Composition and layout

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Visual hierarchy

Lesson 10 of 27 in Composition and layout.

Hierarchy in design — the most important principle you can master · Canva
Lesson

Visual hierarchy en.wikipedia.org is the perceived order of importance in a layout, and it is made of contrast rather than of intention. Whatever differs most from its surroundings gets seen first, which means the ranking a viewer ends up with was decided by the differences you built into the page and not by the importance you privately attached to each part of it. The idea sits on Gestalt psychology. Its sharpest form is the Von Restorff effect en.wikipedia.org: the item that breaks the set is the item that gets remembered.

firstsecondthird · everything else
Three levels of type: one large, one medium, several small.
A matchbox label on a yellow ground: a blue and green peacock with its tail trailing behind it, the name MOR in green above the Devanagari मोर, the words fifty's safety matches and retail price 25 Ps running vertically up either side, and HONEY MATCH WORKS, SATTUR along the bottom.
A matchbox label with a blue and green peacock on yellow, named in English and Devanagari. The bird is the first thing the eye lands on.Peacock, Indian matchbox label. Unrecorded designer, for an Indian match manufacturer.Wikimedia Commons/Public domain
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The order in which things get noticed, produced by how much each one differs from what surrounds it.”

    • Visual hierarchy
    • Grid
    • Overshoot
    • Ranged left
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Separating one element from the rest by space alone. Cheap, quiet, and the most underused tool on the list.”

    • Scale
    • Isolation
    • Hierarchy
    • Interruption
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Half-closing your eyes at a layout to see what survives. Unscientific, and the fastest check there is.”

    • Pacing
    • Squint test
    • Dynamic symmetry
    • Scale

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