It can seem as though professional artists and designers have an instinctive understanding of where to position elements on a screen. But these capabilities don't appear out of nowhere—many designers develop these skills by studying graphic design at art college or university. The principles that are taught in these schools have been developed over centuries, and they offer a fairly foolproof set of methods. Self-taught designers often spend too much time experimenting with the placement of elements on screens, using a trial and error approach to design that can be slow and unproductive.