Creating Compositions for Minimal Designs

Jiran Rasouli
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read
illustration done by Jiran — jiranrasouli.com

It’s easy to throw design objects at a screen. Using your “eye” as a best judgement. Yet something ends up missing. The spacing is odd. Things tend to always end up in the center. Leaving images static and uninteresting.

Movement is dynamic. Stories are movement. They have a beginning and end. Composition is a tool to allow us to create that movement. Giving purpose to our elements. Even the negative space has a reason. The elements begin to relate to each other and the frame. The movement begins to tell a story even in an abstract regard.

Inside of my Seikoudoku Poster I decided to create the design close to a Golden Rectanlge layout. Adding margins to the top and bottom to create a ~1.6 proportional layout. From there using the diagonals and golden rectangle to determine the place of the sphere vs the placement of the text.

Japanese kanji is nice because of its square dimensions. The text is able to follow along a grid effortlessly. I placed the text at the meeting point of the golden rectangle. Then placing the sphere at the cross section of the diagonal and left side of the golden rectangle. Keeping things off center, implying movement in the circle. Away from the text.

originally written on: jiranrasouli.com

Jiran Rasouli

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