What is emphasis? It is the idea that the most important element on the page is the most prominent, the second most important element is secondary in prominence, and so on, down to the last, least important detail.
How do you effectively use emphasis on your project? Begin first by analyzing the content (words, phrases, and graphics on the page) of your message, and then determine which parts of that message are most important. Once you are armed with this information, you can begin calling visual attention to the pertinent content using a variety of strategies: making it bigger, bolder, using color, etc.
Emphasis is NOT Contrast. Although these 2 concepts seem quite similar, there is a subtle difference. Contrast is the idea that you should develop strong visual differences between elements on the page. You have to use an intellectual analysis to determine how emphasis should be implemented, while contrast can be established using subjective, aesthetic choices.
Why use Emphasis at all? Using it helps guide the reader, letting her know what you think are the essentials of the message much faster then having to sift through masses of undifferentiated text. Without emphasis, the reader could become fatigued and simply give up trying to decipher your message altogether. Another advantage is that Emphasis adds visual interest, making your compositions more engaging.
It takes a while to develop the ability to assign the proper hierarchy and order of emphasis. We will do an exercise in class doing just that—the more practice you get , the better your designs will be. the better you get at determining emphasis, the faster and more efficiently you will be able to design. Your reader will also benefit as he will have strong, reliable cues to guide him through the content. Over time, you will develop a sense of what is traditionally emphasized over what, and why: headlines are larger that subheads, captions are smaller than the body copy, and so on.The last thing you want to do is to emphasize everything, making everything on the page scream at the top of its lungs.
As you can see in the illustration, everything has been emphasized. What is the most important part of the message? Notice how it is visually tiring to try and wade through all the styling to the core message.
Visual Hierarchy
Visual hierarchy is the arrangement of visual elements on the page according to their order of importance and, consequently, emphasis.
How do you establish visual hierarchy? Start by asking yourself a few questions:
- What is your primary message?
- What element best communicates this primary message?
- Is there a secondary message?
- Which element best conveys this secondary message?
- Is there a tertiary message?
- What element best conveys this level of message?
- Which visual element is the most interesting?
- Which visual element is the most likely to attract or spark the reader’s attention?
- Is there a piece of information which, if unemphasized or unclear, could undermine the usefulness of your message?
- Is there any extraneous or unnecessary information that you can delete from your page?
Designers use visual hierarchy in their designs to direct the reader’s attention to key points, starting with the page’s key focal point. A focal point is the part of the page that has been most emphasized, thereby it is the element the reader’s eyes go to first. Secondary and tertiary focal points are called accents because they accent other parts of the page. Too many accented items will cloud your message, so be careful if there is a lot of information on the page. Instead, pick out the most important items on the page and emphasize them and only them.
Developing sensitivity to visual hierarchy
Look at other designer’s work to see how they solved issues of emphasis. Ask youself some simple questions while you do this:
- What do you look at first?
- What do you look at second?
- What do you look at third?
- Why do you think you looked at these visual elements in this order?
- What visual techniques did the page designer use to create their visual hierarchy: positioning, color, texture, size, visual weight, etc.?
Don’t be shy: ask these same questions about your own work in order to make it stronger.
Emphasis Techniques
There are all sorts of ways to create differentiated emphasis. Here are just a few.
- Make it bigger
- Make it the boldest
- Set the type in italic or bold or both
- Add a special visual effect to the element
- Set the element in side of a shape that is different from the other graphics or text on the page
- Add a border to the shape around the element
- If an image, silhouette it
- Change its color
- Surround the element with lots of white space
- Make it full intensity while everything else is faded
- Positioning the item in the optical center of your page (see illustration below)
A well-thought out emphasis plan can influence what people think when they first look at your design, even if you are working only with a single phrase or logo.
Some techniques to avoid or use with care:
- ALL CAPS: all caps is the typographical equivalent to shouting. Also, it is difficult to read line after line of text set in all caps.
- Centered layout: Make sure the layout does not become too stable and boring. Depending on the elements you have to work with, a centered layout may not be the best best.
- Overusing emphasis: you can emphasize too much when you first start out, so be careful. There can definitely be too much of a good thing when it comes to emphasis.
