Day One - Harmony by Kathy

Today's Design "lesson" is about Harmony.
Kathy did a beautiful job demonstrating Harmony for us!

Harmony is the visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related elements within a defined space. Harmony is created when all parts of an image relate and compliment each other. This may be achieved by using elements that share a common trait or two. A common trait might be: color, shape, texture, pattern, size or even theme. Some ways to achieve harmony are to use adjacent colours on the colour wheel or to use similar and/or repeating shapes on your layout.
In this example Kathy used the "Let it Snow" line from 3 Bugs in a Rug. Red and blue are adjacent to each other on the Color Wheel, which creates harmony. To further achieve harmony, Kathy used similar shapes throughout the layout. She repeated the circles from the tree on the left underneath her photos with the brads and to the left of the photos with the red circles with snowflakes in the center. The use of the repeated circle element draws the eye around the layout; pulling the visual image together. Here are some other ways harmony could be created on this layout: use of multiple and/or repeated elements such as snowflakes or snowmen, addition of the color green or adding a circular journaling spot to record your memories!

Here is another example that is totally different, but still demonstrates harmony.

The use of similar elements (dots, poinsettias and trees) and the use of red and green, colors which are adjacent on the color wheel, pull the image together to create harmony in the page.

Using complimentary colors and repetition are two ways you can create a layout with harmony that will be sure to knock any viewer's socks off!
Additional ways to create harmony:
use of similiar fonts
use of related photos
use of similiar textures throughout the layout and
uniformity of size for elements/embellishments

We hope you will use this lesson in harmony to find exciting ways to add harmony to your layouts! In fact, we challenge you to create a layout demonstrating harmony and upload it to our gallery by November 15th at 12midnight for a chance to win a Croppin Paradise Gift Certificate!

See you tomorrow!
xoxo
Trish