introduction

design elements

design principles

typography

technical
matters

figure/ground balance
   rhythm
   dominance &        limitation
emphasis
gestalt
   closure
   continuance
   proximity
   similarity
   alignment

Design Principles
The design principles are the concepts that help organize visual information. They include figure/ground relationships, balance, emphasis and gestalt (Saw).

Figure/Ground
Figure refers to the part of the composition you pay attention to(1) and ground is everything else(2). In these simple compositions there is a single figure but a more complex composition may contain several. The figure defines the ground and the ground defines the figure. The classic example is that of two faces also forming a goblet(3).