Principles of Good Design

For our most recent assignment we read several chapters of Robin William’s The Non-Designer's Design Book. I learned about the four basic principles of design: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. The book discussed many elements of design and used visual representations as examples for the terms the author was discussing. That was really helpful for me because I am not a design major and very rarely work with print materials. Without looking at the book the most important part that sticks in my mind is to find a strong line and work with it. Williams states, “Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page” (33). Alignment and spacing of a document usually really stands out to me and is extremely distracting when done wrong, so this aspect really speaks to me. Williams gives examples and tools to use when laying out a document, such as resume to make sure things flow and are visually cohesive.

I think that good, clear structure is important in making the document look professional. Many times a persons first impression of you is a website or resume. If those things are disorganized and structurally confusing you come off looking amateur and unfocused.

Another important aspect is contrast, which can help in a good layout. It helps to separate important sections and draw a clear line between which things belong together. Williams looks at it this way, “If two items are not exactly the same, then make them different. Really different” (65).

I am a psychology major and I aspire to one day be a clinical mental health counselor. Design is important to my profession because it is helpful in making things cohesive, concise and clear. A lot of what I currently read and write are research materials and psychological research studies. These documents follow a very specific layout and is typically the same across all of the different journals. It is important to understand design to formulate your own articles and follow the same pattern of organization.