In the ever-evolving world of UX/UI, design is more than just making things look attractive. It’s about guiding users through a journey, creating a sense of balance, and organising content in a way that naturally directs attention. This is where advanced visual design principles come into play. Elements like visual hierarchy, balance, harmony, and the Gestalt laws are essential to creating experiences that are not only visually appealing but also functional and intuitive.

Mastering these principles ensures that your designs communicate clearly, evoke the right emotions, and ultimately guide users toward desired actions. This article will explore the core visual design principles you need to know and how to apply them effectively in UX/UI design. If you're serious about creating polished, user-centered designs, our Advanced UX/UI Design Course dives deep into these principles with practical exercises and real-world applications.

Visual Hierarchy: Organising Information Effectively

At the heart of any successful design is visual hierarchy—the arrangement of design elements in order of importance. Hierarchy ensures that users can quickly identify what’s most important and navigate the content effortlessly. It allows you to guide users’ eyes from one element to the next in a logical flow.

What it is: Visual hierarchy is the practice of arranging elements (text, images, buttons) so that the most important pieces of information stand out. It’s achieved through variations in size, color, contrast, and placement. A strong hierarchy ensures that users know where to focus first, what to read next, and what actions to take.

Why it matters: Without visual hierarchy, users can quickly become confused or overwhelmed, not knowing where to look or what to do next. Well-executed hierarchy leads the user through the design in an intuitive manner, enhancing usability.

Example: Think about an e-commerce website. The product name might be the largest text on the page, followed by a slightly smaller price, and then smaller product descriptions. A prominent “Add to Cart” button might be in a contrasting colour to draw attention. These design choices create a hierarchy that prioritises the information users need to make a purchase decision.

Design Insight: Use size, contrast, alignment, and spacing to establish a clear visual hierarchy. Larger elements tend to dominate attention, while smaller or less contrasting elements recede. Place the most important information (like CTAs) in prominent positions.

Balance: Creating Stability in Design

Balance is one of the fundamental principles of visual design. It refers to the distribution of visual weight in a composition. Just like in the physical world, unbalanced elements in design can make the layout feel chaotic or uncomfortable. A balanced design, on the other hand, creates a sense of stability and order.

What it is: Balance in design refers to how visual elements are distributed within a space. There are three main types of balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial. Symmetrical balance involves mirroring elements on either side of a central axis, while asymmetrical balance distributes visual weight unevenly but in a way that still feels harmonious. Radial balance occurs when elements radiate from a central point.

Why it matters: Balance provides structure to your design, making it feel organised and cohesive. When a design is balanced, it feels stable and trustworthy, making users more comfortable and confident in navigating it.

Example: In a corporate website, you might see symmetrical balance in action—where the left and right sides of the page mirror each other. This gives the design a formal, reliable feel. On a more creative portfolio website, you might find asymmetrical balance, where the designer uses larger images on one side to balance out smaller text elements on the other side.

Design Insight: Experiment with different types of balance to suit the tone and purpose of your design. Symmetry can make designs feel calm and orderly, while asymmetry adds energy and dynamism. Radial designs are useful for focusing attention on a central element, such as a logo or a featured product.

Harmony: Ensuring Visual Consistency

Harmony refers to the cohesion of different design elements. When a design feels harmonious, all parts work together as a whole, creating an aesthetically pleasing experience. A harmonious design ensures that nothing feels out of place and that the overall look is consistent and polished.

What it is: Harmony is achieved when all visual elements—colours, shapes, fonts, and textures—work together in a unified way. Harmony doesn’t mean everything looks the same, but rather that all elements complement each other.

Why it matters: A harmonious design is easier for users to process and feels more professional. When elements feel disjointed or out of place, it can create cognitive dissonance for the user, making the design feel confusing or overwhelming.

Example: In a branding system, using consistent fonts, colour schemes, and shapes across a website ensures harmony. If you introduce a new colour or font that doesn’t align with the rest of the design, it can disrupt the overall sense of unity and confuse users.

Design Insight: Use consistent patterns, colour schemes, and typography to create harmony in your design. Ensure that elements don’t compete for attention and that the overall composition feels balanced and unified.

Gestalt Laws: How We Perceive Visual Information

The Gestalt principles are a set of laws that explain how humans perceive visual information. These principles can be powerful tools for designers to create meaning and order in a composition. The human brain is wired to seek patterns and relationships between objects, and the Gestalt laws take advantage of this natural tendency.

What it is: The Gestalt principles are based on the idea that we perceive visual elements as a whole, rather than as individual parts. Key Gestalt laws include:

Law of Proximity: Elements that are close together are perceived as related.
Law of Similarity: Similar elements are grouped together.
Law of Closure: Our minds fill in gaps to create whole objects.
Law of Continuity: We prefer continuous lines and paths over disjointed elements.
Law of Figure-Ground: We instinctively separate objects from their background.

Why it matters: By understanding how users perceive relationships between elements, designers can create more intuitive layouts. Gestalt principles help you organise information in a way that feels natural and easy for users to understand.

Example: Consider a navigation bar on a website. The Law of Proximity might dictate that menu items are grouped closely together, indicating they’re related. Meanwhile, the Law of Continuity ensures that users naturally follow the flow from one menu item to the next. If you break these laws, the navigation might feel disconnected or confusing.

Design Insight: Use the Gestalt principles to organise your layout in a way that aligns with how users naturally perceive information. For instance, group related elements using proximity and similarity, and create clear figure-ground separation to make important elements stand out.

Application of Advanced Visual Design Principles in UX/UI

When combined, these visual design principles—hierarchy, balance, harmony, and Gestalt laws—create the foundation for effective and beautiful designs that resonate with users. Let’s look at how to apply them practically in your UX/UI design process:

Start with a clear hierarchy: Before diving into the aesthetics, determine the order of importance for content and actions. Identify key elements (like CTAs or headlines) that should stand out and design around them.
Use balance to organise your layout: Whether symmetrical or asymmetrical, ensure that elements are placed in a way that feels intentional and harmonious. Avoid creating heavy visual weight in one area while leaving others empty.
Create harmony through consistent design choices: Stick to a limited palette of fonts, colours, and styles. Ensure your typography, iconography, and images align with your overall design system.
Leverage Gestalt laws to organise information: Arrange elements based on principles like proximity and similarity. Use the Law of Figure-Ground to help users distinguish between the most important elements and the background.

Example: Let’s say you’re designing a dashboard for a financial app. The hierarchy might place the user’s total balance at the top, followed by recent transactions, and then less important data at the bottom. You’d use balance to evenly distribute information, perhaps grouping similar data together using proximity (Gestalt law). Harmony is achieved by maintaining consistent colours and typography throughout the dashboard, while the Law of Figure-Ground ensures that the “Add Funds” button stands out against the background.

Conclusion: Mastering Visual Design Principles

Advanced visual design principles are the backbone of any great UX/UI design. By mastering visual hierarchy, balance, harmony, and the Gestalt laws, you can create designs that not only look good but also work effectively for the user.

Want to go deeper? Our Advanced UX/UI Design Course offers comprehensive training on these principles, helping you apply them to real-world projects with confidence. Through hands-on exercises, you’ll learn how to create visually stunning and intuitive designs that stand out in the marketplace.

Cross-Reference to Previous Articles: For more insights into designing cohesive user experiences, check out our article on Service Design Thinking, which emphasizes the importance of creating seamless experiences across all touchpoints. To understand the research behind user behaviours, see our article on Advanced Qualitative Research Methods.

Advanced Visual Design Principles