Importance of Layout in Graphic Design Materials

In Creativity & Inspiration, Importance of Graphic Design, News by JamieJanuary 21, 20132 Comments

Layout plays a significant role in a graphic design. Layout refers to the arrangement of elements on a page usually referring to specific placement of image, text and style. Understanding the layout of design is very important. If the layout is not correctly understood, there is a probability that the message you wanted to convey will be lost and the cost of advertising would go to waste.

For most designers and advertisers, the ”Z” layout is regarded a standard solution or format to follow. ”Z” layout is the one in which the structure is in the form of letter Z — the path in which the reader views the elements on the page, ad or design. From headline, imagery, body copy, captions and signature or call to action is usually the order that is followed. By nature, the human eye follows this pattern when they look at an advertisement or designed layout.

Proper layout enhances the look of the particular object and the objects as a whole piece of design in order to create a strong composition. The success of a layout depends on the arrangement of the individual visual elements and relationship — or visual hierarchy — formed between them. All graphic designers must keep this in mind at all times when creating advertisements, promotional materials and works or art.

In a website design for example, layout is extremely important to make the site user-friendly, functional and make it look attractive for customers to stay on the site. Is is essential to know the fundamentals for a proper layout for designing purposes from correct understanding and usage of balance, proportion, sequence, emphasis and unity of all cohesive elements.

The layout of the website for example should be in accordance with the relevant topic and expectations of the visitors otherwise they may loose interest in the website (designers have to think like the customer here). This is where the graphic design should support the content to showcase it in the best light possible. The colour-scheme must also work in conjunction with the layout of the website design to appear attractive to potential customers. Different browsers takes different settings — did you  know that visitors mostly use either 800*600 resolution or 1024*768 resolution? So keep these resolutions and different browser settings in mind when designing a website because if you do not use these resolutions, your website design might get distorted when viewed through other resolution.

As you may now realise, layout for visual elements plays a significant role in graphic design to create and achieve a successful design that attracts potential customers, is user-friendly, easy to read and understand to want to find out more.