Design school ~ Don't put your emPHAsis on the wrong syLAble

Don't start scrolling till I say...

True confession time: these fun elements were in my February DT Kit- I pulled them all together when I was coming up with the mid-month challenge for March. This was one of my ideas that didn't make the cut. That said I did make the page intending to just share it with you for inspiration. But it's much better in this post because it's a great example of what not to do!

You're about to scroll down and look at the page I made... I'll invite you to have a think about where your eyes go first, second, third and then finally fourth.

Are you ready?

Think about what you're seeing..... 

Scroll down to see the whole page...

Here's the layout....

 

I'm guessing that you saw the elements in this order: 

1. Good Stuff
2. Let's make today amazing
3. Today
4. Photos

Not great huh? The page is about the photos- I want to put the spotlight on them. But by choosing to put these large elements like this on the page the way I have and also draw attention to them with the circles I have overwhelmed my images and sent them off into the background- the Emphasis is all wrong! 


The starting point for any LO should be the decision about where you want the emphasis to be. It won't always be the photos- have a look at these pages and see where the emphasis is and why...

The emphasis on this page is the journalling- I've used rhinestones to make strong bullet points to draw attention to each line of a text. The most important message on my page was in the words... so much so I don't even need a photo.

 

Here the emphasis is on the central photo- I've enlarged it and made my title and other elements lighter to help give the photos the spotlight.This page is about what was happening in the photos in this case they tell most of the story- the rest is in my journalling.

The word Radio in the title takes the stage on this page- because my page is about my memory of listening to story time on the radio as a child. I've set the word aside from the rest of the title to give even more attention to it. The photo is just illustrative of me at that time and doesn't get the main spotlight because it's there for decoration- I could have made the page without it.

The title on this page is a quote and I have put the emphasis on the most important words- you can read them alone and clearly get the message I am conveying. I could have chosen one of many everyday photos that I have taken for this page it didn't really matter- what I wanted to recognise in this page is that things change- so it's important to have the little details captured as they are part of the story. And in fact I don't have that car, or handbag any more. I no longer have a need to carry snacks for the boys as our habits have changed.  I don't go to that library any more and I finished that whole series of (Janet Evanovich books). It really is extraordinary just how much has changed since I took that image.

Emphasis thieves
Sometimes we know what the emphasis is on the page but in the process of making the page we can add elements that steal the emphasis.  

The emphasis for this LO is intended to be on the photos- by placing them together in a block I have given them a lot of visual weight. But I have a patterned paper at the top that is visually quite heavy busy and bright- what I see first is that paper.

It's hard to tell on this page which set of photos have the emphasis on them- by splitting them and making them smaller they lose their power.

 

In this LO by using a large dark title it definitely steals the focus- overwhelming everything on the page.

By using such a large piece of a busy paper  with it's own image I have once again drawn the attention away from my photos.

If your embellishments are too big or too contrasting with your emphasis point you'll overwhelm the layout. 

In this LO the photos take the stage but I haven't cropped them so your eyes are assaulted by the lights at the hairdressers or get drawn to the 'G' letters on the cupboard behind my daughter. If you can't crop a distracting item out of a photo try and see if it suits cover the item with your embellishing.

I've used a super heavy block font for my journalling on this LO and it's gained so much visual weight it's distracting.

On this page my title is a similar size as the other title but by using all capital letters for the title and the contrasting black and white I have once again drawn the eye to the title. Even if I had have done this in all white- it would still steal the attention.

So here's the final page- my photos have the attention directly on them. They aren't overwhelmed by any other item on the page. Obviously this page is digital- but if you are loving these supplies then you can find them in the store at Mystical- it's the Fancy Pants Memories Captured line which I also have in my kit this month.

We'll come back to this LO in future weeks and see why I made the other decisions I made for this page using the other design elements I talked about last time in design school.