19 Factors That Impact Compositional Balance

Imagine a boulder leaning too far over the cliff’s edge. Seeing that boulder you think it should come crashing down the mountainside. It’s out of balance and you feel the tension of the impending crash. A similar feeling happens in your visitors when the composition of your design is visually out of balance. In a couple of previous posts I talked about visual balance and in each I briefly mentioned the idea of visual weight in order to achieve visual balance. Composition 8 by Kandinsky (above) is a study in visual weight, direction, and balance. What is Visual Balance? Visual balance (PDF) results from 2 major factors, visual weight and visual direction. Consider the image below of a small block and a large block on a lever. You likely see the larger block as being much heavier than the smaller block. The main force acting on the large block is gravity which is acting downwards. Optical Center Objects and elements balance around a point. Every shape has a geometric center. Photography

Crayon Tutorial, Part 1 by *Kikane on deviantART Creative Crayon Artists Crayons are normally one of the first form of art tools that a child is exposed to. For those not not familiar with crayons; they are normally made out of wax, easy to work with, not messy, blunt (other than being stuck up noses, they are rather harmless), non-toxic, very inexpensive, and available in a very wide range of color choices. Artists generally stay away from crayons, as they seem very “childish” to use, plus they wear down to a blunt smudgy tip very quickly. Don Marco Website: Don Marco was born in Northern Minnesota in the late 1920′s. Buffalo Checking the Spring Trapline Dawns Early Light End of the Hunt In the Shadows of the Tetons Katies Garden No Job Too Small Noon Stage to Cottonwood Scenic Dock Jeffrey Robery Website: Always Watching Dreamsicle Honu Baby Kroma Lonestar Longhorns Na Kohola Power Surge Sedona Moon Kristina Nelson Website: Artists Grandfather Bunch of Fruit Days End Eggplant and Apples