Contrast

Contrast in design can be accomplished by placing two opposite colours adjacent to one another, creating a focal point within the design that dominates the composition.

More terms you might want to know

Margin

The space that an item has around it.

Crop Marks

Also called trim marks, are markings on artwork that tells the printer where to cut the page.

Thumbnail Sketch

A quick and rough sketch of what you are about to work on. Good for getting the ideas out of your head and onto the page while you're still in that creative phase.

Type Classification

A system used to describe and identify typefaces by their basic visual characteristics.

Orphan

One or more words (typically at the end of a paragraph) that are separated from the rest of the text. Orphans are generally thought of as bad design, but it’s a matter of taste.

Baseline

An imaginary line on which most letters "sit". As such, it equals the height of an em square. The expected result of a baseline is to reference the height with which text is aligned. The alignment ranges from ascenders, which are the upper strokes in b, d, and h, down to descenders like j or y.

Hierarchy

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.

Cap Height

The distance from the baseline to the top of a capital letter, number, or other upper-case glyphs.

Brand

A name, symbol or other distinctive feature that distinguishes one business's product from another's, often associated with a logo, design, slogan and other items.

Web Page Elements

A textual or graphical component in a web page.

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