The basic principles of design are true for Web design as well as other design. They show you how to put together design elements in an effective manner. Design is more than just slapping HTML tags up onto a page, and using these principles will help you build more pleasing and useful designs. Balance Balance is the distribution of heavy and light elements on the page. Larger, darker elements appear heavier in the design than smaller, lighter elements. The principle of balance shows you how to lay out your pages so that they work. Contrast When most people think of contrast, they typically think of colors or black and white. But there is more to contrast than color. You can have contrasting shapes (square vs. circle), or contrasting sizes (large vs. small), or contrasting textures (smooth vs. rough). Emphasis Emphasis is what the eye is drawn to in a design. It's tempting to give everything equal emphasis or try to emphasize everything in a design, but this ends up maki