Dominant/Subordinate

Dominant/Subordinate

■ Creates a relative level of interest and emphasis among all design elements and principles.
■ Dominant=primary; subordinate=secondary.
■ Helps to establish a visual hierarchy: what the viewer will see 1st, 2nd, etc.
■ Applies to all design elements and principles. Color-wise, this page is dominantly white and subordinately black, subordinately red and subordinately brown.
■ Many great compositions have one clearly dominant direction or sense of movement.
■ Many confusing compositions have multiple dominant directions or dominant movements.
■ Compositions with the most dynamic structure not only have one clearly dominant direction, they also have at least one clearly subordinate direction.