- The elements and principles of design make up the building blocks of most visual art, including a scrapbooking template. It's best to think of the elements of design as the keys that make a design work, and the principles of design as the rules for applying those elements. The seven elements of design are: line, shape, direction, size, texture, color and value. Texture, color and value will make the least impact your template. The principles of design are balance, repetition, gradation, contrast, harmony, unity and dominance. As you look at some of the more appealing scrapbooking pages you've seen, try to determine how each element is used and each principle applied.
- The best scrapbook pages use fewer photos to make a greater impact. Similarly, an overabundance of embellishments can cause each individual design element to be lost in the clutter of the page design. When in doubt, the best rule to follow when designing your pages is to KISS--Keep it simple, silly. In other words, use fewer "shapes" for photos, text blocks and headlines, and balance them carefully with open space.
- Magazine layouts use the same elements of design as scrapbooking pages. For unique design ideas for your template, look for magazine pages that appeal to you. Sketch out the basic shapes on a piece of paper, but leave out the small details. This gives your template a basic structure that you can build a number of scrapbook page ideas onto.
