Summer School – It’s Your Turn to Learn: Line

Written by My Favorite Things on June 18, 2015. Posted in Educational Series

Sharpen your pencils and take your seats! It’s time for another lesson in design. We hope you’ve been soaking in all of the good stuff we’ve shared this week. And better yet, we’d love to see what you’ve been learning!

Achieving Balance is essential to good design. Balance is the way the elements of a card (lines, shapes, colors, textures, etc.) are arranged to create a feeling of stability; a pleasing or harmonious arrangement or proportion in a card design. We’ll round out the week with two lessons on keeping everything balanced! Today’s lesson is about the intentional use of Line in your designs. Horizontal lines can be calm and quiet or an anchor, while vertical lines can convey movement.

Lesson #4 – Balance: Line

Say hello to today’s instructor, My Favorite Things Design Team member Kay Miller. Kay has prepared an excellent lesson on achieving balance in your design by using Line.

To begin with, Kay has some key points to remember about using line:

Lines are very important in graphic design and in card making. Lines can do many things to add visually interesting content to your design. Understanding how to use lines can help you communicate a certain feeling or idea in your work.

1. Lines draw the eye to the focal point.

2. Lines can divide  space and direct the viewers’ eyes.

3. Lines direct the flow of content.

4. Lines can help give emphasis to a specific area.

Lines can be created using so many different things. You can use strips of paper, stencils, line stamps, or dies. You can also watercolor lines or use text to create lines.

Kay cut four lines and inlaid them into white card stock to make everything flat. Once that step was complete, she cut the entire panel with the stitched rectangle from Blueprints 20.

These colorful horizontal lines become the perfect place to place a Focal Point as they ground the design.

Pop up the Focal Point and accents with foam tape, and the design is complete. Notice, too, that the horizontal lines are placed on one of the imaginary line of thirds that Kimberly covered Monday in her lesson on the Rule of Thirds.

And there you have it. A well balanced card with perfect composition! Thanks for a great lesson, Kay!

To aid in your learning , we have created a My Favorite Things Summer School Study Guide. Download it HERE, and then print it. It will be a handy tool that you can refer to as you design!

This week you’re the student, and instead of grades, we’ve got two prizes per day and two ways to win. Using today’s lesson, we’d love for you to create a project that exemplifies what you learned and upload it to the link below. Master the lesson and win a $50 voucher from My Favorite Things and be featured on the blog on June 30. Just by participating, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a $20 voucher, so everyone has a chance!

All entries must be submitted by noon EDT on June 26th. Winners will be announced here on the blog on Tuesday, June 30.

Here’s your homework for your chance to win:

1. Create a project following the lesson you learned today.
2. Be sure to link your project below for your chance to win!

Before you go, be sure to stop by the blogs of these members of our Creative Team for more lessons in how to achieve Line in your projects.

Now make sure to do your homework! Class dismissed.