1. Eye Flow
Eye Flow–carries the viewer’s eye through the visual piece in a way that all the
important elements receive prominence, and nothing snags the vision or causes the
viewer to lose sense of the piece. Elements within the piece are used to direct the
viewer’s eye to move along a specific path.
I. Primary patterns of natural eye flow: (show examples of each – both print &
video)
• C Pattern
• Reverse C Pattern
• S Pattern
• Reverse S Pattern
• Z Pattern
• F Pattern
II. Focal point
• Element with strongest visual interest
• Should attract and draw your reader in
• Is the element you build your shot/frame around
III. Rule of thirds
http://photoinf.com/General/KODAK/guidelines_for_better_photographic_c
omposition_rule_of_thirds.html
IV. Balance
• lack of balance is like a crooked picture on the wall
- it irritates the eye & creates distraction
• to create balance, you need to have two forces of equal strength that pull in
opposite directions.
- How do you create balance without creating two focal points?
- Use white/negative space
V. White Space
• consider white space a visual graphic element
• should never be visually “trapped”
- should always be pushed to the outside corners
• used to create balance and eye relief
- eye relief gives the eye a place to rest but not stop in the visual
flow - too many elements creates clutter (competition for visual
prominence)

2. V. Visual Clutter
• anything that distracts or competes for visual prominence in a graphic
piece
- poorly placed or staged items or people – objects coming out of
people’s heads
- Simple clutter that competes for prominence
• Clutter typically occurs in the background
- Should strive for “figure/ground” – background remains
background & foreground remains foreground – no switching
between the two.
- http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/freerules.shtml
VI. Scale & proportion
VII. Perspective
Straight lines vs. angular lines
http://www.video101course.com/shots_17.html
VIII. Typography
• Legibility – use an easily read typeface (simple vs. ornate) –don’t use
multiple typefaces (no more than 2, and make sure the 2 compliment eachother)
- typeface& italic of that face work well together
- serif vs. sans serif
• Readability – contrast to background with color and point size while also
not interfering with focal point.
http://videodslr.tv/video/10-good-examples-of-lower-thirds-488
Activity:
Have students find three examples of each type of eye flow & rule of thirds in
magazines. If not completed in class, they must complete at home.