Image by Vanessa Cardui from Pexels | edited by the author
Just take a look at threes.
1, 2, 3
Is there something interesting about it?
Something that seems uniform, complete, and gives you an inner satisfaction?
You might be wondering…
Why the heck are you asking about what I think of 3 numbers? I’m not in preschool!
Of course! But actually, nonetheless if you’re in preschool, there are even college students and skilled people in workplaces who use groups of 3, too.
Particularly among Graphic Designers.
How’s that?
Well it’s in how you perceive it.
When you see 2 stars grouped together, do they seem “complete” to you? Ok maybe I won’t go for a 4 yr old example…
From Adobe Stock
Take these 5 lines of text.
Image credit to author.
How do you read between them? Easy right?
What if I introduced to you 3 lines of text, which lines do you like better?
Image credit to author.
Personally what I’d say, since I’m a Graphic Designer, is that the linespace suits the 5 lines better than 3 — but what we’re going for is…
Why do groups of 3 seem complete?
Our brains love patterns. Not only does it stand out more as I noted, but it displays a hierarchy of information.
It takes the 3 most important elements in a story or writing, and highlights the main 3 to look at — helping us to better comprehend a piece and make note of the important details to consider.
The number 3 is the smallest number of elements required to make a pattern.
This means:
- Easier to read
- Stands out more
- Easiest to remember
So groups of 3 makes reading “easier” in general!
Anyway, sentences just sound better with groups of 3, don’t they?
Take these examples:
- The 3 musketeers
- Past, present, and future.
- Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin, I will not let you in!
Each of these have phrases grouped in 3. Meaning, it isn’t used only for counting the A, B, C’s…
They’re used in pretty much everything!
Not only can this way of organizing be used in sentence structure, but in:
- Bullet points
- Headings
- Placement
See what I did there?
When designing a graphic, we have the whole artboard at our finger tips — so by using these 3 ways of structuring our copy, we can make our graphics give impact.
Let’s see how we can make use of these 3 ways in design.
1. Bullet Points
Used for organizing & highlighting information at a glance, it helps condense copy without making it look clustered on a page. This can be further made to stand out with a lot of linespacing.
Image by Freddy from Dribble
2. Headings
Gives a clear hierarchy of information, we can note points of importance whether we give a small paragraph under it or not.
3. Placement
Designing is creative, there’s plenty of new trends to take from that show out-of-the-box placement styles. Whether it’s alternating between right and left or the etc. Make it fun!
Image by Siotes — Ballasiotes from Dribble
Most importantly, using groups of 3 gives emphasis on major components, rather than several details that make up a whole.
By using bullet points, headings, and placement — along with any other creative way that you can figure out, you can make your designs look complete & stand out from the rest!
As we’ve seen, using groups of 3 is a great asset in graphic design because it gives a clear hierarchy, organizes text, and makes information easier to remember.
By incorporating this grouping in your designs, you’re sure to make an impact and keep your graphics rock n’ rolling!
How will you make use of this?