Basic Design Principles of Design – Emphasis

Emphasis refers to a feature that consistently is the center of attention.  The center of
interest in a room is usually a focal wall, fireplace, window or a piece of art.  In a work of art or graphic design, it is generally the subject of the piece.  That “something” that your eye is constantly drawn back to.

Emphasis Guidelines

There are two important guidelines to follow when creating emphasis.

1. The point of emphasis should dominate the field of vision but not overpower the area.
2. Also no other feature should compete with the intended focal point.

Here are some images to give you examples on emphasis.

The point of emphasis in this room is the fireplace. The windows help open the space visually so the fireplace does not overpower the room.

In this photo the yellow fish stands out from the black and white photo. The fish becomes the point of emphasis.

Digital Scrapbooking
Web Sites
Graphics Design
Digital Design Projects

Cake Digital ScrapBooking Embellishment

This cake embellishment is a great embellishment for any project.

Download this free cake embellishment here.

Use these digital scrapbooking freebies to add flare to any project.

Color Themes
I have included some color themes that work well with these embellishments.

Use these color themes to help inspire your creativity and give your project a color boost.

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

These are free digital Christmas embellishments. Feel free to use these in your digital projects such as:

• Digital Scrapbooking
• Web Sites
• Graphics Design
• Digital Design Projects

Christmas Embellishments

750 x 350  Christmas embellishments PNG images

Download these Christmas embellishments here.
Use these digital scrapbooking freebies to add flare to any project.

Color Themes
I have included some color themes that work well with these embellishments.

Use these color themes to help inspire your creativity and give your project a color boost.

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

• Digital Scrapbooking
• Web Sites
• Graphics Design
• Digital Design Projects

Digital Scrapbooking Freebies – Card Suit Embellishments

270 x 265 card suit establishments PNG images.

You can use these to embellish any project such as digital scrapbooking layouts or websites.

Download these suit embellishments here.

Color Themes

I have included some color themes that work well with these card suit embellishments.

Use this color theme to help inspire your creativity and give your project a color boost.

Red to Black

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

• Digital Scrapbooking
• Web Sites
• Graphics Design
• Digital Design Projects

Digital Scrapbooking Freebies – Butterfly Embellishments

340 x 320 butterfly embellishments PNG images

Download these butterfly embellishments here.

Use these digital scrapbooking freebies to add flare to any project.

Color Themes

I have included some color themes that work well with these embellishments.

Use these color themes to help inspire your creativity and give your project a color boost.

Gold

Rainbow

Light Purple to Charcoal

Olive

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

• Digital Scrapbooking
• Web Sites
• Graphics Design
• Digital Design Projects

Digital Scrapbooking Freebies – Flower Embellishments

Flower embellishments 290px x 300px PNG files.
Download these flower embellishments here.

Use these digital scrapbooking freebies to add flare to any project.

Color Themes

I have included some color themes that work well with these embellishments.

Use these color themes to help inspire your creativity or give your project a color boost.

Pink and Green

Orange to Purple

Light Pink to Light Green

Blue

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

• Digital Scrapbooking
• Web Sites
• Graphics Design
• Digital Design Projects

Digital Scrapbooking Freebies – Heart Button Embellishments

These are great for any project that you need a heart embellishment. These also work great for Valentine’s day design projects

Free Heart Button Digital Scrapbooking Embellishments. 340px x 285px PNG files. Download these heart embellishments here.

Use these digital scrapbooking freebies to add flare to any project.

Color Themes

I have included some color themes that work well with these embellishments.

Use these color themes to help inspire your creativity and give your project a color boost.

Blue to Yellow

Rainbow

Red

Gold

Muted Rainbow

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

• Digital Scrapbooking
• Web Sites
• Graphics Design
• Digital Design Projects

Circle Embellishments

In this pack you get these four circle embellishments (550px x 560px) PNG files.

Download these circle embellishments here.

Use these digital scrapbooking freebies to add flare to any project.

Color Themes

I have included some color themes that work well with these embellishments.

Use these color themes to help inspire your creativity and give your project a color boost.

Purple

Pink and Yellow

Green

Multi-Color

Feel free to leave your feed back or comments in the comments section below. We always look forward to hearing from our visitors.

Balance

Balance, in design, gives a sense of visual equilibrium.

Balance can be:

• Formal
• Informal
• Radial.

Formal Balance

Formal balance is better known as symmetrical balance. Symmetrical balance exists when an imaginary line can be drawn down the center of a composition resulting in both sides being a mirror image of one another. Symmetrical balance occurs most frequently in architectural designs and landscaping. Symmetrical design provides the feelings of serenity and order.

This house is a perfect example of symmetry. If a line was drawn down the center, one side would mirror the other.

Informal Balance

Informal design, most commonly known as asymmetrical design, can be achieved by careful distribution of uneven elements. A large object on one side of the imaginary line can be balanced by a multiple of smaller objects on the other side. Asymmetrical balance requires more thought to achieve than symmetrical balance because it requires the arrangement of many varied objects.

Rudolph Bauer achieved asymmetrical balance through the use of color and proportion. The large size of the white circle counteracts the heaviness of the black circle.

Radial Balance

Radial balance occurs when all elements in a design or composition radiate outward from a central point.

Principles of design apply to all aspects of design. Balance is a very important part of any design project (Interior, graphics, fashion, and etc.).

Feel free to leave a comment or feedback on how you have used balance for a design project.

Other posts in this series

• Basic Principles of Design: Scale
• Basic Principles of Design: Proportion

About the Author: Pamela is one of the co-creator of Creative Design Studios. She is also an Interior Designer. If you would like to know more about Pamela you can visit our About page here.

