Sunday, April 28, 2024

What is the Rule of Thirds? A Guide for Beginners

how is the rule of thirds used in design

Fortunately, modern technology has made this easy for designers. Most digital cameras have an option for a rule of thirds grid, as do most camera phone apps. What the pros do are position the horizon line along one of the two horizontal rows. This offsets the image, so you're giving preferential treatment to the land below the horizon line, or the sky above. If you try to demand equal attention for everything, it's like an entire band trying to be the lead singer. You need to give the landscape a visual hierarchy, telling us—the audience—what's most important to look at first.

Studio Love is Enough designs Japanese restaurant inside MINI creative hub A/D/O - Dezeen

Studio Love is Enough designs Japanese restaurant inside MINI creative hub A/D/O.

Posted: Sat, 21 Mar 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Visual Harmony:

‍Imagine knowing a guideline so well, you'll know how to shoot better photos, add drama to a compelling video, or know where to place a button in the perfect spot of your business home page. In this painting by Rubens, the main focal point of the boar is placed at an intersection. Secondary points of interest fall on intersections as well and the action of the poses lead the eye from one focal point or intersection to another. On this page, we'll look at how artists have used the rule of thirds to create dynamic compositions.

Symmetry vs. Asymmetry - Recalling basic design principles

how is the rule of thirds used in design

Make sure you place the main subject of your design within the central box of your grid and smaller important elements near the four intersections of the grid. The rule of thirds is certainly worth exploring, especially for those who are just starting to learn composition in photography. However, as you get more advanced, you will start to realize that good composition is not about adhering to strict rules, but rather about composing each photo for its own merits.

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By using the rule of thirds for your creative projects, you’ll give yourself a starting point to creating an intuitive and pleasing composition. By the end of this article, you’ll never be able to unsee the rule of thirds at play in the real world. This rule is used frequently by photographers, but also painters and artists, who use the rule of thirds mostly for landscapes. However, it also works for a variety of other subject matter including still lifes, figures and even portraits.

Ignoring Other Composition Techniques

how is the rule of thirds used in design

But many designers swear by the rule of the third method to help them keep the frame balanced, symmetrical, and proportionate. The more you understand the rule of thirds and the effect that it has on how the audience perceives your design, the easier it is to exploit it to subvert the audience’s expectations. For example, we know that the upper left intersection is where all the action is at, so experimenting with the other areas of the canvas is a good way to open yourself up creatively. Forcing the audience’s eye to look where it doesn’t normally look can be risky, but that risk comes with high reward. Get into the habit of using this grid whenever you take photographs, even if you don’t use original photography in your print designs. You’ll start to get a feeling of where that rule of thirds grid exists, even when you don’t actually have it in front of you.

Create a new perspective

The rule of thirds grid is based on our field of vision, and the rule is a guideline for placing key elements in popular paths where our eyes travel. Using this to our advantage, we can create a main focal point that our eyes are innately trained to focus on. By training your eye and design mind to place your key elements on these sweet spots, you are making sure that your user focuses on the intended focal point set by you as a designer.

Within these infographics, the most important one, “Please wear a face mask at all times” has been given the top left corner where the eye moves for the longest period. For example, in this image, the infographics for the SOPs have been placed on each intersecting point. This is because the visual aid is much more important to send a message to the public and hence they are given the prime spot.

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On the left, you'll see the longer shelves dominating the wall space. But the smaller shelves on the right are anchored by a window which hits right around the vertical grid, allowing your eye to travel around the room seamlessly. If you look closely, you'll see the rule of thirds applied in 90% of the cases. Look at how your eye is drawn to a specific part of the thumbnail first, then moves around as if it's being guided by a hand. This is usually a good indicator that the rule of thirds is being used here to create points of interest.

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Audiences tend to follow a capital “F” shaped pattern with their eyes whenever they look at a design. The eye naturally starts at the top left section of the canvas, then moves down to the bottom left, back up to the top right, and then finally the bottom right. This creates a visual hierarchy that is natural to how we scan information, so by following this guideline; you're giving us what we would naturally do. If you're not worried about the horizon line, try anchoring a foreground element to an intersection point, like this highly photographed volcano erupting on the Big Island of Hawaii. When the flames are offset, it draw attention to it first, but then notice how your eye floats out to sea, moving around the image in the blink of an eye.

As digital design continues to evolve, understanding and utilising foundational principles like the Rule of Thirds ensures that interfaces remain both engaging and user-friendly. To implement the rule of thirds in this image, we can shift the tallest building to the left intersections. If you’re near a piece of paper or want to switch to a drawing application, try this experiment. Using your ruler, measure the width and height (or length and width, if you have paper, turning it so it’s in landscape aspect), and then mark out the points to get the intervals for your grid lines. If you’re doing this on paper, be sure to measure and mark both top and bottom points, as well as the left and right ones to ensure that the lines will be parallel.

For landscapes, it’s usually best to have the horizon on the top horizontal line, so that the picture shows more of the subject matter and less empty space. Keep in mind that when you’re working with a print graphic design, you need to measure your rule of thirds grid according to the visible sections of your canvas. If you measure out from the bleed areas, you might end up with a grid that places key elements too close to the edge of the page for comfort.

Normally, the rule of thirds lends itself to creating an appealing effect to the eye. In the series, Mr. Robot, the director used the rule of thirds to create tension, by placing the character at certain points of interest—the lower quadrant—facing off frame. Normally when you frame a subject, they're facing into the frame, as if having a dialogue with someone else.

So long as the main element of focus aligns closely with at least one of the 4 central intersections (or guiding lines), viewers will naturally land on the subject without having to visually scan around. The rule of thirds in graphic design divides a canvas into three even rows and three even columns. The four central intersections where the lines meet are the key “hot spots” where you should aim to place your main subjects, as those are where people’s attention immediately lands. Asymmetrical designs are popular right now, but a good design has a balance to it with plenty of white space and a natural ability to draw the viewer’s attention to key elements. The Rule of Thirds grid ensures you put things in a location balancing the page. You might locate your CTA in the lower right of a webpage, but you will make sure it spans part of two blocks instead of sitting off-balance in the bottom far right corner.

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