CF #22: 15 ideas to spice up a layout

1 effective tip

15 ways of adding visual interest to a layout

Remember to ensure that any visual treatments you add align with the intended mood & feel of the layout.

Inspired by Anthony Hobday​

a) Background techniques

i) Angled or curved background transitions for a dynamic and approachable feel

ii) Background shapes or blobs to emphasize foreground elements

iii) Text as a background

b) Border & divider techniques

i) Visible grid

ii) Gradient border

iii) Diagonal line dividers add elegance

c) Shadow techniques

i) Colored shadows

ii) Solid black shadows and outline shadows

iii) Solid colored shadows

d) Text techniques

i) Interweave text and imagery

ii) Change the typeface of one letter

iii) Inline imagery

e) Image treatment

i) Break the frame

ii) Asymmetrical corner radius

iii) Combine photography & shapes

iv) Bonus: Surrealism

The above is easily doable in any respectable image-editing tool.

__

Visual flair = Visceral appeal ("That's nice!") = More likely to engage

Adding visual flair to a layout can make all the difference in terms of credibility, conversion and retention.

Bad or bland layouts are abandoned and forgotten.

Good layouts draw us in and are stored in our implicit memory (Remembered effortlessly and unconsciously).

1 useful tool

Facet.ai – Edit smarter, not harder

"A virtual creative assistant that can read your mind". AI-powered image-editing that lets you focus on being creative with your imagery.

Sometimes you just have a vision that you want to be able to realize without having to learn the intricacies of Photoshop.

Facet's intuitiveness makes this possible.

1 idea to think about

Your background is irrelevant

You don't need a relevant degree and fancy equipment to be considered "legit" or pursue a path you enjoy:

• My favourite creator, Tobias Van Schneider, is a high school dropout with no degree. His credentials: Lead Product Designer at Spotify and founder of multiple awesome projects, including MyMind that I recommend often
• ​Nngroup found that 55% of UX Design professionals hold an academic degree that has no direct bearing on UX work or any design-related work for that matter (963 survey respondents). I'm talking history, chemistry and everything in between. More than half of UX professionals have no "formal" UX Design education! Wild.
• I personally studied how to design reactors, not layouts. No relevant experience here. I use a POS 2015 Macbook Pro that crashes when it's not plugged in.

Start creating with zero "credentials" and learn as you go.

10,000 iterations > 10,000 hours

You have nothing to lose because even the wrong path leads to the right place.

Shower thoughts

1) Google-ing something truly is a skill. Some people are much better and faster at finding more accurate results than others.

2) The first humans probably did not have a voice in their head because they had no language.

3) A fat pet is a sign of neglect. A fat animal in the wild is a sign of success.

Via Reddit