The 70/30 rule in graphic design is a balance guideline. Give about 70 percent of a design to one dominant thing, like a main color, style or message, and the other 30 percent to accents that add contrast and interest. It keeps a design from looking flat and boring on one end or chaotic on the other.
It isn't a law of physics, and you won't find one official definition. But it's a handy gut check, and it shows up in a lot of the work we do for clients who come to us for graphic design in West Palm Beach.
Where The 70/30 Rule Comes From
The idea is borrowed from interior design. Homes & Gardens describes the 70/30 rule there as keeping about 70 percent of a room in one main style or color scheme and using the other 30 percent for something different, so the room feels put together without being dull.
Designers liked the logic and carried it over to screens and print. Same idea, smaller canvas, fewer throw pillows.
Three Ways Designers Use 70/30
Because there's no single official version, you'll see it applied a few different ways.
- Color. About 70 percent of your design uses your main color or a neutral, and 30 percent goes to accent colors that pull the eye to the important parts.
- Visuals versus text. About 70 percent of the space goes to images or graphics and 30 percent to words. Common on social posts and ads, where people look before they read.
- Space versus stuff. Some designers use it to remind themselves to leave breathing room so the design doesn't feel crammed.
You'll also hear about the 60-30-10 rule, which splits color into a main color, a secondary color and a small pop of accent. Think of 70/30 as the simpler cousin.
Why It Works
Your eye needs a home base. When one thing clearly dominates, the design feels calm and easy to read. When a smaller amount of something different shows up, your eye goes straight to it.
That's the whole trick. The 70 percent makes things feel consistent and trustworthy. The 30 percent tells people where to look. If everything is loud, nothing is.
How To Use The 70/30 Rule In Your Marketing
Here's how it plays out on stuff a small business actually makes.
| Piece | The 70 percent | The 30 percent |
|---|---|---|
| Website | White or light backgrounds and your main brand color | One bold accent color for buttons |
| Social post | One strong photo | A short headline and your logo |
| Flyer | Your brand colors and plenty of open space | The offer, in big contrasting type |
| Ad | The image that stops the scroll | The one line that says what to do next |
Notice the 30 percent is almost always where the action is. The button. The offer. The thing you want someone to do. That's on purpose.
Common Mistakes
- Using every brand color equally. If five colors all get 20 percent, nothing stands out and your design looks like a bag of Skittles.
- Making the accent too big. Once your accent color takes over half the page, it stops being an accent.
- Treating it like a math test. Nobody's measuring. If it looks balanced and the important part pops, you did it right.
- Forgetting contrast. Your accent needs to be different enough to notice, and text still needs to be easy to read.
A Quick Way To Check Your Design
Squint at it. Seriously. When the details blur, you should see one main color or shape doing most of the work and one or two spots that jump out. If those spots are your headline and your button, you're in good shape. If the thing that jumps out is the clip art in the corner, you've got some editing to do.
Then ask one question. What should the person looking at this do next? If the 30 percent points at that, the rule did its job.
Want Help With This?
If you want logos, ads, social graphics and print that look like one brand and point people to one next step, that is what we do. Take a look at our graphic design in West Palm Beach.