- Moderation is a virtue.
It's a good practice at a cocktail party,
dangerous sports, and conflict.
But it's the culprit of many lackluster design solutions.
The forms are small but not too little.
The type is big but not too big.
And the images are cropped comfortably.
The result is a mild and forgettable solution.
The extreme and surprising scale might seem
dangerous and risky, but it's your friend.
Extreme scale change is uncomfortable.
It creates an emotional response with the viewer.
Start with a poster for a mountain resort.
Add a mountain and a cabin.
Make them the correct size so the viewer can see each one.
The result is a perfect lovely layout.
Now, enlarge the mountian so big
that the clouds sit below the summit.
Reduce the cabin to a tiny element on the page.
The result is a poster that talks about the excitement
and drama of the resort and creates
a much more interesting composition.
If a mountain is large, make it enormous,
but if an element is small, it needs to be very small.
Medium is dull.
Small forces the viewer to engage and focus.
Surprise is at the core of compelling scale.
The designer typically will type set a title page
in a book with elegant and polite type sizes.
But taking that same information
and enlarging it to cover the page
creates something fresh and exciting.
It's about shaking up the expected
and presenting something in a new way with size.
Alternatively, we expect a website to contain
the name and navigation at the top or on the side.
Headlines and text are in the appropriate sizes.
Now change all of the typography
to the smallest size possible, say 12 points,
the effect is minimal and powerful.
When working with scale, the edge of the page or screen
becomes a critical element.
Two approaches inform the layout.
First, if the object is larger than the page and cropped,
the edges are a framing device.
The communication here is that the object is bigger
than the page itself.
Second, the page will seem like a constrained space
when an element is close to the edge,
but doesn't crop off the side.
It's as if the page is holding the forms in position.
Scale is a potent tool to communicate an idea
and direct the viewers attention.
Let's look at another example.
An add for a furniture company
depicts a perfectly lovely chair.
If I reduce the chair and add an enormous hand,
I communicate the connection to the handmade
and direct the viewer to the product.
Add the element of high contrast
and I have a layout that will stand out in an setting.
Like all design elements, dynamic scale
works with purposeful thought to proportion.
I don't randomly enlarge elements,
but use consistent proportions.
For example, I may double the size of an image
or make the headline 100 times larger than the body copy.
Any scale change works as long as it is systematic
and proportionality consistent.
And of course, I use a grid to help coordinate
the size of the elements
and make sure the negative space relates to the elements.
Finally, an illustration or photograph is not limited
to its original state.
Is there an element that you can focus on and enlarge?
Will a broad abstraction be more interesting
than the entire image?
Does it work better as a full bleed double spread layout,
or as a wrap around image on a book?
Play with these options.
You can always drop them and return to the original.
Playing with scale is precisely about that, play.
It takes a certain letting go of control
and willingness to throw
caution to the wind and try anything.
Think of it as a painter might
using grand gestures on a vast canvas,
rather than small and uptight moves.
Once you complete the composition,
you can go in and refine the forms.
But the design will now have a presence
that can't go unnoticed.