It’s Balanced!

Oct 30, 2013 | Design Tips | 3 comments

Today's post is all about Balance in your card design.

"Balance" is simply the way you place everything on your card – your "elements"… it gives your card stabilty. No matter what your elements are – lines, circles, chunky sentiments, texture, repitition, small embellishments… and color… they all need to be in proportion to each other in order to achieve harmony and balance in your design.  

As with color and layout, there is so much information on the subject of "balance" that I couldn't possibly fit it all into one post without boring you out of your chairs, so I decided to only talk about Symmetry and Asymmetry.

Below is a good example of Symmetry in balance – seriously, it's practically textbook!

• The Night of Navy circle is directly in the center of the card anchoring every element in the design. 
• The matted strip of patterned paper is also perfectly centered and Midnight Muse repeats itself (repitition) in the pattern. 
• The circle is also repeated in the patterned paper. 
• The sentiment frame is directly in the center of the card and Night of Navy and the circular softer lines are also repeated in the stamped frame… 
• Lots of centering and repitition create the symmetry. 
• Symmetry means "evenly balanced".

The card below is another good example of Symmetry…

• Repetition of pattern – Mirror images create good symmetry;
• Swirly sentiment font matches the swirly lines of the stamped images;
• Basic Black layer anchors the entire card and the black stamped images carry the color through the design.

And another example of Symmetry…

• Repetition of elements – Mirror images (stars and Summer Starfruit circles) create good symmetry;
• Color repetition;
• Center Midnight Muse anchor.

Asymetric balance in a card design is not as structured… kind of whimsical. Asymmetry has little repetition in elements and pattern. Asymmetry allows you to place elements that are not identical onto different areas of your card. To achieve asymmetrical balance, though, your design has more visual balance or visual weight.

Take a look at some of the cards below. They are all balanced, but not equally… the balance is more visual.

• No matching sets of elements – there are circles, butterflies and banners;
• No mirror images of anything;
• The visual balance is in the repetition of the Crisp Cantaloupe color but the elements are not really balanced, nor are they identical.
• This card is visually appealing, though… well, at least I think so. 🙂

Here's another example of asymmetry…

• No matching elements, there are some candy dots, banners, a little burlap, all different patterned paper, and a very large sentiment.
• The sentiment is horizontal and rounded in form and the banners are vertical and have very straight lines.
• The balance is achieved again with color – the Tangerine Tango candy dots and banners.

And finally, another asymmetrical design…

• No two elements are alike;
• Layers are straight lines; sentiment banner and embellishments are curvy
• Design is visually balanced with color.

So, without getting into much more depth on the subject, I hope you can see how important good balance is to your card design, whether it's a very symmetrically balanced design with lots of perfect centering and matching elements and mirror images, or a more whimsical asymmetrically balanced design where nothing really matches and your elements are anywhere and everywhere…but you have that one little spec of color that just makes your card visually pleasing and stable, or you have a nice banner that will visually anchor your design.

Most of us stampers don't have to know any of this to create beautiful cards and projects… we just create them. We have what most would call a "good eye".

None of this is really necessary to know, but now, when you look at a card that either you make or is made by another, you will undoubtedly know whether that card has Symmetric or Asymmetric balance.

Hope you enjoyed my mini card design tips.

Please visit again, but for now I wish you happy stampin' always,

SHOP STAMPIN' UP! AT MY ONLINE STORE

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Design A Little Layout

Oct 28, 2013 | Design Tips | 10 comments

Happy Monday and thanks to all of you who visited yesterday for my "Color Tip" post.

Today, I prepared a little tutorial on Layout. I'll share with you a little "how-to" on how my cards are born. So, no more introduction, here we go… this is the card I created to illustrate getting a good layout.

I chose Stampin' Up!'s Afternoon Picnic Designer Series Paper by design. It had the grid pattern to help you see this layout in the making.

Probably the most important information I could share about layout is the "Rule of Thirds"… The number 3 is a very happy number when creating your card. I use it all the time.

So, when I set out to make a card, I always use my cellophane grid. I made it myself from a clear A-2 envelope. My grid is divided evenly horizontally and vertically to create 9 equal parts – 3 rows across and 3 rows down and this one is for a standard 5 1/2" X 4 1/4" card. You can create "grids" for any size card you want to make.

Below is my initial layout with the stamps placed where I think I want them to go on my card – This is a horizontal layout which I thought I might use;

This wasn't doing it for me, so I switched to a vertical layout…Okay, so this is a little better, I like the oval sentiment frame and like the sentiment in the center of my card layout. My sentiment stamp fits nicely in the oval, too. So far, I like it;

I placed some of the DSP on the grid lines to see how the patterns would look together. I was still okay with the ovals, sentiment and Wisteria Wonder DSP, but not so happy with the newsprint – it needed something more. (Notice that the Wisteria Wonder DSP is aligned perfectly in the center of the card. The grid helps keep everything evenly placed).

I stamped the sentiment onto a cropped oval and added a Coastal Cabana square to the top corner for a little color pop… not so crazy about the whole thing. The sentiment oval and Wisteria Wonder DSP will stay, but everything else has to go. 

Can you see how my little grid is helping me layout this card? It's keeping everything in line so I could see what I might have to move and where…

After writing yesterday's blog post on Color, I decided to add a little to this card. "When in doubt, go with a yellow"… so I did, Crushed Curry.

Perfect! The color really added a lot and according to my little grid, everything is aligned nicely. I like it now. My grid is a little oversized, but that's because this is my card layer.

I like the layout, but the card still needs something more… Okay, getting better… everything is in good alignment according to my grid. I like it, but there's no balance to the layout… it's a little too bottom heavy.

Ahh! Perfect. My little butterfly embellishment is perfectly placed according to my grid.  Look at the knot in the bow – it's in the center of the first row on the left vertically and in the center of the first row from the bottom horizontally. 

So, to have a good design layout for my card, my butterfly embellishment should be in the first row on the right vertically and in the center of the first row from the top horizontally. 

The knot in the bow and the butterfly are sort of mirror images of each other.

Perfect! When I put my grid over my finished card, I have a nice evenly placed layout.

My card is complete and I'm happy with it.

So, don't throw out those cellophane bags from your stampin' supplies. Save them, measure them, get out your sharpie and draw your grids. Your card layouts will be perfect. 

Here's a little hint for perfectly measuring your grid. I take a piece of plain white bond paper, cut it to my grid size (you'll probably want to make an A-2 size to start – 4 1/4" X 5 1/2"), then I fold the paper in even thirds vertically, open it and fold it horizontally. Cut the cellophane to the same size and place it over the folded bond paper. With a ruler and fine point Sharpie, draw your grid onto the cellophane. It'll be permanent so you can use it all the time, even if it's to just check your layout.

Thanks for creating this card with me, and I hope all your card layouts are perfect! Remember the "Rule of Thirds", and "3" is our "happy number".

I enjoyed making my card with you!

Stop by on Wednesday for my last card design post. I'm going to talk about "balance".

SHOP STAMPIN' UP AT MY ONLINE STORE