ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a set of compositional principles that apply equally to images and to the multimodal layouts of, for instance, magazine pages and computer interfaces. Three major principles are distinguished: information value, in which the placement of compositional elements in the visual space endows them with specific values in relation to each other and to the viewer; framing, which divides compositions into sections that must somehow be understood as separate; and salience, which uses visual means such as foregrounding, size and tonal contrast to attract the viewer’s attention differentially to the elements of the composition. The chapter also argues that there is, today, an increased emphasis on centre-margin compositions, hence on static and conceptual rather than dynamic and sequential representations, and a greater emphasis on generic templates rather than on flexible uses of the resources of visual composition.