What is Alignment in Design?
Alignment is a design principle that refers lining up text or graphics on a page.
While you probably won’t notice when the elements in a design are aligned, you will almost definitely notice when they aren’t. A design with poor alignment will look cluttered and unfinished. But aligning elements on the page will organize your design and make it easier to read.
Types of Alignment
There are several different types of alignment, based on where you position the elements on your page. Here are the different types of alignment you can use in design:
Left Alignment
Left alignment is when elements are aligned to the left side of the page.
Right Alignment
Right alignment is when elements are aligned to the right side of the page.
Vertical Alignment
Vertical alignment is when elements are aligned with the top of the page.
Center Alignment
Center alignment is when elements are aligned with the center of the page.
Justified Alignment
Justified alignment is when elements are anchored evenly between the left and right sides of the page.
Pretty straightforward, right?
When to Use Alignment in Design
Similar to other design principles like balance and proportion, alignment should be taken into consideration in virtually every design. You should use alignment when you want to organize text and images on a page.
How to Use Alignment In Your Designs
When aligning elements in your design, you need to place them along an imaginary line. To make this easier, it helps to use a visual guide like a grid.
Venngage’s alignment tool makes it easy to align your designs in just a click. Simply highlight the elements you want to align, and pick a position from the Alignment drop-down menu:
Examples of Alignment in Design
In this timeline infographic, the weeks are center-aligned:
This simple infographic has all of the elements left-aligned. This creates a neat and organized design:
Meanwhile, this business event poster has a right-aligned column listing the event speakers:
