From the course: Learning Graphic Design: Things Every Designer Should Know

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Have a focal point

Have a focal point

From the course: Learning Graphic Design: Things Every Designer Should Know

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Have a focal point

Another way to keep things simple is to make sure your design has a Focal Point. A Focal Point is typically the biggest or the brightest or the boldest or the most different element on your page, and it gives your reader a place to focus. Bin of green apples, they are fine apples, but we really have nowhere to look until we turn one of them red, and then it becomes obvious. And you've actually simplified your presentation for your viewer in doing this. Here's an example of a magazine spread that's partly designed. We have an attractive base here. By base, I mean a basic layout here. But you'd have to be really motivated to read this story, because it's just all gray text, and you have to read in order to discover what the story is about. All this changes when we add a Focal Point. Our model now could be what the story is about or it could be about summer or what she is wearing or whatever. But now with this big attractive picture, the rest of the article becomes very easy to read…

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