ELEMENTS OF DESIGN--The Rule of Thirds

Using a panel from the SU English Garden dsp collection, I put this card together using the rule of thirds. The floral dsp covers the top 2/3 of the card, while the slanted stripes and cardstock strips filled the bottom third.

When using the rule of thirds, the "sweet spots"  are where the (undrawn) vertical and horizontal lines meet. In this case, that would be where the flower and the greeting are placed.  I don't know why this works, but the use of thirds is more pleasing to the eye.  From left to right, your eye is drawn first to the flower and then to the greeting, a very logical progression.

An easy way to test this is to draw lines on a piece of vellum that you can see through when placed over a card.  This is a helpful way to make your cards look more balanced.