What’s the first you think of when you think of “balance”? Perhaps a balance beam, or even that pesky yoga pose you can’t seem to hold no matter how much you practice? Whatever springs to mind first, chances are it doesn’t have to do with graphic design. Show People naturally and unconsciously seek balance in their lives – and in the media they consume. Ensuring your designs are balanced is an integral part of good graphic design. This is because balance helps direct your reader’s eye and communicate your intended message, while not having balance can actually obscure your message. What is Balance?“Balance” refers to the distribution of visual weight within your design. It’s all about achieving visual and psychological equilibrium using different design elements. Here are a couple more definitions you should know before we dig in:
Balance can occur around a vertical or horizontal axis. Types of BalanceThere are four main types of balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, and crystallographic. Symmetrical BalanceSymmetrical balance requires the even placement of identical visual elements. Essentially, one half of your canvas is an exact, mirrored replica of the adjacent half.  Symmetrical balance achieves balance through repetition, and as such appears the most stable and orderly, but isn’t always the most interesting arrangement. Notice how the Titanic movie poster is almost identical on either side of the center axis. The faces that point in different directions create interest while maintaining symmetrical balance. Asymmetrical BalanceAsymmetrical balance achieves balance through contrast, often by balancing elements of similar or equal weights rather than creating an identical mirrored image. For example, several smaller elements will balance out one larger element. Asymmetrical balance is more “felt” than seen, and helps to create a sense of movement or tension within your design. In this painting by Gerrit van Honthorst, the artist creates balance by using heavily contrasting darks and lights. Radial BalanceRadially balanced designs feature images and design elements emitting from a single focal point, almost like spokes on a wheel. Radial balance creates a strong focal point wherever your “spokes” converge. While not an example of graphic design, the stained glass window at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, is an excellent example of radial design. Crystallographic BalanceAlso known as “mosaic” balance, crystallographic balance involves creating a grid pattern and achieving balance by repeating elements of equal weight all over your design. There is no distinct focal point for crystallographically balanced designs, but using a grid is one of the best ways to organize your project. Get our tips for using grids in graphic design, or learn how to grids can benefit your scrapbook layouts. The Beatles’ album artwork for A Hard Day’s Night perfectly exemplifies crystallographic balance. Breaking The RulesDon’t be afraid to cut loose a little! Though balance is a key component of good graphic design, you may choose to avoid a balanced final product in order to evoke a certain emotion. A lack of balance is a great way to create a sense of movement or tension within your design. In this painting by Edgar Degas, the two figures on the right side of the canvas heavily outweigh the empty space on the left side. The darker male figure, situated farthest from the center axis, is somewhat balanced by the lady in white closer to the center, but Degas’s choice to leave the left side of the canvas blank creates a sense of tension and imbalance that perfectly encapsulates the melancholy on the woman’s face. How To Achieve BalanceThere are a number of techniques you can use to create a sense of balance in your designs.
While you don’t need to create a balanced design to create a good design, balance is a key component for creating a visually harmonious design that effectively communicates or honors your intended message. Read MoreCheck out the rest of our Design Principles series: Part 1: Alignment Discover the basic building blocks of any design! Learn more about the Elements of Design.
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Balance refers to many things. As toddlers, we learn to balance our bodies. Riding a bicycle requires balancing an object. Even how we organize our time requires a measure of balance. We all have our own inherent sense of visual balance as well. The way we landscape our lawns or arrange our furniture or compose our artwork reveal our feelings about visual balance. All people have similar feelings about what makes an artwork balanced or imbalanced, with small, personal variations of course. Balance is one of the principles of art and design. The principles differ from the elements of art. The elements of art are the basic components that make up a work of art…line, shape, form, value, texture, space, and color. The principles deal with how the elements of art are arranged in a work of art. In essence, the principles of art deal heavily with composition. See also: 5 Tips for Better Compositions Balance refers to the overall distribution of visual weight in a composition. A well-balanced composition feels comfortable to look at. Each visual component of an artwork has visual weight. Different than actual weight, visual weight is not measured using a scale but must be observed instead. Visual weight balances around an artwork’s axis. The axis may be vertical, in which visual elements balance on both sides of the axis. Artworks may also balance around a horizontal axis, in which visual elements balance from top to bottom. There are three types of balance: symmetric, asymmetric and radial. Symmetric and radially balanced artworks use formal balance. Asymmetric balance is quite different and is also referred to as informal balance. Let’s take a closer look at the three types of balance and then consider how to manage the feeling of balance in art.
