A design or decoration impressed into the surface of a material.
Also known as visual hierarchy, hierarchy is the ordering of priorities in a design. This may include different visual elements, such as contrast, colour, font size and placement on a page. The graphic designer's job is to create an understandable document using organisational systems that the reader easily understands.
A type of typographical contrast used to convey emphasis. Italics were initially developed for the printing press and are now widely used in print, web design, public signs and labelling systems.
Most typefaces are classified into one of five basic classifications: serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display.
The way that a user navigates through a website, app, etc.
A psychological phenomenon that states that people tend to remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
The path of any movement, mark, shape, or other feature of a design. It can be the border of an element or even the tight edge of a text box, etc.
A psychological principle which predicts that when multiple homogeneous stimuli are presented, the stimulus which differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered. In other words, people tend to remember items in isolation more than those of a similar nature or objects in clusters. This phenomenon has been applied in designing websites and software with various levels of success.
The area of negative space around and between elements in a design.
A form of typographic ornament used by a type designer for decorative purposes. Common ligatures are based on joining two or more letters together, often with figures embedded in the design
Also known as text colour, is a visible attribute of text determined by the combination of text and background colour.