People have always appreciated a nice visual appearance that can bring a sense of joy and admiration. Nowadays, the visual part of any business is a yardstick that defines its further development, customer communication, and overall success. That is why many companies invest in their brand aesthetics, seeking to elaborate a unique visual style that will capture people’s attention and make them resonate with their messages. A sophisticated and cohesive design is a treasure as it can make your audience understand your business's core values, engage with your content, and choose your services or products over other offers. But how do you achieve this? What can help you hone your design and make it an influential asset? The answer is plain, and it is simply balance.
A well-balanced design is easy to digest, making the whole process of interaction a pleasant experience. It’s like music, where you make all the instruments sound graceful and enchanting. On the contrary, clashing rhythms can make the orchestra sound quite rough and chaotic, so you can’t enjoy the melodies. Balance can help you create a visually appealing and clear design that will work for your goals. In this article, we discover the peculiarities of balance in design, its types, features of balance, and common mistakes everyone should avoid when creating balanced designs.
Before we start our explorative journey into balanced design deliverables, let’s get some picture of what a balance in design stands for. So, in brief, balance is the measure of how design components are weighted against each other within a certain structure. It is a crucial consideration for every creator seeking quality and easy-to-understand design decisions. All the design strategies should include balance rules leading to the evenness of shapes and colors. In a well-balanced design, elements are arranged in an appropriate way, bringing a feeling of unity and visual harmony. It refers to enabling stability and harmony in various fields. For instance, balance is a vital part of website design, architecture, interior design, graphic design, and so on.
The balance is impossible when there is too much space or cluttered areas, as well as when there is too little of some quality. If you stick to the balance design principle, you ensure that the elements of your design don’t appear bulky, overpowering, or heavier compared to the rest of your design components. Aesthetic balance allows you to build a well-proportioned space where your users can move their eyes effortlessly and perceive all the required information easily.
There is an array of design principles that enable creators to craft powerful and memorable design assets that empower people to choose their businesses over others. Balance is one of those essential principles that has the power to transform your design into an influential product. It impacts the appearance and functionality of your product apart from principles like repetition, proportion, pattern, and hierarchy.
The balance principle of design plays a crucial role in building visually pleasing, intuitive, and easy-to-use designs. By incorporating balance laws, you can create products that not only look posh and functional but also work for your reputation and serve your purposes. If you want to astonish the world with your innovative idea or just attract more customers to your service or product, applying balance to the arrangement of visual elements in your design will help you reach your goals. It also ensures that a design reflects the feeling of completion, satisfaction, and cohesiveness.
Whether you are running a huge company, developing a small business, or just launching a startup, make sure to keep balance in mind when arranging all your design elements. The lack of balance in your design can lead to your users not knowing where to look and what to pay attention to. Your main message can go unnoticed if spatial balance and user experience design are neglected.
Let’s break down exactly what balance in design is and how it works. In simple terms, balance is the visual weight of design elements in your composition. It refers to arranging elements in the most appropriate way and producing a sense of coherence, clarity, and order. You may wonder how this is possible to achieve. Well, you can create a well-balanced design by organizing components such as textures, spaces, colors, and shapes so that the whole picture feels visually pleasing and harmonious. Balance graphic design elements and see how easy it can be to perceive your content. Also, balance can help you create the necessary dynamics and emphasis, enabling you to communicate your messages in a more entertaining way.
Equilibrium is what makes your design feel convenient and functional. It helps users grasp the information you place in your design and find the things they seek. An appropriate weight distribution allows you to shape a positive brand image for your business and form a positive impression of your services or products. A well-balanced design shows that you care about your customers and make their user experience smooth and effortless. Balance is the ability to combine complexity, brightness, and large objects with lighter and smaller ones so they look and feel great together.
If you want to make your layout design and graphic aesthetics look visually pleasing and feel functional and convenient, you need to know several types of design balance. They can help you concentrate on the right means and craft compelling and dynamic compositions. Here, we have gathered common balance types you can find useful during your design creation journey. Explore them right away, as well as the principles of design symmetrical balance.
Visual balance is not always about perfect symmetry in the distribution of design elements. Asymmetry can also produce a sense of balance and cohesiveness. You can arrange components of different colors, shapes, and sizes so that the whole picture looks harmonious.
It is one of the most popular balance types in design. By incorporating a symmetrical balance, design elements on either side of a central axis mirror and reflect each other. It brings a sense of order, stability, and formality.
One more popular balance type is radial balance, which designers often apply when creating mandala patterns and logos. It involves arranging design elements around some central point. You can achieve it by organizing colors, textures, and objects at equal distances from the center. This balance type imparts a sense of harmony and continuous movement.
Once you know the types of design balance, let’s discover the features of balance that can improve your design outcomes. First, a balanced composition will include a focal area anchoring the whole layout. It influences the spatial sequence and the viewer’s sight.
Equal visual weight is another balance feature that makes elements look and feel harmonious. Lighter elements balanced with heavier ones produce a sense of order, equilibrium, and clarity. You may have noticed that some websites feel bulkier and more cluttered compared to others. It is probably due to inappropriate weight distribution.
Contrast is a common technique applied in design to reach balance and a sense of movement. It involves differences in scale, shape, texture, and color that can lead to visual interest and dynamic vibes.
If you want to achieve balance in your designs, you need to pay attention to some available design approaches. One of them is using colors that can alter the perception of space and weight. Cool colors seem lighter, while warm colors create a feeling of coziness. Apply vibrant colors to small areas in your design space and neutral ones to larger areas, and you will have a balanced design.
Using various shapes within your composition is another opportunity to reach a well-balanced design. It can help you create the image you want to form and reflect the nature of your brand. Appropriate shapes combined with empty space enable you to highlight the main points in your design.
Balance plays an essential role in many design disciplines. For example, it is hard to imagine successful design decisions without balance in fields such as graphic design, website design, architecture, interior decoration, industrial design, and so on. Whether you create a website for your business, motion graphics for your video, or an interior environment for your new house, sticking to balance will enable you to gain functional and visually stunning design results.
Mistakes happen in all industries, and design is no exception. That’s why you should keep the common pitfalls in mind and avoid them. Balance mistakes can ruin all your efforts to create a visually pleasing and functional product. So, be careful with things like excessive elements, neglecting a meticulous design brief, forgetting about color theory, and poor proofreading. Try to avoid these mistakes and remember that every design case is an opportunity to learn.
In the world of modern design, balance still plays a crucial role and identifies how people will appreciate your aesthetics. It serves as a reliable guide, directing the viewer’s eye to the essential points and maintaining user engagement. Whether you create an app interface, furniture, or clothes, balance is vital in your design. Align your design decisions with balance techniques, and you will get a stable and harmonious product.
However, if you're unsure how to achieve balance in your design or simply don't have the time to fully engage in the process, let professionals like DreamX step in. Our team has the experience and expertise to craft a balanced and visually compelling design for your product. So let us handle the details while you focus on the bigger picture!
Balance in design: a key to business success and clarity
Veronika is a UX/UI design team lead driven by a passion for user-centric design. She spearheads the creation of innovative and effective design solutions that elevate the user experience.
Table of contents
Brief overview of balance in designImportance of balance in creating visually appealing and functional designsWhat is balance in design?Types of balance in designFeatures of balance in designAchieving balance with color, shape, and spaceBalance in different design disciplinesCommon mistakes to avoid in design balanceTo sum upGet weekly updates on the newest design stories, case studies and tips right in your mailbox.
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