can implement them to create engaging visuals.
To learn more about all the Design principles check here. And to follow up on Design principles 101: Hierarchy and What are the design principles, click here.
Design principles 101: Contrast
Contrast is also one of the many design principles that every designer must be aware of. The main “task” of contrast is to establish the difference between the objects and elements in the design. This difference can be highlighted with color, space, value, shape, size, or form. There is one principle you must follow, the higher the contrast is between two objects, the easier it is to separate them from one another.
Contrast in color
The contrast in color is everywhere around us. When it comes to color contrast, the main purpose is to point out the significant messages in communication. You can see such concepts in logos, promotional material, and even in traffic signs. It uses 2-3 primary colors to point them out. The brighter the color is, the more it stands out.
Take a look at this picture, and think which of the 3 colors stands out the most to you?
Contrast in space
The contrast in space is used to point out how elements are close or far from one another. The objects or elements perceived closer bring more attention to the specific messages, and those further give you clues. Use contrast in space if you want to increase the perception of the value of certain objects. Using contrast and space together lets you group out elements and build a relation within them. Take a look at the next photo. We used two simple colors and multiple sizes to point your attention. Which one do you think overtakes the most?
Contrast in value
The contrast in value refers to the amount of contrast between two different elements. It can be high contrast, meaning there is a big difference between two objects, or low, which refers to a much smaller one. Check out the color combinations in the picture below. Can you see the difference between the upper and lower circle? How significant is it?
Contrast in shape
The contrast in shape is used to point out the significance of certain elements in the crowd. It’s making a notable difference in shapes. For example, making all elements squared and adding one circular to point its significance.
Contrast in size
The contrast in size stands for the size between elements in which one object appears significantly bigger than the rest of the objects. We also discussed this in Hierarchy. The visual, object, or text with contrast in size helps you establish the key elements in your design to make sure that observers focused on the right area of the design.
Contrast in form
The contrast of form stands for shaping visual appearance or configuring an object. With the contrast of form, we bring parts together to create something new. In the picture below you can see how from two different color circles we can create a new form just by giving the white circle, the color of the background.
Learning for free with Shabaqo Academy
Shabaqo Academy is one of the many projects carried out by Shabaqo, offering a free education source and providing knowledge in the field of domains, web design and development, and marketing. At Shabaqo we believe that education should be free and available to everyone, so we are working on providing the same to you. You can find many different articles published on our blog here and always follow up by signing up for our newsletter. We hope articles such as this one will help you in your future developments. All Shabaqo Academy articles are published by professionals in the field.
Find out more about design principles
You can follow all the articles in the design principles series here. We will be back with a new article soon. Until then, leave us a comment below, and feel free to suggest topics you would like to learn about! ✌️