Give the Visual Triangle a Rest and Try Diagonal Flow

While the focal point of “Beauty is right here” is a single centered photo, embellishment clusters at top left and bottom right of the page establish a diagonal line that guides the eye down through all of the elements. The clusters sit isolated by generous white space. The white embellishments contrast with the canvas and catch they eye. Repetitions of white guide the eye down the diagonal.

Betsy Sammarco’s “Good Boys” looks much different from the page above, but it shares a similar approach to creating diagonal flow. An embellishment point at top left and journaling strips at bottom right stand out and lead the eye down and through her photo, title, and message.

Amber Ries not only grouped her elements in a cluster placed along a diagonal line, she leads into and out of the cluster with loopy handdrawn lines. She kept the weight of the journaling block (which extends out of the diagonal) lighter by avoiding any strong alignment.

The cluster on “Memorial Day” stretches from top left of the page to bottom right. Repetitions of white and blue reinforce the downward diagonal line.

While the elements on “Something Special” do not fit perfectly within a right triangle, still there are enough points that contrast (and, thus, stand out) to create a sense of a diagonal. Repetitions of color and value contribute to the strength of the line. The bulk of the page’s visual weight and content sits in the area of the canvas down and to the left of the diagonal.

Doris Sander flipped the triangle, putting the bulk of her content in the upper right corner of her canvas and arranging elements to create a strong downward diagonal line that completes the triangle. The challenge with this design is to compose a page that has balance; i.e., that doesn’t feel like it’s going to topple down into the bottom corner. The pieces that extend across the diagonal provide the stabilation that gives the page visual balance. Just as Amber avoided strong justification of a journaling block that extends across the diagonal on “Zwischenstop, so, too, has Doris done on “Smile.” The result is an airy spot of text that adds balance but without becoming too heavy.