Alignment

In this post we continue looking at the principles represented in the acronym C. R. A. P. from Robin Williams’ book the Non-Designers Design Book. In previous posts we looked at Contrast and Repetition. In this post, we look at the next letter in the acronym, Alignment. According to Williams, the key principle of alignment states that “nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page.”

Alignment gives greater cohesion to your design. Even though items on your page are separated from each other (the P in C. R. A. P. — Proximity), with alignment, your audience can see that all of the elements are part of the same piece.

Elements can be aligned either horizontally or vertically (or both). It is not necessary that each element align with every other element, only that each element should align with at least one other element. Elements can align with other elements on the center, left, or right, or they can align at the top or bottom.

See an example of center alignment below:

Title
Point 1
Point 2

Point 3

Notice that the text from each line aligns on the middle. Next, see an example of left alignment below:

Title
Point 1
Point 2

Point 3

See how each the text from each line aligns on the left? Finally, let’s look at an example of right alignment:

Title
Point 1
Point 2

Point 3

Beginners often use center alignment because it is clean and safe. And there is nothing wrong with that. But sometimes, you slides can have more impact if you try left or right alignment. Try out a few different ways with your slide until you find the best combination for your message.