Take a second and stop what you are doing. Look around you. What is your relation to the objects and people in your current place? Perhaps you are sitting very closely to some cute person in a coffee shop reading this. Perhaps you are far away from a larger grouping or people. Or perhaps you are alone in a quiet work space with multiple objects scattered across your desk. Whatever the case may be, it is important to see those relations in reality and then how they apply in your art.
With the cute person in the coffee shop maybe your relation is attraction, much like two objects aligned closely in one space. Or on the flip side it could be that you are not attracted to them and in fact are keeping a distance sitting next to them which would be repelling. It is merely impossible to make a piece of art and not take into consideration the relationship each part shares with one another. The piece could be symmetrical or asymmetrical. It could have complete organization in a structure or be composed in a diffused grid. It all depends on the relation you want the given objects to have within that piece. Take a step back and recognize what those relations are communicating.
Looking at the amount of negative and positive space can tell you what kind of balance the piece has. Another way is to look at the visual weight of things. Having a huge, black smartphone in the hands of a very small person wearing pink can communicate something much different than if it were flip flopped. It is also important to recognize when you want to make something neutral in a space. This can be helpful when creating a sense of foreground and background. There needs to be some neutrality so objects are not competing.
Recognizing why something is where it is and what that is communicating to the viewer is what makes a good design. If we did not do this there would be a lot of unnecessary confusion.
This graphic of two coffee mugs shows the clear relationship between foreground and background. The white coffee mug is smaller and placed directly behind the larger black one.
https://www.vandelaydesign.com/graphic-design-talented-designers/
Here is an example of graphic design using asymmetry while still maintaining a balance of negative and positive space.
https://cre8fiu.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/symmetryasymmetry-9/
These various logos are a great example of the effectiveness of symmetry. They are easily identifiable.
https://logoblink.com/few-symmetrical-logos/
This social justice poster is a perfect example of how objects equally repel eachother for an overall sense of balance.
Book Credit:
Leborg, Christian. Visual Grammar. Princeton Architectural Press, 2006
Haley Locke 