Saturday, May 31, 2008

Layout and Design

I think we all have a lot to learn about layout and design. Here are a few tips.

36. Save room to write - The most beautifully designed page is not complete without journaling. When creating a page layout, make sure you save room for writing.

I don't completely agree with this statement. Sometimes a great photo and a good title are enough. Take this photo for example:


37. Accent color - When choosing colors for your layouts, select one or two less dominant colors from you photographs. Use those colors for background paper, photo mats and more to make your photos really standout.

It's always a good idea to use colors from your photos to blend in the background of your page. However, using black and white photos and sepia tone photos - the color combination is almost endless.

38. Photo direction - Position your photos so the subjects in them are not facing off the scrapbook page. An inward-facing subject will draw reader's eyes into your page and not away from it.

There is some great photo editing software that can take a photo and reverse it so it will work better on a page.

39. Theme albums - To create a theme album, chose a consistent style that will run through the entire album. Allow certain colors, shapes or techniques to repeat through out for a focused, unified design.

Hey - we don't always make theme albums. I keep and on going album for photos I just happen to take that I think will make a great scrapbook page...you know, just everyday life.

40. Unification - Make your double-page spreads come together by laying out both pages at the same time. To unify the pages, try running each half of a title across the spread, use the same background paper, mirror the layout or add identical design elements.

This is always a good idea. I hardly ever use the mirror image idea however, I always seem to have one great photo that is large and a bunch of smaller photos that I like to cram on the other page.

41. Focal point - For impactive page design, make sure your layouts have a single focal point - a place for people to look first. This can be achieved in many different ways, such as with an enlarged photo, an interesting shape, color, texture, etc.

Some times the focal point can be the design. Example - swirls coming out of one circle and each swirl ending with a small photo cut from a circle stamp. I also like the idea of laying out a template similar to a tic-tac-toe board. This divides the page into thirds which is attractive to the eye.

42. Letter-sticker placement - To avoid the hassle of perfectly straight letter sticker titles, purposely apply each letter to your page at an angle for fun, playful look.

Another way is place each sticker letter on a piece of cardstock and cut out the cardstock. This is like framing each letter in a way.

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