Author: Curtis Newbold

Size is an incredible tool that magically announces to people what is most important and what is least important. Whether you’re creating a résumé, a sales report, or a flier (or anything else), you should think about how contrasting the size of text and images will guide people to what

In some ways, the term “highlighting” can be used synonymously with “contrasting,” since the goal of highlighting is to contrast one piece of information from another. When you highlight information, you are drawing attention the unqiueness of the highlighted nuance. Use highlights to emphasize, direct the eye, create visual interest,

Whenever you place two or more visual elements in a page that are not intended to be exactly the same, it’s important that you make each element clearly and distinctly different. Whether you are using two or more colors, two or more fonts, two or more sizes, two or more

In addition to using color to affect emotions, you can actually explore ways in which color affects how people act and react to information. Research in the way color affects physical behaviors is a relatively new area of study and researchers aren’t always sure which colors will affect which actions.

If your goal is to persuade, motivate, engage, or inspire people, then, in many ways, your goal is to better understand the psychology behind what causes people to feel the way they do. Reserach has repeatedly shown that color—among other factors, of course—can have a profound impact on people’s emotions.

The intensity, brightness, and schematic combinations of colors affect the way people will feel about and interact with your information. When you appropriately match the color of your document to the intended ambiance of your message, people will be far more likely to react to it in the way you

Any time you approach color in a design, ask yourself if the color you are using meets common conventions and expectations. While many designs will offer you a free reign of color choices and palates, some colors really ought to be used for specific purposes. In certain industries, cultures, companies,

Color has the tremendous ability to draw attention, aestheticize, create meaning, and give emphasis. To effectively do any of those four, though, you have to be strategic about creating harmonies and relationships. Sometimes the relationship can be contrasting or jarring, but if done intentionally, the contrasting relationship can give meaning

Color is complex and would require a lenghty scientific discussion about wavelengths and prisms and reflective light to really grasp how it works. But truthfully, for the average information designer, knowing the complex science of color and how the brain perceives it isn’t all that critical, even if it is