[Sigia-l] Visual Balance Question

[James Spahr]

On Nov 26, 2003, at 11:44 AM, Jason Pryslak wrote:

> I have heard the term "visual hierarchy" used by a designer to 
> describe the
> "order in the page." It sort of made sense to me that the information 
> could
> be displayed in a way that allows someone to create a mental model of 
> the
> relevance of certain content, widgets, etc.
>
> Why don't you like the word hierarchy? Is there something else that 
> you call
> the order that the designer is striving for?

What I dislike about the word 'hierarchy' is that many people that I 
speak to have different concepts of what it means. It happens so often 
that I don't know what the correct meaning is, or more likely -- I 
don't know how the term will be interpreted. (In my mind -- a terms 
meaning is how the listener interprets it). So I tend to avoid it 
altogether.

Far too often a student will have a very practical (almost 
production-centric) view of what hierarchy means. ie, to create 
hierarchy means to make some type bigger. It tends to be all about 
type, because that is the class where they first heard the term.

In reality, the visual plane is rich with ways to raise the importance 
or reduce the impact of any given element. Size is but one tool at the 
designer's disposal -- and sometimes it is more crucial to manage your 
imagery is than your type in regards to the the "visual hierarchy"

James.