Balance

The state where a composition's weights stop arguing: nothing tips, nothing begs for company. Felt instantly, explained slowly.

Every element carries visual weight, by size, darkness, colour, texture, isolation, and balance is those weights resolved around the format's fulcrum. A small dark mark can hold an entire pale field; a large light shape can need rescuing. The mathematics is real but the instrument is the eye.

The working test is subtraction and squint: pull back until the layout is only masses, and feel where it leans. Imbalance announces itself as an itch to move something. Balance is not sameness, a deliberately unbalanced frame is a legitimate tool for unease, but like all dissonance it must be chosen, not incurred.