Design Nomenclature / Composition
Emphasis
Also called focal point, accent, focus
- Composition
- Type
- 2D & 3D
The deliberate raising of one element above the field — by contrast, isolation, scale, placement, or the direction of the forms around it. The element so raised is the focal point. Emphasis works by difference from a settled field, so it cannot be applied to everything at once.
In practice
'Focal point' names the place; 'emphasis' names the means. Emphasizing three things emphasizes nothing — the quiet field is what pays for the loud element.
Not to be confused with
- DominanceThe condition of one element carrying more weight than everything else in the field, so the composition has an unambiguous first. Dominance is a property of the whole and can be checked by comparison. Every field has one, or fails to, whether or not anyone chose it.
- HierarchyThe ordering of a composition's parts by intended attention, expressed through weight, scale, position, and space. A hierarchy is a claim about what matters, made visible; it works when a viewer can rank the parts without reading them. Each level added weakens every level already there.