Adding contrast to a design makes it shine With every design, there are rules to follow. This includes the tone or contrast of the piece. Imagine the uniform gray of a formal report, a government document or a technical paper. Compare that with an annual report for a toy company or a press kit for an improvisational comedy troupe. Those projects would invoke images of large headlines and big graphics instead of text-heavy pages that look formal, legal or dry.
Contrast is the balance of the space given to graphics, text and white space.
Using these three elements, a designer can create attractive designs by playing them off of each other or balancing the items to draw the reader's attention. For example, trendy fashion magazines have a lot of contrast. Big graphics and photos offset by large headlines and judicious use of white space boldly draw attention to the different elements. This creates the edgy visual tension trendy fashion magazines want to have. Compare that with a legal document.