A document's order establishes a hierarchy of design objects' differing importance and encourages an sequential relationship among them. Design objects' relative sizes and placements are crucial to establishing order. For example, larger, more prominent design objects tend to carry greater informational weight. A common use sequence for documents is to begin in the top left and move to the bottom right (following the conventions of written English).

Order is often associated with the design principle of balance, although the two are not strictly in a direct relationship; an unbalanced document still may present a coherent order and a balanced document may not.