Ancillary Product Research - Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a rule which states that an off-centre point of interest is more pleasing to the eye than if it was in the middle of the field of view. This is done by placing two horizontal lines and two vertical lines across the frame, creating nine equal size boxes. The rule states that if a point of interest is on one of the lines then it is more pleasing to the eye than if it was elsewhere, for example:

In the picture above the statue of liberty is lined up over the right side vertical line and the horizon is lined up over the lower horizontal line.

Positioning of information on a poster advert or magazine page can be aided by the Rule of Thirds. The place where the lines cross is called hotspots. Hotspots are areas where the audience looks more than most other areas, so these are the areas to put the most important information or images.

A good example of a poster using the rule of thirds is shown below.

It has positioned the main focus (in this case the firing target) over all of the four hotspots, with the centre of the main focus being in the middle of all of the hotspots. The red line indicates the general path of view of the audience. This can be important when placing important information such as titles, names, or in the case of my ancillary products, the title song.