Shapes Series: Triangles

Triangles. They are wonderful design elements, but they're also a big part of math. I remember them from my geometry days. There are all different kinds of them, too! Does this look familiar to anyone?

Oh, I remember those days. This looks like a very boring application of triangles, right? I agree. So why did I bring this up? Well, I wanted to highlight something: triangles have different shapes.

And I have a favorite type of triangle. That would be the equilateral triangle. Why is it my favorite? It's 100% symmetrical, and I love symmetry. No matter how you cut an equilateral triangle in half, it's always the same on both sides. I like that.

I think, personally, that equilateral triangles are the best types to use in design. Now I'm sure people throughout history have designed great art using other types of triangles, but equilaterals are my personal favorite.

In fact, there are two logos I ran across on Brand New that incorporate equilateral triangles. I'd like to share them with you.

The VIVA logo is very simple, but really creative. I think I was almost subconsciously inspired by it to create the headers for this post, with the triangles up and down in a row. Here's what it looks like:

You can read the Brand New review of the logo if you so desire, but I'd like to give you a couple of things I personally like about this logo.

• The symmetry. You can't go wrong with equilateral triangles, at least when it comes to symmetry!
• The clean, sharp look. This logo is not stuffy or vague - it's sharp and clear. This is great, and so important for a logo.
• The boldness. While I like thin, fine lines, there's something wonderfully imposing and obvious about the bold, black triangles in this. It catches your attention, doesn't it?

Now for the second triangle logo I want to show you...

The Brand New post is here. This logo is clever too. Here's what the logo looks like.

Here's what I like about it (and you can read more at Brand New):

• The symmetry. Surprise, surprise!
• The equal spacing between triangles. If you look closely at the space between the first and second triangles, you'll notice that another triangle could fit there perfectly.
• The application. I love how the logo is recolored based on art. See that here.

There's a neat font that uses triangles as one of its elements. In the font Dubtronic (download here), the A's and the V's are triangles! In fact, that's how I got the triangle border for the header: by typing AVAVA over and over again. Here's what the font looks like:

 I really like this font - it's quite fun!

But logos and fonts aren't the only thing that incorporates good use of triangles, especially equilateral ones. I've found lots of fun merchandise around the web that is well designed and puts triangles on center stage. I love these items! Take a look and see if you do, too.

Buy this here.

Buy this here.

Buy this here.

Buy this here.

I love the creativity behind each of these ideas. The placement of the triangles is so fun and unique in the first three items, and the use of triangles as "A's" was a great idea, too. Do you all have a favorite item of these four?

Before I go, I've got a couple more things I want to tell you about. The first thing is a concept that some of you might already be familiar with: the visual triangle. It's a design principle that I picked up from Creating Keepsakes magazine, and it's a good tool to employ sometimes in design and crafts - and even photography if you want!

So what is this visual triangle? The way I think of it, it's like this:

Here's a quick illustration to help:

Do you see how the three "accent" circles make a triangle? It's a technique that can really tie a layout together. You can use multiple visual triangles on one layout, too, for added effect.

Okay, last thing: remember how I said yesterday that there would be an extra special something each day? Maybe a challenge, a freebie, or something like that? Well today's special something is a challenge for you.

Today, in addition to making your comment to be entered to win the Amazon.com gift certificate, you can gain extra entries by doing a special reader participation exercise!

If you send me a link or a photo about anything that uses shapes in a creative way, you will be entered an extra time in the contest!

Please email me your ideas: carrie[at]carrieannedesign[dot]com. Go ahead and leave your daily comment, too, but for the reader participation exercise, can you email me instead of comment? I want to keep the links and such under wraps because I hope to incorporate some of your ideas in a future blog post.

So there are two things you can do to enter today:
- Comment as usual.
- Send me a link or photo of something involving shapes. :)

Can't wait to hear from you!