Chapter 2: The four principles of good visual design

While design may feel like a subjective topic, it’s actually based on a series of scientific theories. Of course, everyone has their own taste, but the foundations of what makes a great piece of design are always the same.

In this article, we’ll learn 4 simple principles which anyone can follow in order to make sure they always design good looking artefacts whether it be slide decks, websites, or Pigment Boards.

Principle number 1: Hierarchy & Grouping

The human brain is very sensitive to how things are organized.

When presented with a document, people will unconsciously scan the entire page to understand its general organization. They analyze the information architecture to get a first feeling of how the content is structured.

Grouping the elements that relates to one another and organizing them on your page will help your users navigate easily and get a sense of simplicity.

Principle number 2: Visual Symmetry

We all enjoy seeing things that are perfectly aligned. Not only does it feels satisfying, it also makes a page feel clean and organized. Keeping a visual symmetry and aligning all widgets will decrease the amount of visual elements the brain has to parse, which, ultimately, makes your Board simpler to use.

Creating symmetrical composition that fills the space also helps to organize your content so that it becomes easier read.

Principle number 3: Subtlety & Contrast

To a Board user, each visual style is a new piece of information that their brain has to absorb and understand. A text in bold, another one in italic, a blue one, a green background … The more you create, the more distracting the design becomes, making it harder for a reader to find the content they’re looking for.

Having too many strong visual elements one next to the other makes a composition look complicated. If everything is attracting the user’s eye, then, their brain isn’t able to focus on anything.

However, if all your styling is too similar to one another, it also becomes a struggle to differentiate each piece of information.

Design your Board with the minimum amount of styling. Only add very subtle touches here and there, and sometimes use a single strong styling when you need to make information stand out.

Principle number 4: Consistency & Harmony

When a user sees information formatted in a certain way – a bold and green total in a grid for example – they make a connection between the visual style and the type of information. They will then expect to find the same design repeated in other places. Humans beings like to identify and retain patterns and each time you break your established styling, you risk confusing your users.

Remaining consistent is key in user experience design.

This not only applies to data formatting, but it also extends to color palettes, text styles, page layouts, and so on. Creating a coherent visual style, using similar color palette and pattern will make your Applications feel very efficient and simple to use.

Reducing the amount of visual variations, information, colors, shapes and style makes Boards look very simple.

Next up

Learn how to create simple information hierarch