9 Rules of Composition For UX/UI Designers

9 Rules of Composition For UX/UI Designers

The rules of composition allow you to place the content in the most logical and appealing form. If you think that composition is something from the art world that has nothing to do with UX/UI, you’re terribly wrong. 

Every UX/UI designer who claims to be a professional in the field should understand these laws to create digital products that are both intuitive and clear to users. 

9 Rules of Composition That Every UX/UI Designer Must Know

Here are some things that will help your professional UX/UI design agency create better interfaces for mobile apps, websites, and software systems. 

1 – Rule of Thirds

If it’s hard for you to build a composition and don’t always understand if it is harmonious, this rule will help. 

The essence of thirds rule is to divide the picture into nine equal parts – the most crucial thing should be at the intersection of lines. 

The easiest way to do this is in Photoshop, you can turn the guides on with Ctrl +; – they will not interfere with work, but it will come to the rescue when needed.

2 – Connection Between Objects

Building a composition should begin with the distribution of roles of the involved objects. 

If they attract attention equally, the viewer will be confused and not understand what the picture is dedicated to, and will likely find it uninteresting. 

That’s why it’s important to emphasise the main object of visualisation and build a composition using the methods of attracting attention, which we will discuss below.

3 – Golden Ratio

The first mention of this principle is associated with Euclid, a mathematician who applied the golden ratio to build a regular rectangle. 

In art, the principle has become widespread thanks to Leonardo da Vinci and his “Vitruvian Man” that demonstrates this principle’s application to the human body’s proportions.

4 – Focus Point

By correctly arranging the composition, you can make the viewer pay attention to the desired object. 

To do this, consider the appearance and design of additional objects in the picture that will “point” to the object. 

For example, a road leading to a hut, a tree branch hanging over a traveller, or a hand pointing to an object.

5 – Foreshortening

Bold and unusual angles attract attention and, regardless of what is shown in the picture, look more impressive. 

To create a scene with a unique perspective, you need to prepare and see enough references: an unusual look can result in problems with the view and the ratio of visualisation elements.

6 – Harmony and Balance

Trying to emphasise the main object, beginners often overload the image with frankly superfluous details that create visual noise. 

If in doubt, whether it is worth adding something to the picture, think about this element’s purpose. 

Does it help create an atmosphere, reveal details of your plan, or fill a space? If not, the course of action is obvious.

7 – Atmosphere and Emotions

Composition, landscape, and colours should emphasise the emotion that you put in the visualisation. 

Red colours, for example, are associated with romance, love, blood, and horror movies. 

Hills make us think of peace, and the sea is connected with freedom and adventure. 

Experiment with the associations of your images and make them work for you. 

8 – Visual Integrity

Focusing on the rules of composition is essential, but don’t overlook other visualisation elements. 

To make the picture look attractive, you need to devote enough time to work out the middle and background. 

You can create a more thoughtful and detailed image that you’ll want to examine more closely with their help.

9 – Violation of the Rules

Often the most exciting visualisations are obtained when the designer intentionally breaks design rules, and the laws of composition are no exception. 

But before you intend to violate at least one of them, you must understand what you are doing and what effect you are striving to achieve.

Why The Rules of Composition are Important

UX/UI guidelines were created with the help of industry standards and focused on the user. 

Using these guidelines help you create a successful product. 

Using these rules of composition improve your success rate for multiple procedures.

Some examples of these improvements include:

• Reducing time and energy spent on a task
• Reducing the user error rate
• Increases task success rate
• Improves customer satisfaction
• Reduces bounce rate

Using these guidelines will improve an organisation’s flow because it doesn’t just reduce the effort on the customers’ part. 

Your team will significantly enhance while implementing these composition laws by reducing back-and-forth, increasing productivity, maintaining consistency, reducing training costs, and more.

Should I Follow These Guidelines or Reinvent the Wheel?

It’s tempting to be a rebel and follow your own rules for what your website should look like. 

The problem with this method is that most people break the rules before they understand why they work in the first place. 

As we mentioned in ‘Violation of the Rules,’ it is possible to do this successfully. 

Maybe you want your app to stand out from the rest, or perhaps you think the design can look more pristine, accurate, or tell a better story than what the rules say you should do.

User experience is more complicated than focusing on just your own app. You also have to consider what other websites are doing to achieve success.

Conforming to Other Apps Makes UX/UI Design Easier

Many of us change our phones every time our contract ends to stay up-to-date with technology. 

However, every time you change your phone, you need to learn the interface again. 

How many times were you frustrated when your phone altered the layout, even if it was for the better?

Many apps on the app store will look at what other programmers have done and copy that, so a new user is more likely to adjust to their own game faster. 

Most Candy Crush clones all have the same interface with a few tweaks to quickly adjust you to their game. Without this, you’re more likely to click off and play something else.

Consistency between different programs, even if they’re from various studios and developers, aids the entire industry. 

Now, it will take less time for your average user to adjust to all apps, not just yours. 

Sinking Time and Money

Still, maybe you think you can improve on UX/UI design laws, regardless of how difficult it may be compared to other applications. 

The truth is, reinventing the wheel takes more time and money than it’s usually worth, especially for a small business.

How did these UX/UI rules start? Experts conducted user research and experiments for years before they concluded what works and what doesn’t. 

Ask yourself if you have the capital necessary to take on that venture.

Whatever time and money you spent creating a new UX/UI guideline, you could spend on more employees or content for your website. 

It’s more fruitful for your business to use the tools available to you now to improve your web traffic.

You can change the way your webpage looks, but there’s no guarantee that what you implement will work in the long run. 

Conclusion

Learning the rules of composition is essential for you because it is a non-verbal language spoken by every professional who works with visual arts. 

These laws have been formulated throughout humanity’s history and are genuinely oriented at making the visuals intuitive and clear to the viewer. 

Only after you learn them and master these composition rules can you try to experiment and violate them and see what happens.

Creativity is vital, but only if it serves your product’s goal.