If you are anything like me you want to be creating new designs and working on your projects, not worrying about your eCommerce plugin. I have tried out many plugins and most of them just did not offer the service and digital product options I needed. However I did find a plugin that fit my eCommerce needs perfectly.

The solution I use on many of my site is the WP eStore. This plugin allows me to sell my services and designs online without wasting my time (it’s also far cheaper than most of the other WordPress eCommerce plugins). The whole selling process is automated which leaves me more time to concentrate on what is most important (my designs).

Basically in just a few steps you are up and running and not looking back.

Simple steps for setting up a online store with the WP eStore

Here are the basic steps for setting up this plugin and getting your WordPress store up and running.

• Step 1: Get the WP eStore plugin here.
• Step 2: Watch the 15 minute WP eStore Quick Setup and Basic Testing video here.
• Step 3: You are off and running.

Design Aspects of the eStore

I want to touch on the design freedom the eStore has. As a designer I need to have a plugin that is versatile and can quickly fit into different sites and layouts without code modifications.

With the eStore you have complete design freedom over your pages (the eStore does not create your pages for you). Also the eStore takes most of it’s CSS from the sites theme. This way the plugin seamlessly fits into your site with little or not code changes.

The eStore also has some pre-made display options that simply use a shortcode to display the products in different ways. You can see these options here.

Customer Support

One thing I love about this plugin is it’s customer support (the developer is fully behind his products). They have tons of  easy to understand documentation and videos for their products. Also the few times I have had to contact them for support they where amazing and fast. I have to say it is the best support team I have dealt with online.

Note: The issues I had ended up being with the theme the client was using.

In closing if you want to sell services or digital content from your site, you must use the eStore for your WordPress Store. I would be lost without this plugin.

If you use the WP eStore for your WordPress store and want to leave feedback or you have a comment, feel free to leave it below in the comments section.

Texture

Texture gives a surface tactile quality. Visually a surface conveys how it is supposed to feel. How a surface truly feels is verified by physically experiencing it.

Have you ever reached out to touch something and was surprised to realize that it didn’t feel the way it looked?

Surfaces can be described in many different ways, here are a few examples:

• Soft
• Smooth
• Rough
• Hard
• Jagged
• Sharp
• Crinkled

Using textures is a effective way to to create both a visual and tactile experience, to enhance your design.

Texture has a Direct Effect on Color

Texture can soften or strengthen a color. Rough surfaces absorb more light making a color look darker and subdued. A smooth surface is the opposite. It reflects light thus making a color look lighter and brighter.

Texture and Balance

A balance of textures in any design is needed. Same texture used repeatedly can become monotonous. Conversely too much variation in texture can appear disunited and incohesive. Most well-balanced designs contain a dominant texture accented by contrasting textures.

If you have any questions about the design element texture, feel free to leave them below in the comments section.

About the Author: Pamela is one of the co-creator of Creative Design Studios. She is also an Interior Designer. If you would like to know more about Pamela you can visit our About page here.

• Digital Scrapbooking – Great digital scrapbooking paper/ backgrounds
• Web Design
• Graphics Design
• Any Design

Free Seamless Pattern Downloads

Pattern Pack 1: These are 1920 x 1080 PNG seamless patterns.

You can download this free seamless pattern pack here.

Feel free to use these patterns in your projects or to help inspire your creativity. Also don’t forget to tell us how we are doing by leaving us a comment.

Scale

Scale, for the designer or artist, refers to the size of an object or form in relation to human dimensions. For the graphic artist scale controls the object size. If a designer is designing a large room with tall ceilings, large scale furnishings would be appropriate. Conversely a small room would need small-scale furnishings. If an artist completes a painting 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall it would be considered a large-scale piece. On the other hand a three-dimensional form only a couple of inches big is small-scale in relation to human dimensions. A graphic design might contain a specific object that stands out because of its size.

Most designs present information within a format, format being a room, canvas or computer, basically evenly with only increment size variation among the various parts. Exaggeration of these relationships, in other words playing with scale and proportion, can create interest. Proportion and scale, when used correctly, can maximize the association between design elements and help insure a visually pleasing design.

About the Author: Pamela is one of the co-creator of Creative Design Studios. She is also an Interior Designer. If you would like to know more about Pamela you can visit our About page here.

Free Digital Scrapbooking Embellishments

• Circle embellishment 
  
• Heart embellishment
• Flower embellishments
• Butterfly embellishments
• Card Suit embellishments
• Christmas embellishments
• Cake embellishment

If you have any suggestions or comments please leave them below. We love your feedback.

Here are some ideas of what you can do with these tags.

• Sale Tag
• Price Tag
• Digital Scrapbooking Tag
• Discount Tag
• Gift Tag

You can add tags to may designs to make them come alive or to make something stand out on your site.

Free Digital Tags

Cotton Candy Tags: Cotton Candy Tags 960px x 570px PNG Tags:

Download these Cotton Candy tags here.

Tags Pack 1: Free 820x435px PNG Free Digital Scrapbooking Tags:

15 PNG tags, these tags are great for digital scrapbooking, name plates or to display information on your site in a stylish way.
Download tags pack 1 here.

Tags Pack 2: Free Heart Tag PNG Files:

3 PNG heart tags.
Download tags pack 2 here.

Tags Pack 3: Free Wood Grain Tag PNG Files:

5 PNG wood grain tags.
Download tags pack 3 here.

Tags Pack 4: Free 400x225px PNG Free Digital Scrapbooking Tags:

These tags are great for digital scrapbooking, name plates or to display information on your site in a stylish way.
Download tags pack 4 here.

Tags Pack 5: Free 200x125px PNG Tag:

Download tags pack 5 here.

Tags Pack 6: Free Vintage 260x160px PNG Tag:

Download these vintage tags here.