1. Design Principles
Representation
Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer
R541 Instructional Development & Production
Professor Rod Myers
4 May 2014

2. Principles of Design
“the laws or rules of design”
Sue Jenkins, Design Aesthetics for Web Design, Lynda.com
*not the same as elements of design, which are
the basic components involved in creating
design

3. Alignment
visual connection with something else
unified by vertically flipped and curved arrows
font, color, alignment the same for like information

4. Balance
visual balance is preferred
equivalent balance between left and right images
images are similar in shape although different in value

5. Chunking
organize information in clusters for easier processing and recall
all words begin with same letter
organization related to open license

6. Contrast
make different components distinctly different
sans serif and italic serif typefaces
dark navy and black colors against bright orange

7. Decoration
message should not contain much irrelevant information
sparingly use of mining shaft decorative picture
only one gold nugget decoration to represent OER

8. Emphasis
attention focused within single area of design
suspended placement of lantern in corner
illuminates breadth of CC licensed materials

9. Graphs
visualization of data makes information easy to
grasp
treemap makes effective use of space

10. Pattern
way to organize and build harmony
brown glaze pattern ties together units
functions as decoration and containment

11. Proximity
reduce visual clutter and organize information
parts are perceived as perceptual units
units are close to each other in display

12. Relevance
connect material to learner knowledge
motivation is strengthened by simple description
metaphor connects learner to process

13. Repetition
repeated with consistency throughout
same size section headlines unify design
color of gold nugget repeated in section headlines

14. Unity
aesthetically pleasing design element balance
presents information in a logical structure
sense of order with visual interest engages viewer

15. Chris Clark, Former Chief Designer at Black Pixel
Q: Tell me about your
design process.
A: The process is
Iterate, Iterate, Iterate