working with a variety of vintage and swirly fonts along with pretty botanicals for tote bags, rubber stamps, and thank you notes for monica and ryan.

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it's been a magical 5 years of marriage for cheyenne and dave! reminiscing by looking through the beautiful photos by sarah dicicco and the mini wedding video by well spun wedding films...

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The goal of visual design is to communicate. How you organize and prioritize your elements conveys valuable information about their relative importance. Visual hierarchy aids comprehension, reinforces your message, and guides your visitor through your story.


photo credit: dougbelshaw

What is Visual Hierarchy?

A hierarchy is an organization of items into different levels of relative importance. Visual hierarchy is naturally enough creating this organization and prioritization visually.
Through basic design principles you emphasize one element over another so more important content looks more important. You design related elements to provide visual cues that those elements are on the same level in the hierarchy. You organize everything on the page to create a sense of order.
Visual hierarchies create centers of interest on your page, communicate additional meaning through convention and repetition, highlight actions you want your visitors to take, and establish patterns of movement and flow.
Ultimately the visual hierarchy you establish tells a story about your page and site.

photo credit: M i x y

Why is Visual Hierarchy Important?

Very simply, because it more effectively communicates information. We are visual beings and can quickly pick up on visual cues to better understand our environment.
Web pages and websites have a lot of information to communicate. When we land on a new page we immediately have some questions we need answered.

• Is what I’m looking for on this page?
• Where is it?
• How do I complete my task?

By creating visual hierarchies, designers enable pages to be scanned and make information easier to understand.
We make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for. We create clear paths to completing tasks and highlight actions the visitor wants to take and that we want the visitor to take. We communicate messages that reinforce or add to the copy.
One of the first things you learned with html was probably the heading tag. Headings are hierarchy and make some words more important than the rest of your type. Tags for blockquotes and lists, strong, and em, also add a visual hierarchy to your typography.
Compare the two images below, one with no hierarchy and one with a clear hierarchy.

The image on the left has no hierarchy and as a result anyone visiting the page will need to do a lot of work to determine if this page is what they want. Assuming it is, the visitor has no choice, but to read every word on the page to find the bits of information they’re interested in or need to complete their task.
The image on the right on the other hand makes the page easy to scan. It’s easily scanable and won’t require much effort for the visitor to determine if she’s on the right page. Assuming she is, the page leads her quickly to the information she wants or needs.
Which of the two designs is more inviting? Which will more likely be read? Which will more effectively communicate?
I mentioned above that visual hierarchies create centers of interest. Every web page should have a goal. That goal might be as simple as having the content read or it may be to entice a visitor to enter your sales funnel. Every page should have some primary element you want your visitors to notice.
Visual hierarchy makes clear the primary, secondary, and supporting elements on the page.

photo credit: erix!

How Does Visual Hierarchy Express Meaning?

Think of the basic design principles contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. Each allows us to add relative meaning to information.
Contrast shows relative importance. Without being told you know the larger text is more important than the smaller text. An h1 heading is bigger than an h2 heading is bigger than an h3 heading. Bigger grabs our attention first and so comes across as more important.
Repetition attaches meaning to new elements. Think blue underlined links. You’ve seen them before and the next time you see them you bring with you information about them. Repetition instantly communicates that elements are at the same level in the hierarchy.
Alignment creates order. It allows you to quickly connect elements across the page and helps define start and end points. Think grids.
A single element that breaks the established alignment calls attention to itself and it’s importance. Think of a pull quote. Visually it gives you clues it’s an important concept taken from within the text.
Proximity groups elements within a hierarchy and creates new sub hierarchies. Your home page has three offers for different products or services. Each might have a heading, a descriptive paragraph, an image, and a link to more information. The specific design elements would be on a different hierarchical level, but each offer (by containing the same 4 elements) connects the offers as being at the same hierarchical level.

photo credit: aussiegall

What Aspects of Design Control Visual Hierarchy?

You create a hierarchy in design, by adjusting the visual weights of your element. More visual weight is seen as more important. Less visual weight is seen as less important.
I mentioned some of the things that affect visual weight in a previous post on balance in web design. In that post we looked at controlling visual weight to balance our entire composition. Here we’re looking to create a hierarchy.
The mechanisms for controlling visual weight are the same in both cases.

• Size – As you would expect larger elements carry more weight
• Color – It’s not fully understood why, but some colors are perceived as weighing more than others. Red seems to be heaviest while yellow seems to be lightest.
• Density – Packing more elements into a given space, gives more weight to that space
• Value – A darker object will have more weight than a ligher object
• Whitespace – Positive space weighs more than negative space or whitespace

Additionally we might look to shape, prominence, and images to adjust visual weights.
Your own judgement can lead you here. Look at any two elements and think about which carries more weight. Ask yourself why, what is it about one element that makes it heavier than another.

photo credit: Banalities

Summary

Hierarchies help give order. They prioritize items and aid in communication. Visual hierarchies organize, prioritize, and communicate visually by modifying the visual weights different elements carry.
It’s important to remember that before actually designing a hierarchy we take the time to think about our content and what should be seen as more important on a page. Just because you can make a piece of text stand out doesn’t mean you should.
Your hierarchy should begin with thoughtful consideration of the content and goals of the page. Only after you’ve decided intellectually the hierarchy of your page should you attempt to visually design that hierarchy.
In a presentation on Communicating with Visual Hierarchy (pdf), Luke Wroblewski, offered this summary:

• Visual Communication is part
• Visual Organization and part personality.
• Visual Hierarchy is a deliberate prioritization of
• Visual Weight enabled by the manipulation of
• Visual Relationships to create
• Meaning for users
  • communicate messages
  • illuminate actions
  • organize information

Remember, design is not aesthetics alone. Your web page is trying to communicate something. You can improve how well it does that by adjusting the visual weights of your elements to create a visual hierarchy.

