What is Repetition in Graphic Design?
Repetition is a design principle in graphic design that essentially comes down to repeating elements on a page. These repeated elements can be used to add emphasis or consistency on certain areas, or even just to make the graphic look nicer.
Repetition is mainly used to make your design more consistent and easy to understand. The most common examples of repetition are overlooked like how paragraphs and headings, or a defined color scheme used throughout a design.
Examples of Repetition
Repetition can be taken much further than consistent text and colors in a design. Repetition can be used to add depth and creative flare to your design while utilizing unused space. Here are 30 examples of repetition in graphic design:
#1: Summer Rocks
Here’s a poster for a Summer Music Festival. The poster uses repetition and repeats “SUMMER ROCKS” to steal the viewer’s attention to the post and build hype around the festival.
What makes this example of repetition great is that it can come in hand when you have little content and graphic elements to work with.
#2: Resume
In this example repetition is used in the resumes headers to make them stand out while being uniform and consistent.
The resume also uses repetition in its square bullet points used both underneath the headings and for a way to represent values in the skills section.
#3: We Insure Quality
In this brochure example, there are small similarily styled blocks methodically placed around the brochure to give it both more detail and character.
This example of repetition is very easy to implement in your own design as you can easily turn the blocks into whatever shape fits your design.
#4: Happy New Year
This package design uses a pattern of repeated shapes to make a clean design on each side of the box. You can take this design further by using icons to match the theme of your design,
If you are going for minimal, using shapes like this is an easy way to give some extra whitespace some chactacter using repetition.
#5: Boston
This design uses the “O” part of the logo and repeats it to get the reader’s attention used from the “Boston” logo.
If your logo has an aspect of it that can be repeated, this is another great way to introduce repetition into your design while making your logo more included.
#6: Wave
This example of repetition can only work in some cases where there aren’t a lot of elements in design otherwise this step and repeat pattern will become too busy and distracting.
#7: Healthy Life Wherever Anytime
This landing page design does a good job of filling in some whitespace with the use of repetition. The shapes in this graphic come in two types, the 3 lines on top of each other and the freeform eggplant shape.
The freeform shape is used multiple times but reflected or rotated at times to fit the area its in.
#8: Modern Style
This poster design uses more repeated type to amplify the impact of the words in the graphic.
This repetition example works if your design is not trying to be informational by having very little text content in your graphic.
#9: Alpha Corp.
This magazine style design uses methodically places red “+’s” (plus’s) on the page taken from the logo to continue and repeat the branding throughout the design.
It works really well for this symbol because the logo is simple and minimal to begin with, if you have a more busy text-based logo then this example of repetition can make your design look too distracting and busy.
#10: Space Party
This design does a repetitive type a little differently. It starts by using the type as a visual element (opposed to informational) due to it being covered up and off the page, and then it repeats the type again at the bottom fully readable on the page.
If you want to implement this example into your own design, be sure to make sure the second use of the type is clearly legible.
#11: Volleyball Team
This design uses repeated volleyball icons to fill the negative space in the background.
This technique can be most benefitted from when you have little content to work with in your design.
#12: Baby Shower
This baby shower poster has repeating decorative lines on the sides.
This pattern can work both vertically with portrait style designs and horizontally with landscape style designs.
#13: Happy Birthday
In this example, repetition is used with the dots to add color and excitement to the design.
Depending on the shape and color of the repeated shapes, you can set a different tone or mood.
#14: The Annual Spring Bake Sale
Here shapes are used at the top and bottom of the bake sale invitation to get peoples attention.
Though it not might have been the intentions of the original designer of this invitation, the shapes could have been intended to represent the bake sale tables and isles which would give the shapes meaning rather than being arbitrary.
#15: Best. Night. Ever.
This repetition example uses boxes with game-related symbols in them to give a theme to the design.
This example of repetition can be done yourself by simply laying out some shapes around your graphics and then picking some small icons to put inside them.
#16: Happy Valentines Day
In this card design a grid of repeating hearts is used to both catch attention and convey meaning.
#17: Art Fair
This art fair poster design uses asymmetrical typography layout the details of the event.
It tells a story by ordering the information in a chronological order that make sense for the user when reading it.
#18: Reach Out With Alec
This example uses single letters to bring attention to the headings and information in the right-side column.
Though in this example its for spelling out and explaining an acronym, this can be used with using the starting of each headings letter without having an acronym.
#19: Surf Training
In this example the X symbol is repeated across the top and bottom of the design to attract attention and eyes.
A simple but effective use of repetition in a poster design.
#20: When to use a mask
This example repeats the word “When” 3 times for a greater symbolic effect.
This can mimic with other words related around the meaning of your design to make the meaning more impactful.
#21: Beechtown Branch
This is a carwash flyer that uses cars at the bottom to better depict what the flyer is about. This flyer could have done a better job by making sure the repeated icons at the bottom had something to do with the car wash itself, but its still an effective use of repetition.
#22: Yankee Swap
Another simple use of repetition to match the text with a visual.
#23: Birthday Card
15 repeated birthday candles for Jennifer’s 15th birthday invitation. This is simple yet effective idea for birthday cards, except for grandmas 104th birthday…
#24: Lead Now. Learn How.
This design uses repeated lines behind the primary text to bring more attention toward it. Simple but effective.
#25: Trailer Movie Night
Similar to the car wash example, this design uses a pattern of tickets to make it more movie themed.
This designs layout can easily be mimicked for almost any topic or theme.
#26: Chess Day
This fun example uses repetition as a chess grid to provide a more visual way of knowing that the invitation is about.
#27: Easy Peasy Banana Bread
There’s quite a lot of repetition being used in this example. First, the obvious grid of pluses (“+”), next the typography laid out asymmetrically, and then the boxes of information at the bottom.
Try not to recreate the pluses grid with a more complex shape or the design will look to busy and distracting, but a shape as simple as a plus can work.
#28: Burgers & Brew
This example has burgers aligned along the left to catch peoples eyes and attention. This design could have been taken further with a representation of the “brew”, but the repeated burgers provide enough interest to make the poster look attractive.
#29: Turn off the light
This brilliant example of repetition enforced the main idea of the graphic (to turn off the lights) by showing all the light bulbs but one turned off (represented in gray vs the white).
This particular example of repetition might hard to replicate, but if you can pull it off for your design’s theme you could really make an impactful design.
#30: Pizza Party
Here’s a basic example of repetition to catch the eye. You see pizza, you want to read the invitation. Why? Because everyone loves pizza.
