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How to
Align by eye The world is full of funny shapes that your eye can align better than your ruler. Here are six examples. Continued
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How to align by eye The world is full of funny-shaped images that your eye can align better than your ruler. Here are six things to look for.
The images above — chair, plant, utensils, pillows, vase — are each a different shape, size, color; the viewing angles are different, and so on. How do you line these up, sized and spaced just so, with other things? We’ll show you why your eye is the best tool you have.
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Scale and align by mass
For different objects to have similar visual height, scale them by their central mass, not their bounding-box height. Squinting will help you visualize.
Before
After
2
“Kitty whiskers”
Stickout
“Kitty whiskers”
1
Bounding box
0
Shadow Corner That troublesome bounding box The images above are technically the same height. That’s because a digital image is contained inside an invisible bounding box that extends to the farthest pixel on every side. That pixel can be an ultra-faint shadow, a hair, a little bump, even blank space. Your ruler measures the bounding box, which is why it’s terrible at graphic design. What matters is the image inside, specifically its center of mass.
Shadow
Corner
Scale by mass Every image has a center of mass, its fullest, bulkiest area, that governs its perceived size. Use this mass instead of the bounding box to scale your images, which (above) now appear similar in size. (Right) Mass is easiest to see on rectangular objects. For irregular objects like the plant, squint and ignore small corners, faint shadows, minor stickouts, and “kitty whiskers.”
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Mass
Mass
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Center by weight
An asymmetrical object is naturally off balance. Centering it over a body of text or other object requires a nudge right or left.
Before
After
Decorative Pillows
Decorative Pillows
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge or sleeping area.
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge or sleeping area.
Centered by ruler With both bounding boxes (image and text) center-aligned, the image’s asymmetrical shape makes it heavier on the left (below).
Centered by eye Pushing the center of mass to the right balances the image, like balancing a heavy and light load on the teeter-totter. It helps to squint.
Decorative Pillows We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge or sleeping area.
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Center by value
A dark object on a light background appears heavier than a light one, which, like mass, throws off the balance. Compensate with a nudge.
After
Tomato Recipes
Tomato Recipes
Rice Recipes
Are you looking for that tempting appetizer, flavorful main dish, or that unusual dessert? We have the tomato recipe for you!
Whether it’s Spanish rice, chicken fried rice, or rice pilaf, we’ll show you hundreds of ideas to complement hearty main courses.
Asymmetrical value There’s more mass on the right (big white bowls) but more visual weight on the left. Compensate with a slight nudge to the right.
Symmetrical shape overrides value Like the tomatos and bowls, the image above is also left-heavy. In this case, though, symmetry overrides value; identical objects feel correct only when centered.
Are you looking for that tempting appetizer, flavorful main dish, or that unusual dessert? We have the tomato recipe for you!
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How to align by eye
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“Kern” the space between objects
In typography, kerning means the adjustment of space between individual characters, a technique that applies to graphics, too . . .
Outdoor Furniture
Kitchen Utensils
Vases
Decorative Pillows
Take your comfort and style outside with our quality furniture, comfy cushions, and more!
Cook better and faster with our selection of utensils and gadgets, designed to simplify daily tasks.
Explore our vast vase collection! From ceramic to bamboo style, from India to Spain, we have it all.
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge and sleeping area.
Before: Spaced by ruler (A) The bounding boxes have identical space between them, but remove the frames (B), and you can see that the perceived spaces between the images are different. After: Kern the images (C) Nudge by eye until the white space between images appears the same or nearly so (D).
A
B
C
D
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Adjust the space between lines
Images of different heights may require vertical adjustment. As with typographic kerning, you might think of this as graphical leading (pronounced: ledding).
What your eyes see . . . Uneven vertical spacing
Move the center shelf up . . . Perceptually even vertical spacing
0
1
2
3
What the ruler says . . . Equal shelf heights
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Distribute by value
If order is not a priority, balance your page by distributing images by value.
Darks first . . .
. . . then lights
Make note of the dark objects (squinting helps) and distribute so neither side of the page is heavier than the other, then fill the gaps with the lighter objects.
