Design School ~ Contrast

The dictionary defines contrast as "the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association." 

Contrast is great way to add visual interest to your page and draw the eye into/through the page. 


You can use contrast in big and small ways on your scrapbook pages to create impact.

• Using contrasting colours. (black/white, blue/orange, green/red etc)
• Contrast lots of one dominant colour with smaller touches of a contrasting colour.
• A bright colour with a neutral background.
• Contrasting sizes in your fonts, pictures and other elements. Eg. One large photo with a group of smaller ones.
• Enlarging some of the key words in your journalling to contrast with the rest of the text.
• Contrasting fonts/alphabets in your title 
• Contrasting the text in your title with the text in your journalling
• Bold patterns and plain papers
• Using different scales in the size of your elements. 
• Contrasting shapes eg using a circle element on a page full of rectangles and squares.
• Contrasting a busier section of your page with an area of white space. 

I've used contrast in my title on this page. My text is both big and small, dark and light, a thin plain font and a fancy script font- with the emphasis on the word 'shorter' which is the main focus of the subject of my page. I also have the contrast of the plain light background at the top and the darker patterned paper at the bottom.

This page I've contrasted the size of my before and after photos- to give the emphasis to the new hair style. The bottom half of the page is darker which makes it heavier pulling your attention to it.

I've contrasted my photos again on this page by taking the colour out of my before photos.

I've contrasted a shaped patterned paper with a plain rectangular section at the top to draw attention to my title. I've used a larger scale half circle behind my title and a smaller scale half circle down the bottom of my page- the two elements relate to each other because they are the same shape- but the size difference provides and interesting contrast.

Click on the image above to see it larger- and see if the contrasts pop out to you.

 

 On this page I've used contrasting colours. I've contrasted the styles of text in my title. And I've contrasted the large 'bug' element on my page with some smaller more stylised bugs to add interest. The large bug also draws your attention to my title which is what I wanted to emphasise. 

 I could have chosen this rainbow patterned paper for this page about my son's crazy hair style- it works fine on the page.

 But I prefer the contrast of the white space with the bright splatters they bring some contrast and movement to the page.

Take a look at some of your favourite pages in the gallery or on pinterest to see where the scrapbookers have used contrast to add interest to their layouts. And don't be afraid to go big using contrast on your pages.