Designing Dynamic Layouts

Have you ever come across a magazine, website, or article layout that really captured your interest with its creativity and design? Such a layout might seem complicated or difficult to create, but that's not the case at all! There are several easy-to-use resources and tips to help you design your own exciting layout.

One element to think about first when designing is structure. Start by deciding where you want your focal point to be:

1. Look at your page and break it up into sections (3 is a good place to start). If you want more than 3 sections, just remember: keep the number odd! This makes a better design layout.



2. Look at where the sections intersect with each other. These places make strong focal points—you can place your main focus here, to create interest.

One thing to note: items placed directly in the center of the page do not create as much interest as items that are off center.

Other elements to consider when designing are balance, white space (this helps with balance, as well as directs the viewer's eye), proximity (the distance between items and how they are placed), alignment (which affects readability of the page), consistency (which helps the reader know where to find things), and the types of images you choose to use.

A fantastic program to use for creating rich, interactive layouts for both print and online publication is Adobe InDesign. InDesign CS5 is the newest version of this program, and features all sorts of exciting tools perfect for creating a high-quality layout.

Great Tip! On the Adobe website, you can download a free trial version of InDesign CS5, which allows you to play with and explore the program for a whole 30 days! In order to make the most of this program, and to start designing your own layouts, check out our fun courses on all the features InDesign has to offer. We have both beginning and advanced courses, as well as a course on InDesign CS5's new features if you are already familiar with InDesign CS4.

For more tips on the elements of design, check out our courses on Design & Layout, Graphic Design Principles, and Typography with InDesign, and make sure to take advantage of the first three FREE training tutorials!