Sometimes layouts just don’t seem to work. A lot of times when I find they are not working, I find that I am missing my visual triangle. Now I know that some of you are asking what that is. That is where I come in! I am going to help you with a wonderful design principle in scrapbooking, known as the visual triangle.
A visual triangle in scrapbooking simply means a triangle is created around your page, to bring focus to a certain point (usually photos or journaling) on your page. It forces your eyes to go over certain parts of your page, based on the elements on your page. Not only should you be creating a triangle, but theory also suggests that you place odd numbered elements grouped together (1,3,5, etc..) as they are more visually pleasing to the eye.
In this page I managed to create a visual triangle by incorporating the brown owls in both the bottom and top of the right hand side, and the brown letters on the right hand side. This caused a natural flow of my eyes across the page and “through” the pictures, what I feel is the most important aspect of this layout.
Here are three simple ways to create a visual triangle:
1) by using the same element (ie: three black buttons in all three spots on the layout)
2) by using the same colour in three spots to form the triangle but with different elements.
3) By using the same element, but in different spots to form the triangle.
Using this simple principle of the Visual Triangle will give your layouts the extra oomph they have been needing.