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Article resources
Typefaces 1 Georgia Regular
Colors 9 C0 M0 Y0 K100 10 C0 M0 Y0 K60
2 9 10
Images: iStockphoto 2 (6352857) 3 (12919738) 4 (6306475) 5 (11842001)
Outdoor Furniture Take your comfort and style outside with our quality furniture, comfy cushions, and more!
Images
6 (16799169) 1
7 (11361940) 8 (15494393)
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3
5 7
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Article resources
Typefaces 1 Linotype Didot Roman
Colors 13 C0 M0 Y0 K100
2 Adobe Caslon Regular
Images 13
3 (iStockphoto.com) Images: iStockphoto 4 (16661602)
1 2
5 (4075677) 6 (18498827) 7 (15504871) 8 (3397523) 9 (6674530)
7 3
4
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10 (15734716) 11 (3850760) 12 (11197038)
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Subscribe to Before & After Subscribe to Before & After, and become a more capable, confident designer for pennies per article. To learn more, go to http://www.bamagazine.com/Subscribe E-mail this article To pass along a free copy of this article to others, click here. Join our e-list To be notified by e-mail of new articles as they become available, go to http://www.bamagazine.com/email
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Before & After magazine Before & After has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone. John McWade Publisher and creative director Gaye McWade Associate publisher Dexter Mark Abellera Senior designer Before & After magazine 323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995 E-mail
[email protected] www http://www.bamagazine.com Copyright ©2013 Before & After magazine ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved You may pass along a free copy of this article to others by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com. For all other permissions, please contact us.
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How to align by eye
The images above — chair, plant, utensils, pillows, vase — are each a different shape, size, color; the viewing angles are different, and so on. How do you line these up, sized and spaced just so, with other things? We’ll show you why your eye is the best tool you have.
The world is full of funny-shaped images that your eye can align better than your ruler. Here are six things to look for.
How to align by eye
The world is full of funny shapes that your eye can align better than your ruler. Here are six examples.
Align by eye ®
Before&After
0706 How to align by eye
2 1
®
Before&After
Before
®
How to align by eye
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Scale and align by mass
Bounding box
After Stickout
Corner
i U X
Mass
Mass
How to align by eye
i U X
“Kitty whiskers”
BAmagazine.com
3 of 11
Scale by mass Every image has a center of mass, its fullest, bulkiest area, that governs its perceived size. Use this mass instead of the bounding box to scale your images, which (above) now appear similar in size. (Right) Mass is easiest to see on rectangular objects. For irregular objects like the plant, squint and ignore small corners, BAmagazine.com faint shadows, minor stickouts, and “kitty whiskers.”
Shadow
For different objects to have similar visual height, scale them by their central mass, not their bounding-box height. Squinting will help you visualize.
“Kitty whiskers”
Shadow Corner That troublesome bounding box The images above are technically the same height. That’s because a digital image is contained inside an invisible bounding box that extends to the farthest pixel on every side. That pixel can be an ultra-faint shadow, a hair, a little bump, even blank space. Your ruler measures the bounding box, which is why it’s terrible at graphic design. What
Before&After Howinside, to align bycally eyeits center 4 of 11 matters is the image specifi of mass.
Center by weight
4 of 11
0706
0706 How to align by eye 0706
How to align by eye
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge or sleeping area.
Decorative Pillows
After
An asymmetrical object is naturally off balance. Centering it over a body of text or other object requires a nudge right or left.
Decorative Pillows
Before
Decorative Pillows
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge or sleeping area.
2 of 6
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Centered by eye Pushing the center of mass to the right balances the image, like balancing a heavy and light load on the teeter-totter. It helps to squint.
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge or sleeping area.
Centered by ruler With both bounding boxes (image and text) center-aligned, the image’s asymmetrical shape makes it heavier on the left (below).
0706 How to align by eye
0
®
Before&After
After
How to align by eye
Center by value
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Rice Recipes
i U X
Tomato Recipes
BAmagazine.com
i U X 0706
Symmetrical shape overrides value Like the tomatos and bowls, the image above is also left-heavy. In this case, though, symmetry overrides value; identical objects feel correct only when centered.
