Visual Design Principles: An Empirical Study of Design Lore

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2013

Visual Design Principles: An Empirical Study of Design Lore

Miles A. Kimball Texas Tech University

Abstract

Many books, designers, and design educators talk about visual design principles such as balance, contrast, and alignment, but with little consistency. This study uses empirical methods to explore the lore surrounding design principles. The study took the form of two stages: a quantitative literature review to determine what design principles are mentioned most often in discourse on design, and a card sorting exercise to explore the relationships designers, design educators, and design students saw among the most common design principles. Along with the card sorting exercise, I used pre- and post-exercise surveys to gauge how participants felt and thought about design principles and their use in design practice.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2013-01-01
DOI: 10.2190/tw.43.1.b
Open Access: Closed
Topics: empirical research multimodality

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (4)

Johnson (2010)

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Kimball (2006)

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Cars, Culture, and Tactical Technical Communication

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Kimball (2005)

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Computers and Composition

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