How to Scrapbook Balanced Pages

Using Visual Weight to Maintain Balance in Scrapbook Layouts

Oct 25, 2009

5 - Visual Triangle Creates Balance, Page by Adrienne Larocque

Regardless of your individual style, your scrapbook pages will always be pleasing if you make sure that they are visually balanced. Read on to learn how to create balance

A balanced layout is one that has an overall distribution of visual weight that is even. If your scrapbook page is unbalanced, you may not even realize it on a conscious level, but you’ll sense that something is off. It’s like carrying a tray with a lot of glasses – if the weight is not distributed evenly around the center, the tray will tip and the glasses will fall.

What is Visual Weight?

Visual weight is a measure of how much anything on your page – a photo or embellishment or even empty space – attracts the viewer’s eye. It’s determined by characteristics such as size, color, contrast, shape and orientation. When using visual weight to engineer balance, the key is to make sure that your layout has a balance of visual weight overall.

Large items have greater visual weight (attract the eye more) than small items. Light values and bright colors are visually “heavier” than dark values and dull colors. Circles grab more of our attention than squares do. Understanding visual weight is important because you can use it to create balance in your finished layouts. There are several ways to achieve this.

Symmetrical Balance in Scrapbook Pages

Arranging photos and accents on one side of your page so that they are a mirror image of the other side gives your layout symmetrical balance. This type of balance is simple to achieve. One way is by using a grid layout. Grids are easy to construct and can be adapted for any page size. Typically, a 2x2 grid works well for 8.5” x 11” or A4 pages. For 12” x 12” (30 cm x 30 cm) pages, 3x3 grids work well.

A variation of symmetrical balance involves placing elements with similar visual weights in opposite corners. The center of balance of the layout will be a point in the middle rather than a line separating two pages or two halves of a page. Another way of looking at it is to imagine 2 lines joining each pair of similar objects; the result will be two lines that cross in an X pattern.

“Filmstripping,” or lining up several photos in row, also can be used to achieve symmetry. All of these approaches give your layout a pronounced feeling of stability, but the formality inherent in that can result in a page that lacks pizzazz. This can be offset by incorporating fun accents into some of the blocks of the grid, or by tweaking the proportions enough to add interest, yet still maintain overall balance.

Asymmetrical Balance in Scrapbook Layouts

A page that is asymmetrical can still be balanced. The goal is to make sure that you have an even distribution of visual weight throughout the layout. Imagine a teeter-totter with one large child on one side and several small kids on the other – it's possible to have equilibrium. So it is with your scrapbook page. The visual weight of one large photo can be equalized by a grouping of several smaller ones.

Using Visual Triangles in Scrapbook Pages

The brain has a tendency to associate items that are similar to each other. Arranging elements with similar visual weight so that they mark the apices of an imaginary triangle – a “visual triangle” – also helps to create balance on a page. Compare it to the minimum number and arrangement of legs needed for a stool to be stable.

Sample Pages

Cam at the Farm: A simple 2x2 grid is symmetrically balanced. Supplies: cardstock – Bazzill; rub-ons – Autumn Leaves.
What Will We Do, Blue Kangaroo? A variation on the simple grid has photos and text blocks kitty-corner to each other. Supplies: cardstock – Paper Reflections; patterned paper – Basic Grey; font – Augie.
Behind the Beach in Boracay: Filmstripping along the bottom of the page creates a balanced layout. Supplies: cardstock – Bazzill, Color Mates; patterned paper – Wubie Prints; mesh – Magic Mesh; lettering template – Cock a Doodle Design Inc.; chalk and alphabet stamps – EK Success; stamping ink – Stewart Superior Corp.
At the Beach with Nico: The large photo on the right is asymmetrically balanced by the grouping of photos on the left. Supplies: cardstock – Bazzill; cut-outs – EK Success; chipboard letters – Pressed Petals; rub-on letters – Making Memories; computer font – Bradley Hand; pen – Zig.
Baby Love: Fabric flowers placed in a visual triangle add balance. Supplies: cardstock – Die Cuts With a View; patterned paper – Prima, Carolee’s Creations; ribbon – Michael’s; flowers – Hot Off the Press; buttons – Buttons Galore; embroidery floss – DMC; stamping ink – Tsukineko; chipboard letters – EK Success; paint – Liquitex; journaling stamp – Autumn Leaves; pen – Zig.

The copyright of the article How to Scrapbook Balanced Pages in Scrapbooking & Paper Crafts is owned by Adrienne Larocque. Permission to republish How to Scrapbook Balanced Pages in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.