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DESIGN PRINCIPLE REVIEW
True / False Questions
Chapter 1
T / F1. Format is the design and placement of visual elements on the page.
T / F2. Identifying your audience will help you determine what sort of images
and graphics will best appeal to them.
T / F3. It is unnecessary to proofread a page’s copy given that a word
processing program’s spell check function, when run, catches all spelling and usage errors.
T / F4. There are six main design principles.
T / F5. Thumbnail sketches are an unnecessary part of the design process.
Chapter 2
T / F1. Effective use of the principle of emphasis begins with an analysis of the project’s message to determine which words and phrases are most important.
T / F2. Emphasizing everything on the page improves readability.
T / F3. Designers use visual hierarchy to direct the reader’s attention to key points.
T / F4. Line after line of All Caps type is visually restful to use in a page.
T / F5. The horizontal and vertical center of the page is known as the optical center of the page.
Chapter 3
T / F1. Designs with little contrast often lack variety and visually uninteresting.
T / F2. The principle of contrast works best when combined with other design principles.
T / F3. Rotating text away from the horizontal strongly attracts attention to it and enhances legibility.
T / F4. Stacked typography is difficult to arrange gracefully.
T / F5. The best way to incorporate contrast in a page is to simplify and downplay the difference between visual elements.
Chapter 4
T / F1. Readers are more comfortable with a well-balanced page and more likely to spend time reading your message.
T / F2. Having an unbalanced image in your page guarantees that the page is unbalanced.
T / F3. Color can dramatically affect a page’s balance.
T / F4. All text pages signify “work” to many readers.
T / F5. Asymmetrically balanced layouts seem static and dignified.
Chapter 5
T / F1. Using a grid structure in a multiple-page document slows down the design process.
T / F2. Concrete and asymmetric text alignments are used frequently for large amounts of text where readability is important.
T / F3. Setting type as justified text allows for a higher word density in the column(s).
T / F4. Text aligned flush left is considered highly readable.
T / F5. Runaround text alignment is where the arrangement of the type takes on the shape of the action or the object being described.
Chapter 6
T / F1. One of the primary purposes of the principle of repetition is to tie together the otherwise separate visual components of the design.
T / F2. Gestalt theory was developed by German Psychologists.
T / F3. The human eye finds aversion in patterns, and pages with strong patterns drives viewers away.
T / F4. Grounds are called positive elements and figures are called negative elements.
T / F5. Designers use visual principles drawn from gestalt theory to strengthen their designs.
T / F6. How letters are emphasized within a word can affect how it reads and “sounds” in the reader’s mind.
Chapter 7
T / F1. Developing strong flow in your pages means that you will have to thoroughly understand the message and determine the best use of available graphics.
T / F2. All pages, whether good or bad designs, inherently have visual and/or verbal flow paths.
T / F3. Flow is a design principle best used alone, without any other design principles applied to the page.
T / F4. Designers have no way to influence the way that a reader’s eye tracks through a page.
T / F5. Readers of every nationality and culture read text from top to bottom, in a left to right pattern.
T / F6. Leading affects type readability and legibility.
Fill in the Blank
Chapter 1
1. ______is the design and placement of visual elements on the page.
2. Details about an audience’s ______, such as age, gender, education, occupation, income, marital status, and so on will help you target your audience so that you can design in a way they will find appealing.
3. The ______process is the step-by-step method by which designers follow with the intent of solving a visual problem.
4. Designers usually pick the best of their thumbnail sketches and render them as ______before completing the final comp.
Chapter 2
1. ______are secondary and tertiary focal points.
2. Many designers avoid the font ______because almost all computers come preloaded with it and it has become almost invisible through overuse.
3. Positioning items in the ______of the page emphasizes them.
4. ______is the words and phrases and graphics in a page.
Chapter 3
1. Four types of contrast is ______contrast, ______contrast, ______contrast, and ______contrast.
2. Visually playing smooth textures against rough textures is ______contrast.
3. The principle of ______is one of the easiest, quickest ways to give your reader a visual treat and to draw attention to the page.
4. ______are typically placed at the top of newsletter or magazine covers.
Chapter 4
1. Areas without any visual elements form ______
2. ______layouts often have a dynamic and unpredictable visual appeal.
3. A balanced design is one in which the ______of all of the elements are equally dispersed throughout the layout.
4. A ______balanced layout is one in which the visual elements are equally spread out throughout a page, forming a mirror image from side to side or top to bottom.
Chapter 5
1. The three different types of advanced text alignment are ______, ______, and ______.
2. The four different types of basic text alignment are ______, ______, ______, and ______.
3. ______text flows around a photo, image, graphic, or another piece of text.
