A page layout or composition is the process to place, arrange and composing texts and images in a page. A good composition is not only good looking, but also effectively conveying messages from texts and graphs to the audience. A good layout is a must to make design planning for printed mediums such as brochures, flyers, to magazines and books.
A layout is closely related with the composition of design elements in a specified place to create the right artistic outcome. Placement of elements such as texts, graphics and tables need to be cautiously arranged to look in order and interesting. So that readers and audience can easily catch information displayed in certain layouts. Here are some things to think about to make your page layout more stand out.
Arrange All Graphic Elements Composition
In the first step of design process, you need to make layout to match and balancing design pages. Use guidelines with grids, then arrange graphic elements positions, texts and shapes until it’s visually aligned. Making a mood pallette can also help a lot, by making a collage of design inspirations before making the actual design. Put all references about page layout, color pallettes, typography and how you want to arrange all information in text. You can always look back at the mood board to refresh your ideas.
Find the Right Visual Form
A visual form in design can be in any form such as illustrations or photographs. Both can be used if they have strong meanings and suitable with the page concept that want to be created. A creative and unique visual will be able to catch audience attention. Don’t forget to match visual color tone with the page layout color tone to make it more stand out. A visual contrast also can be applied so the page can be eye-catching. For example, you can make a visual contrast by using colors, typography, shapes and balance them all.
Match Your Design with the Content
Think about your content and audience you want to reach with your design. If you are designing for magazine feature, read the article and look if there’s any design concept that attracts your attention. If you are designing for a page directive for a brand, consider brand identity and think about a suitable design concept.
Arrange Text Composition and Typography
Other than elements that previously mentioned, you also need to arrange text composition in the page layout. A designer can use asymmetrical column to balance visual and text part. The use of these elements can be grouped into 2-4 columns so it can create a formal and static compositions.
Find typography that speaks well with your page brand identity while keep creating visual attention. You can mix and match some fonts to keep a whole composition between different elements.
Add Some White Space
You can leave some empty or negative space, or also known with ‘white space’ in your page design. Don’t let your page layout look too ‘crowded’ or full with images and texts. You can left some empty space in the side of the page, or on top of the texts or graphic images. Moreover, you can also give white space by giving letter spacing and paragraph spacing. A negative space that applied carefully can create more visual attention than a ‘busy’ one.
Experimenting with Guidelines
A design process will different for every designer. Design principles, grid and guidelines will help you for sure, but experimenting with them mostly can give an interesting and fresh outcome. Let yourself play with your design and see how far it can grow.
There are some general tips for designing a page layout. More design considerations should be put more in a page layout because it needs to convey information to the right audience.
