Four Core Principles of Graphic Design
Good design helps a viewer know what matters, what belongs together, where to look, and how the parts connect. This week you will learn four practical principles that designers use constantly: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity.
Make differences obvious.
Create consistency.
Create visual connections.
Group related information.
Canva is a design tool, not the designer
Today is your first day using your student Canva account. Canva makes it easy to combine text, photographs, shapes, color, and layout. It also provides a large template system for posters, presentations, social graphics, portfolios, flyers, and many other formats.
Templates are useful because many already apply strong design principles. They usually contain a planned hierarchy, repeated styles, consistent alignment, and intentional spacing. Your job is to learn to see why the template works, not simply replace words and pictures.
Look under the hood
When you open a Canva template, ask:
- What do I notice first?
- Which fonts, colors, shapes, and spacing repeat?
- What invisible lines connect the objects?
- Which pieces of information are grouped together?
- If I change an element, will I strengthen or weaken the design?
Contrast
Contrast creates difference, hierarchy, and visual interest. If two things are supposed to be different, make the difference obvious.
Repetition
Repetition creates consistency. Repeating a font, color, shape, spacing pattern, or layout treatment makes separate parts feel like one design system.
Alignment
Nothing should feel randomly placed. Strong alignment creates invisible lines that connect objects and make the layout feel intentional.
Weak alignment
The objects are on the same page, but they do not share a clear visual connection.
Try it: find the invisible line
Proximity
Closeness communicates relationship. Related information should be grouped together, while unrelated information should have enough space between groups.
Scattered
Grouped
Fix the Bad Template
Your teacher will provide a Canva template that has been intentionally designed badly. Your job is to diagnose the problems and redesign it using all four CRAP principles.
Before you edit
Fix it in Canva
- Choose a clear focal point.
- Limit and repeat your font and color choices.
- Create one strong alignment system.
- Group related information and use white space.
- Compare your finished design with the original.
Exit reflection: Which single change improved the design the most?
Contrast: Make Differences Matter
Contrast focuses attention. It tells the viewer what to notice first, second, and third. Weak contrast makes everything compete at the same visual level.
Ways to create contrast
- Size: large against small
- Weight: bold against light
- Color/value: dark against light, warm against cool
- Type: different type styles with a clear purpose
- Shape: circles against rectangles, narrow against wide
- Space: dense areas against open areas
Interactive: weak vs. strong hierarchy
Bearcat Night
Friday • 7:00 PM
Student Union • $5
Three-second test
Imagine you walk past a poster in the hallway. You only look for three seconds. What information should you understand immediately?
Notice how size, weight, and value create an order without numbering the information.
Repetition: Build a Visual System
Repetition is consistency with purpose. A repeated visual idea helps the viewer recognize that separate elements, pages, or posts belong together.
What can repeat?
Repetition does not mean every item must be identical. Content and layout can vary while the overall visual language stays consistent.
Interactive: make a system
Event Poster + Mini Campaign
Create a poster with a strong hierarchy, then create a second related piece that clearly belongs to the same visual system.
Poster Requirements
- One unmistakable focal point
- No more than two typefaces
- Clear contrast in size, weight, or color
- Viewer understands the event in three seconds
Repetition Requirements
- Create a second graphic for the same event
- Repeat at least three visual choices
- Keep the two pieces consistent but not identical
- Be ready to point out exactly what repeats
Reflection: What repeats between your two pieces, and what did you intentionally change?
From one design to a family of designs
Yesterday repetition helped two pieces feel connected. Today, think bigger. A portfolio, presentation, brand, magazine, or social campaign may contain many pages. Repetition gives the viewer a visual memory: familiar fonts, colors, spacing, shapes, and page structures tell us that the pieces belong together.
Proximity: Show What Belongs Together
Proximity creates clarity in organization. Related items placed close together are seen as one visual unit. White space separates one group from another.
Proximity changes meaning
Imagine a poster with a date, time, address, ticket price, title, and sponsor. If every item is equally spaced, the reader must work to discover the relationships.
- Put headings close to the details they describe.
- Keep date, time, and location together when they form one event-information group.
- Separate unrelated groups with more white space.
- Do not add boxes and lines when spacing alone can organize the page.
Interactive: same information, different spacing
White space is not empty space
The larger gap separates major groups. Smaller gaps keep related labels and details together.
Organize the Mess
Your teacher will provide a Canva design containing all the necessary information, but the spacing and grouping will be poor. Your job is to organize it without deleting content.
Step 1: Group first
- Identify which items belong together.
- Move related items closer.
- Add more space between unrelated groups.
- Remove unnecessary boxes or divider lines if spacing can do the job.
Step 2: Create consistency
- Repeat heading styles.
- Repeat spacing patterns.
- Repeat color or shape accents only where useful.
- Check that the page feels like one system.
Reflection: Where did you add space, and where did you remove space? Why?
Week 2: Your Student Portfolio
You will apply these same principles to your semester Canva portfolio. Your portfolio will include a Title / Hero and Interests page, Photo Portfolio, Photoshop page, and Final Project page.