4. ______text alignments make the page visually heavier and darker.
Chapter 6
1. Repeating visual elements such as ______, ______, and ______forms a visual rhythm that strengthens the overall organization of a design and makes it seem more unified and cohesive.
2. Designers use the term ______to refer to a structure, configuration, or layout whose specific properties are greater and more unified than the simple sum of its individual parts.
3. The principle of ______draws on the ability of the human mind to see patterns and draw conclusions from those patterns.
4. The gestalt visual principle of ______states that items that are spatially located near each other seem part of a group.
5. The human eye seeks the relationships between shapes, and the gestalt law of perception ______occurs when the eye follows along a line, curve, or sequence of shapes.
6. The fundamental gestalt law of perception ______helps us visually identify objects as distinct from their background.
Chapter 7
1. There are two halves to the principle of flow: ______and ______flow.
2. Establishing and maintaining good ______is critical for textual communication.
3. Establishing ______is the fastest way to achieve good verbal flow in a document.
4. Elements from ______fonts can be used to strategically direct a reader’s eye.
Multiple Choice
Chapter 1
1. ( Copy / Visual elements / Features ) are the individual elements on the page such as line, type, and images.
2. ( Format / Elements / Copy ) refers to all the words in a message, including the headlines, subheads, captions, and body text.
3. ( Roughs / Thumbnails / Doodles ) are quick exploratory sketches that are the visual proof of the thinking and analyzing portion of the design process.
4. ( Digital Files / Comprehensives / Inkjet prints ) are the final versions of the project presented to the client for approval.
Chapter 2
1. ( Focal point / Technique / Content ) is the visual element or part of a page that is most emphasized and strongly attracts the reader’s eye first.
2. ( Position / Visual hierarchy / Layout ) is the arrangement of visual elements such as type and images on the page according to their order of importance.
3. ( Major Caps / Initials / All Caps ) in line after line of type significantly slows down reading speeds.
4. ( Grouping / Scattering / Highlighting ) bits of related information strengthens their conceptual relationship.
Chapter 3
1. ( Contrast / Variety / Accent ) occurs when two or more elements look dramatically different from one another.
2. ( Volume Number / Masthead / Nameplate ) contains the newsletter’s name in decorative type.
3. ( Emphasizing / Contrasting / Bolding ) visual elements helps you intellectually organize the information while contrast stresses the visual difference between elements.
4. ( Headlines / Focal points / Visual elements ) provide essential clues for the reader and helps them know where to look first.
Chapter 4
1. ( Images / Captions / Lines ) are the visual element(s) that most people tend to look at first in a layout.
2. ( Density / Optic Attraction / Visual Weight ) is the illusion of physical weight of a element on the page.
3. ( Drop Shadows / Bright Colors / Dynamic Images ) seem to make an image lift off the page.
4. ( Symmetrical / Asymmetrical / Unbalanced ) layouts are achieved by arranging visual elements unequally on either side of the page.
Chapter 5
1. ( Harmony / Alignment / Organization ) occurs when visual elements line up with other visual elements on the page.
2. ( Rivers / Streams / Brooks ) are channels of undesirable white space that form in justified text columns.
3. ( Text wrap / Packaging / Type overlay ) is another name for runaround text.
4. ( Rectangles / Grids / Skeleton outlines ) is the non-printed system of horizontal and vertical lines that divides the page and helps the designer align elements consistently.
5. ( Flush Right / Asymmetric / Justified ) text alignment is best used in short lines of type because of the difficulty reading long passages of this type of alignment.
Chapter 6
1. ( Coherence / Unity / Gestalt ) is achieved when all of the separate elements on a page look as if they belong together.
2. ( Closure / Continuation / Similarity ) is the gestalt law of perception that states that humans have a tendency to visually close gaps in forms.
3. ( Similarity / Proximity / Continuation ) is the gestalt law of perception that depends on the principle of repetition to function.
4. ( Figure/ground / Continuation / Closure ) is the gestalt law of perception that is wholly dependent on the principle of contrast.
Chapter 7
1. ( Verbal flow / Visual flow / Organization ) depends on consistency in typographic treatment and establishing a logical reading path through a document.
2. ( Grid Structure / Typographic master plan / Type choice ) includes such details as the typefaces, sizes, and colors you will use for the headlines, subheads, body copy, picture captions, and so on.
3. ( Dingbats / Oddballs / Ornaments ) are fonts where images are substituted for letters and numbers.
4. ( Shapes / Arrows / Lines ) are natural visual flow devices that can be used to point towards important points.