Symmetry is a type of formal balance in which two halves of an artwork mirror each other. This type of balance is familiar and common. The human body is balanced symmetrically as is our planet, our cars, clothes, furniture etc. Symmetry imposes a strong sense of order and stability on both the composition and the subject. Approximate symmetry is just symmetry with a touch of variety. When using approximate symmetry, elements on either side of a compositional axis are similar in size and shape and number but are not mirror images of one another. Radial BalanceRadial balance is symmetry in several directions. Visual elements are arranged around a central point in the composition, like the spokes on a wagon wheel. Often, radially balanced designs are circular. Other shapes lend themselves to radial balance as well – squares, hexagons, octagons, stars, etc. In nature, we most easily observe radial balance in the form of flowers. Radial balance is prevalent in human design as well; car wheels, architectural domes, clocks, man-hole covers, a compass, etc.
Asymmetry is informal and seems less organized than symmetry. The two halves of a balanced asymmetric artwork do not look the same but have similar visual weights. Asymmetric balance is more subjective than both symmetry and radial symmetry. Asymmetry allows for more variety in a composition than symmetrically balanced designs. It provides the same “comfortable” feeling as symmetry without using like elements on each side of a central axis. Many artists appreciate asymmetric balance because it feels less rigid and more realistic than symmetric balance. Although symmetry makes clear the artist’s desire to present a visually balanced image, asymmetric balance does not happen by accident, but instead requires planning and intention. How to Create Balance in ArtBelow are four variables that impact the balance of a composition. What follows is not an exhaustive collection of balancing forces, but these variables may serve as a starting point for exploring balance in your own art. 1. Size Larger objects have more visual weight than smaller objects, all else being equal. If two objects of different sizes need to balance one another then the smaller object will need a boost in visual weight. This visual weight may come in the form of additional smaller objects or perhaps ample negative space around the object. 2. Color Bright colors are visually heavier than dull colors. Beyond that, if two colors are of similar intensity, then the warmer of the two colors has more visual weight. Consider the image below. The slice of cake on the left is closer and, therefore, larger in appearance. Both slices of cake are similarly arranged relative to the imaginary vertical axis that divides the composition. The large slice should outweigh the small slice except for the color. The brighter colors make up for the difference in size so the two slices have the same visual weight. 3. Position In at least one way, the two-dimensional arrangement of visual components is informed by our real-world experiences with weight and physics. Consider the playground see-saw. If two children on either end of a see-saw are the same weight, then they will balance each other. However, if one child is larger than the other, then the larger child will need to move towards the center to balance the smaller one. It is the same in art. So, the closer a visual component is to the edge of a composition, the heavier it becomes visually. Likewise, the closer a component is to the center, the lighter it becomes. Look at the image below. See how the smaller doughnut hole on the far right visually balances the larger doughnut just left of center. It’s worth mentioning that even as a visual component becomes lighter near the center, it’s perceived importance may increase due to the more central location. 4. Texture and Pattern Texture and pattern are similar concepts in art. Each is defined buy frequent changes in contrast, usually created through value (the lightness or darkness of a color). Texture and pattern add visual weight. You can tweak the balancing forces in art by either adding or reducing the amount of texture and pattern in a given area. A large area of smooth, even values will balance with a small area of pattern/texture. Look at the asymmetric image below. The pie and the cupcakes are both rendered in colors of low intensity. Therefore, color is not a factor in their comparative visual weights. The size of the pie makes it visually heavy. The cupcakes and checkered surface balance the pie because their patterns add enough visual weight. ConclusionOnce you are consistently creating balanced compositions you should consider what balance communicates to your audience. An imbalanced composition is not always wrong. Imbalance creates an unnerving feeling in the viewer that is sometimes appropriate when representing a frightening or dangerous concept such as war or uncertainty. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer symmetric or asymmetric balance. Each has its own purpose in composing your artworks. What matters most is that you purposefully manage and use balance in your art, choosing the best form of balance based on your subject matter and message.
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