This is the first in an occasional series about principles of design aimed at helping you build your scrapping skills.
Today’s post is all about using odd numbers of elements and photos in your layouts. When I was a young girl, my artist grandmother taught me a little about her craft. And, although I am not blessed with the best drawing skills and will never be a great painter, the design principles she taught me find their way into every scrapbook layout I create.
During one art lesson, my grandma encouraged me to look at nature. She pointed out that most flowers and leaves come in odd numbers: one rosebud, five-petaled pansies, seven leaves on a sprig. Nature is full of instances of odd numbers of items grouped together. Because our eye is attracted to this arrangement, using odd numbers of elements and/or photos in page design lends a comfortably random feel to a project.
The next time you put together a layout, pay attention to how many of each element/photo you use, and try to make it an odd number: three photos, nine flowers, seven stars, five tall, thin elements.
Use these tips to help you when designing with odd numbers.
Vary the size of the element. You don’t need to exactly duplicate an element you’re using. For variety, resize it! Just make sure to have an odd number of them.
Rotate elements for a varied look. Not only can you resize an element you’re repeating, but you can rotate it to add variety.
Use similarly shaped elements. When using the principle of odd numbers, you don’t even have to use the same element; try using an odd number of similar but different elements. For example, the three lollipops and four candles below all have a tall, thin shape and add up to seven similar elements.
Arrange elements in triangles. To achieve a harmonious arrangement, place an odd number of elements in triangles. Note in the image below how many triangles can be drawn between the yellow beads.
Apply the odd-number principle to photos and elements–anything on your page.
Use this principle with spots of color instead of similar elements. Place an odd number of areas of the same color on your page. Below, there are five areas of red color.
If you apply the odd number principle to your next layout, your page will turn out anything but odd!
Freebie alert: Like the birthday cluster shown above I created for this article?
And if you use it on a layout, I’d love to see your work! Link me up in the comments here.