CRAP Design: Part 4 - Repetition
February 8th, 2007 — VyomaThis is the fourth part of the series ‘CRAP Design Series‘ where we will look into the ‘Repetition Design Principle’. The principle states that we should repeat design elements through out the piece (the webpage or the document). The elements that are repeated may be color, shape, texture or style.
Applying this design principle adds consistency to the webpage or document, and gives a cohesive design. It also helps in branding, when a particular piece is done under a specific brand.
Some of the ways in which the Repetition principle may be applied to a piece are as follows:
- Use the same font throughout the document for similar elements. For example do not keep changing the font used for the body text for different paragraphs. Headings of the same level should be using a same font.
- Use the same bullet shape for all the unordered lists in the document
- Use similar border or decorations for all the elements.
The above suggestions may seem trivial, and we all know that we subconsciously follow it. But an odd vibe is given off a design if we do not follow them by mistake. Even though we know that we will be using the principle subconsciously, make it a point to consciously work on it, and that will show in the design of the piece as a professional work.
In view of that, I save myself the trouble to give examples like I did for the other two parts in this series, because when illustrating a bad example, it just feels that no one will be that erring in this respect.
Now, we could have left it at that, but we have few more things to clear. What we need to remember when applying this principle is that repetition is asked for similar or same type of elements and not with respect different elements. This principle does not ask us to make the heading as well as the body text of the same font and same size. It just asks us to make one body text of a paragraph same as the other.
Sometimes, it is not even required to repeat the entire set of properties. To illustrate this point, say, I were to design a pamphlet for some even at the non-existent ‘Splat Office’.
As you can see above, I have not used the Splat logo in its entirety. It is used as a cropped image. I have used the repetition principle to give a background image, but I did not use the full logo. Yet, because of the same logo I used to create this partial background image, I was able to bind the pamphlet to ‘Splat Office’. The principle is used to help create a brand here.
The repetition design principle is used to unify a particular piece and also brand it under a entity.
In the next post in this series, we will look at the ‘Contrast Design Principle’.
How do you use the Repetition Design Principle? Use the comment form below to let me know.
Update: This blog post is a part of series.