Layout Tuesday: Creating A Visual Triangle

Happy Tuesday, Scrapbookers! It's Nicole here today, after searching the vault of Creations Galore layouts to find a page to share. And did I ever find a cute one - A simple layout documenting the girls' first look at the Disney Castle.

After printing photos of this trip, I interviewed the girls. I simply scrolled through the photos with them, asking questions and listening intently as they reminisced about their experience. Helen's innocent reaction to seeing the castle, telling me how she almost fainted, and that she looked to her uncle to catch her, had me laughing. Therefore, I made sure to add those personal memories to the journaling of each page.

In addition to the journaling, I want to point out the visual triangle created with embellishments and color. The embellishments were created with a small assortment of punches, scrap pieces of paper, and rhinestones. Haven't heard of visual triangles? Let's chat about that...

Scrapbooking, while there is no right or wrong way to do so, incorporates a few basic design principles - Using odd numbers, creating visual triangles, creating a focal point, rule of thirds, and more. You may use some of these rules already, just instinctively. However, your pages will come together easier as you become aware of them and put the rules into practice. 

Today, we're going to highlight visual triangles. As you create your layout, try to envision three cohesive points that can be connected to form a triangle. Your eye will subconsciously look for this completion in design, allowing our eyes to see the page as a whole rather than becoming distracted by one or two items on the page. 

There are several ways to create a visual triangle on your pages, through photos, color, journaling, shapes, clusters, or texture. The layout today shows two visual triangles. The first I wish to point out is through embellishment clusters. 

A visual triangle helps to focus the viewer's eye; therefore, arrange the elements to form a triangle around the most important pieces of the page. The first triangle surrounds the journaling and the two girls.  

Try placing a finger over one of the embellishment clusters. The page suddenly seems to be missing something. Use a finger to point at a fourth area on the page and imagine that was an additional cluster. Does it seem like too many embellishments? Does the page seem imbalanced? Creating a visual triangle on your layouts creates a more visually pleasing page.

The second triangle uses color. I used blue paint to color chipboard letters and blue alcohol ink to color clear rhinestones. This triangle keeps the focus on the journaling and photos while moving the eye around the page to the title along the bottom, further telling the story. 

Open up your scrapbooks and see if you can point out any visual triangles you've instinctively created. Maybe you'll find a page or two where you can add or remove an element to create a more visually pleasing page. This design principle does not need to be incorporated into EVERY layout you create, but it's important to keep this knowledge in perspective the next time you scrap. 

We'd love to see your visual triangles - Share your pages on our Facebook page. Happy crafting!