The rule of thirds? I don’t need no stinking rules.
I never thought I needed this silly rule of thirds to help me be a good graphic designer — I can be such a contrarian, crank old man.
For the non-designers in the group here’s a definition from some far-off corner of the inter-web: The rule of thirds means dividing up your image area into a 3×3 gird and then placing important design elements on one of those lines or at the intersection of those grid lines.
I have heard this for my entire career as a designer and have often thought that I was “above that silly rule.”
However, here is one place where we all could use this helpful advice: Use it to place ourselves in a frame during an online presentation or meeting.
Adjust your laptop or your camera so that your eyes align with that imaginary grid line one third down from the top of the frame.
This will get you away from that lumpy, frog-like appearance of peeking into the bottom of the frame that seems to be the current default in most remote offerings. You can center yourself left to right in the frame if you wish, but as long as you have your eyes on that top grid line you will be good.
If in doubt watch what they do on the 6 o’clock news. Then turn off the ****ing news – who needs all that gloom and doom?
That’s it from cranky…
Peace and love,
Tom
P.S. I coach people to present more better – either online or (if we ever do it again) in-person.
A free 45-minute discovery call can be all yours. We’ll talk. We’ll joke. We’ll see if we can help you get better when it’s time for you to get back in the game.
