The rule of thirds, is a composition commonly used by photographers to take a visually pleasing and balanced photo. The rule of thirds involves placing 2 lines across your design vertically and horizontally to split the design equally into 9 separate segments. If for example you are taking a photo of a nice landscape, you would want to take the photo with the horizon on one of the horizontal lines. like so:
This technique can be used in many ways. You can place your subject off centre along one of the lines to create a balanced photo or give a sense of direction. I could use this technique in my design work by fitting text onto, around or inside these lines and boxes.
here are some examples of how I have used it in my poster designs:
Each statement of this poster is in a separate horizontal box. This balances the design, making it not too top or bottom heavy.
With the design below I could have placed the heart rate line along the bottom line, although this would have left too much negative space at the bottom, making the design top heavy and unbalanced. Instead I centre aligned it to the bottom third, with the text centre aligned to the top two thirds.
