Composition and layout

Member lesson

Tension and rest

Lesson 20 of 27 in Composition and layout.

Bold Layouts Use Tension And Contrast (Ep 4) | Foundations of Graphic Design | Adobe Creative Cloud · Adobe Creative Cloud
Lesson

Tension is what makes a composition worth looking at for more than a second, and it comes from relationships that are not quite resolved: an element close to an edge, two things almost touching, a shape pushing against the frame.

large, pale, nearsmall, dark,farvisual weight is attention, not area
A small dark element far out balancing a large pale one near the centre.
Two frames: one crowded with shapes pressing every edge, marked with a cross, and one with two nearly touching circles and a large empty area, marked with a tick.
Two circles almost touching create a pull, and a wide empty area lets the eye rest. A page needs both, because tension everywhere wears the reader out.
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Members answer these 3 questions and keep the ticket for this lesson. Every lesson has one.

  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A relationship that feels unresolved and holds attention.”

    • Fixed canvas
    • Rest
    • Tension
    • Bistable image
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Where the eye is allowed to stop. Necessary, and frequently designed out.”

    • Spread
    • New Wave
    • Rest
    • Negative space
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “An almost-alignment. Reads as an error rather than as tension.”

    • Grid
    • Overshoot
    • Near miss
    • Objectivity

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