Rule of Thirds in Graphic Design
July 21, 2015byvladimirgendelman1 comment
If you were one of those students who loved art classes but hated math, it was probably a shock to the system when you found out just how much math you’d end up using as professional designer. In fact, math skills are absolutely essential for print design—at the very least, you need to know how to measure out your bleed area and understand the physical size of your canvas.
But if you’re willing to understand more than just the mathematical basics, you can use those numbers and measurements to turn a design into a thing of beauty. Understanding the rule of thirds in design is relatively simple, but this one concept can make you a significantly stronger designer. Don’t worry—you don’t need a PhD in applied mathematics to understand the rule of thirds. Just read onward to find out how easy it really is.
How the rule of thirds works
The rule of thirds simply states that if you take a canvas and divide it into three equally sized horizontal sections and three equally sized vertical sections, the resulting grid provides a sort of “roadmap” that helps you choose where to place your design elements. Any graphic design software worth its salt (including Photoshop) canapply a rule of thirds grid to your canvas and crop accordingly, but grids are easy enough to make on your own—you could even draw it directly onto a printed design if you wanted to.
The rule of thirds grid can be applied to any size design—the grid itself doesn’t have to be any particular dimensions. It just has to be evenly divided into three vertical and three horizontal section. This creates a 3×3 grid—kind of like the opening title card of “The Brady Bunch.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up with nine equally-sized squares. If your design isn’t a perfect square, you’ll probably be splitting it into nine rectangles.
Keep in mind that when you’re working with a print graphic design, you need to measure your rule of thirds grid according to the visible sections of your canvas. If you measure out from the bleed areas, you might end up with a grid that places key elements too close to the edge of the page for comfort.
Finding the ideal focal point
So now that you have your rule of thirds grid built, what do you use it for? Think of your grid as a sort of map—the spots where the lines intersect indicate the prime focal areas within your design. Bringing an element closer to one of these intersections will allow it to stand out more, while objects that are further away will receive less attention.
Audiences tend to follow a capital “F” shaped patternwith their eyes whenever they look at a design. The eye naturally starts at the top left section of the canvas, then moves down to the bottom left, back up to the top right, and then finally the bottom right.
But this doesn’t mean that the top left intersection is prime design real estate and the rest of the canvas is useless. Rather, the rule of thirds should act as a guideline that helps you achieve visual balance and interest. For example, an element in the top left part of the grid will seem nearly equal to an element that touches both the top right and bottom right intersections.
Using the rule of thirds to create visual interest
The rule of thirds grid gives you the chance to give your graphic design a perfectly symmetrical appearance—but you’ll want to squash that instinct. While it’s true thathumans are naturally attracted to symmetry, it’s also the easiest way to go unnoticed because we’re used to seeing it all the time. Making something asymmetrical sends a signal to our brain that something is different, which makes us more likely to engage.
While symmetry isn’t always necessary for good design, balance absolutely is. The rule of thirds grid is also one of the best tools to help you figure out how to useasymmetrical balanceto your advantage. If your design is imbalanced, it throws off the entire look. Using a rule of thirds grid helps you maintain good balance while still keeping things asymmetrical.
That’s because with a rule of thirds grid, you know which parts of the canvas have the most weight. If you have something important on the bottom left intersection, you don’t want something on the top left intersection overshadowing it. But on the other hand, the bottom left and top right intersections are pretty much equally matched, so focusing elements in these areas creates easy balance.
Rule of thirds in photography
Photography is one of the areas of design where you really want to pay attention to the rule of thirds. Fortunately, modern technology has made this easy for designers. Most digital cameras have an option for a rule of thirds grid, as do most camera phone apps.
Get into the habit of using this grid whenever you take photographs, even if you don’t use original photography in your print designs. You’ll start to get a feeling of where that rule of thirds grid exists, even when you don’t actually have it in front of you.
There are a few things to keep in mind when you take photographs using a rule of thirds grid. It’s best for the horizon in your photograph to line up with one of the horizontal lines on your grid. For landscapes, it’s usually best to have the horizon on the top horizontal line, so that the picture shows more of the subject matter and less empty space.
When taking a portrait, try to frame your photo so that one or more of the subject’s eyes are aligned with one of the intersections on the grid. The intersections represent the areas in your design that will have the most audience focus, so by putting the subject’s eyes in those locations, it’s like forcing your audience to make eye contact with your subject. It builds a stronger connection between the audience and your design, just as making actual eye contact with another person establishes a better social connection.
If you’re not taking original photography for your print designs, you can still apply the rule of thirds principle to the images you have to work with. Make use of cropping techniques to give them better composition.
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