The 7 Components of Design

• unity
• gestalt
• space
• dominance
• hierarchy
• balance
• Color Part I: Color Theory
• Color Part II: How to Use Color

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margaritas, mariachi, and mexican mustaches...cinco de mayo must be right around the corner! we just love the look of mexican cut paper and could find any excuse to embellish something with tissue paper fringe. these bright, bold decorations and treats make us want to throw a fiesta of our own. ¡feliz cinco de mayo!

{a} colorful lanterns and wildflowers in graphic labeled cans make a fantastic centerpiece, as seen in this colorful texas mexican inspired wedding on green wedding shoes; {b} create some pom pom fringe drink toppers out of cupcake liners, diy instructions on daily mixer; {c} mark your guests seat with these fun fringy place cards, by potter and butler; {d} serve up some guacamole with these hot pink and orange chevron wooden spoons, by glitter daisy shop; {e} these sombrero and mustache fondant toppers add the perfect amount of humor to dessert, by parkers flour patch; {f} easy corona beer popsicles are a fresh way to enjoy a 'cold one', recipe on bakers royal; {g} set the tone of your fabulous fiesta with some mexican cut paper invites, designed by our friend kathy mueller; {h} you must have an ice bucket full of jarritos soda at your mexican celebration. the jarritos website is just as much fun as their flavors!

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lauren and her husband came to us to design her 30th birthday invitation. her style was inpsired by elements from our design for the styled creative prop shop invitation. with the chevron pattern, fresh palette of canary yellow and gray and super fun collection of fonts we are thrilled with the final product. we are also creating matching thank you notes and signage for the big event. happy 30 lauren!

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last wednesday we attended the knot party at front and palmer in south kensington. this is one of the newest event sites in philadelphia. it was a former barrel factory that was renovated into the most unique loft space full of natural textures and artistic chandeliers. we couldn't get enough of the chandeliers, they were each better than the next, some made from metal netting and others from metal spoons or glass bottles. we got to nibble on tasty treats from feast your eyes catering, sip on some very feminine st. germain cocktails sprinkled with flowers, and admire the most beautiful creations by robertson's flowers. we hung out with good friends and made new friends. we really enjoyed the space and were lucky to see how an event would work in there. we highly recommend this venue to those of you looking for something a little different in the area!

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happy earth day! eco-conscious design has become so much more beautiful and thoughtful these days. we'd like to share a few green pieces that you and the earth would love.

{a} serve up some bbq on these patterned bamboo plates by viva terra; {b} celebrate your connection with earth and water with anthropolgie's aquatic life tee, illustrated by niki kelce; {c} this recycled flip flop doormat would cheer up any bathroom, by keetsa; {d} these recycled canvas buckets make the perfect container for a plant or gift, by chewing the cud; {e} give a plantable card that can be enjoyed for the rest of season, by of the earth; {d} enjoy drinks on the patio on this valencia teak chair, by viva terra, made from sustainably grown plantations; {g} this cork bowl by re:modern is such a decorative container, perfect for fruit. we love cork as a design material since it's made from bark and is easily renewable.

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Although most billboards are repetitive and boring, there are some companies that design entertaining outdoor billboards. They’re so unique and innovative that they can stimulate much more pedestrians and passengers than normal billboards.

Colorado State Patrol: Tailgating Isn’t Worth It – created by Amelie Company

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Miele Vacuum Cleaner – created by Miami Ad School students Jon Kubik and Renee Anderson.

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Cingular Billboard “Hate Dropped Calls?”

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Time for Silberman’s Fitness Center – created by Silberman’s Fitness Center

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Formula Toothcare – “Builds strong teeth” – created by Ogilvy & Mather

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Pond’s Pore Billboard “Cleans pores. Fights pimples” – created by Ogilvy & Mather

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Penline Art Supplies “Strong Tape” – created by Euro Rscg Partnership

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Law & Order Billboard – created by Colenso BBDO, Auckland

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Detroit Area Council Boy Scouts of America “It’s better outside” – created by Vessela Valcheva and Linus Parr

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LIVE IN A PLACE WITHOUT BILLBOARDS. John Laing Homes – created by Richter7

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jenny + ky will be wed this june at cescaphe event group's newest and ultra modern venue, vie. the clean, white and glossy style of vie helped us create this contemporary invitation suite. jenny requested the vibrant hues of lavender and garden green for their letterpress invitation. we used a centered layout to create a modern version of a traditional chinese wedding invitation where both sets of parents names are side by side and centered at the top. we felt this layout was absolutely perfect because it made the couple's short names the focal point of the invitation. once we established this, we were able to design their simple and round monogram. a little fun was added to the package with a lavender reply envelope and bright green outer envelope. we wish this sweet couple a very happy wedding day!

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