Contrast: the spice of life

The verb contrast means to show a difference. Think of it as photos that reveal how much weight a person lost.

Looking at the “before” and “after” shots. You probably know contrast in its relation to the term compare.

Contrast allows for more engagement and stimulation. In creative design, contrast brings life to your work. You take control of how your users interact with your design. It’s used in colors, fonts, shapes, sizes, and everything you can think of in design.

Why all the fuss about Contrast?

It’s what makes the difference between boring and great design. It helps with readability and information overload.

The contrast in color and shape

When creating great compositions, it is how you make better-looking images. With it, you control and define a hierarchy, movement, and meaning.

It is all about establishing proper Hierarchy

We can use contrast to give importance to an element in a design with contrast. By drastically increasing the contrast, by 2x, 4x, or even 10x, then you can control the most important bit of information the viewer should see first.

Creating movement

Building on establishing heirarchy, we can create the illusion of motion by creating a path for the eyes of your audience. The example below also shows that some elements draw more attention than others. A small red circle draws more attention than a larger grey one. Contrasting elements can be combined in creative ways to bring better attention to your designs, illustrations, movies, etc.

Here are some live examples of contrast being used.