A successful layout design requires far more than a creative eye. It also requires a familiarity of the following elements that should be considered for any layout. You can consider this post as a crash course for the basics of layout design. A kind of quick guide for foundational layout terminology:
- Page layout describes the positioning of text, images, and other features of any page design.
- Grid is a system of intersecting lines used to organize the margins, columns, and rows of a layout.
- Margins refer to the space between the content and the edges of the page.
- Columns organize the page content vertically, while rows organize content horizontally.
- Headlines are titles for the content presented, and are often specially styled for impact.
- Subheads offer secondary explanations for additional context.
- Body text refers to the main copy on a page. Pull-quotes are high-impact excerpts, specially styled to bring the reader in. Sidebars provide supplementary information.
- Images and captions add visual context and grounding to a page. Designers will often place an FPO image — “for placement only” — as a placeholder for layouts in progress.
- Focal points or accents are moments of visual emphasis, created to grab the viewer’s attention.
Lowfi Design 