Whether it’s Spanish rice, chicken fried rice, or rice pilaf, we’ll show you hundreds of ideas to complement hearty main courses.
Asymmetrical value There’s more mass on the right (big white bowls) but more visual weight on the left. Compensate with a slight nudge to the right.
Are you looking for that tempting appetizer, flavorful main dish, or that unusual dessert? We have the tomato recipe for you!
A dark object on a light background appears heavier than a light one, which, like mass, throws off the balance. Compensate with a nudge.
Tomato Recipes
6 of 11
Are you looking for that tempting appetizer, flavorful main dish, or that unusual dessert? We have the tomato recipe for you! How to align by eye
How to align by eye
Decorative Pillows
®
5 of 11
Vases
Before&After
“Kern” the space between objects
Kitchen Utensils
We offer a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes to add comfort and style to your lounge and sleeping area.
In typography, kerning means the adjustment of space between individual characters, a technique that applies to graphics, too . . .
Outdoor Furniture
Explore our vast vase collection! From ceramic to bamboo style, from India to Spain, we have it all.
B
How to align by eye 0706 How to align by eye 0706
Cook better and faster with our selection of utensils and gadgets, designed to simplify daily tasks.
A
D
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C
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Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Take your comfort and style outside with our quality furniture, comfy cushions, and more!
Before: Spaced by ruler (A) The bounding boxes have identical space between them, but remove the frames (B), and you can see that the perceived spaces between the images are different. After: Kern the images (C) Nudge by eye until the white space between images appears the same or nearly so (D).
0706 How to align by eye
3 2 1
®
Before&After How to align by eye
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Adjust the space between lines
What your eyes see . . . Uneven vertical spacing
BAmagazine.com
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i U X 0706
How to align by eye 0706 How to align by eye 0706
How to align by eye
BAmagazine.com
Move the center shelf up . . . Perceptually even vertical spacing
Images of different heights may require vertical adjustment. As with typographic kerning, you might think of this as graphical leading (pronounced: ledding).
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. . . then lights
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If order is not a priority, balance your page by distributing images by value.
Distribute by value
How to align by eye
What the ruler says . . . Equal shelf heights
®
Before&After
Darks first . . .
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Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Make note of the dark objects (squinting helps) and distribute so neither side of the page is heavier than the other, then fill the gaps with the lighter objects.
0706 How to align by eye
0
®
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6
®
Before&After
3
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How to align by eye
Article resources
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Outdoor Furniture
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Take your comfort and style outside with our quality furniture, comfy cushions, and more!
How to align by eye
Article resources
4
5
6
2 9 10
1
4
5 7 8
13
1 2
7 8 9 10 11 12
Typefaces 1 Georgia Regular
Images Images: iStockphoto 2 (6352857) 3 (12919738) 5 (11842001)
4 (6306475) 6 (16799169) 8 (15494393)
7 (11361940)
Typefaces 2 Adobe Caslon Regular
1 Linotype Didot Roman
Images 3 (iStockphoto.com) Images: iStockphoto 5 (4075677)
4 (16661602) 6 (18498827) 8 (3397523)
7 (15504871) 9 (6674530) 10 (15734716) 11 (3850760) 12 (11197038)
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Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
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C0 M0 Y0 K100
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9 C0 M0 Y0 K60
Colors
10
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C0 M0 Y0 K100
How to align by eye
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Colors 13
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Subscribe to Before & After Subscribe to Before & After, and become a more capable, confident designer for pennies per article. To learn more, go to http://www.bamagazine.com/Subscribe E-mail this article To pass along a free copy of this article to others, click here. Join our e-list To be notified by e-mail of new articles as they become available, go to http://www.bamagazine.com/email
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i U X
Before & After magazine Before & After has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone. John McWade Publisher and creative director Gaye McWade Associate publisher Dexter Mark Abellera Senior designer Before & After magazine 323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995 E-mail
[email protected] www http://www.bamagazine.com Copyright ©2013 Before & After magazine ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved
|
Printing formats
0706
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How to align by eye
You may pass along a free copy of this article to others by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com. For all other permissions, please contact us.
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