Design Square

Janneke Smit

Dominance  

So how do you create dominance on your scrapbook layouts? Dominance can be achieved in a number of ways.

• Repetition creates emphasis by calling attention to the repeated element (color, texture, shape, etc.) through sheer force of numbers.

• Placement in a strategic position will emphasize a specific element of a layout, as illustrated by Janice’s layout Together Friends.

• Contrast creates emphasis by setting the element apart from the rest of its background. This can be done in several ways. The use of a neutral background isolates the point of emphasis; it makes the element “pop”, like we saw on the previous page. Contrast of color, shape or texture will call attention to a specific point, as will contrast of size or scale. Creating dominance by using one large photo together with one or more smaller photos is one of the most used methods on scrapbook layouts.

Whichever way you use dominance on your scrapbook pages, it will direct the eye and capture the viewer’s interest.

To make the photo of my son and the puppy together the focal point, I did three things: 1) made the photo large, roughly 7x11 inches, 2) used a digital filter to make the image look sketched and nostalgic instead of photographed – the texture is different from the rest of the page and draws the eye in, and 3) remembered the rule of thirds: my son’s head is about one-third down from the top of the page and one-third in from the right side of the page.

To create a focal point, I enlarged the picture of my daughter looking at my son!  That picture triggered the entire theme of the page. I hand cut the flowers from the patterned paper and clustered them to create a border and draw attention to the main photo. I also put the emphasis on the main photo by starting my title above it and then finishing it below it, making the eye move over the picture.

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