To be able to create beautiful visual designs, you must first learn about the elements and principles in designing. What are design elements and principles? Elements refer to the basic units of a design, while design principles comprise the structural characteristics of the design’s composition. Both elements and principles are applied to all disciplines of visual designs, they may even sometimes overlap. There are many fields of visual design, to wit, fine arts, graphic design, architecture, industrial design, among others.
A design is basically a structured display of various design elements and principles. It is made in such a way as to serve an intention.
There is a wide variety of design principles. They largely depend both on the beliefs of the individual designers, and the many points of view of different art groups.
Design Elements
Let us first learn about the design elements.
- Space
Space alludes to the part you will use for your design. Space could be two dimensional- that is with a height and width; or three dimensional with a height, width and length. It also involves a foreground space, middle ground space and a background space. It could also mean areas or distances within, between and around components of a piece.
Space is of two types: positive and negative. The space that holds the subject is called the positive space. While the space between and around the subject is the negative space.
- Line
Line as a design element refers to any unbroken movement of a point on a surface. For example, a brush or pencil stroke that forms the edges of shapes. Without lines and curves you cannot create the forms and shapes for your design.
There are different kinds of lines such as horizontal, vertical, curve, zigzag, diagonal, wavy, dash, parallel and dotted lines. Each line is characterized by its thickness, length and direction.
- Color
Colors are grouped into primary, secondary or tertiary. Colors on opposite sides of the color wheel are called complementary colors. These are usually employed when you want to create contrast in your design. If the colors are adjacent to each other on the color wheel, they are referred to as analogous colors. These are useful in making harmony. Monochromatic colors, meanwhile, are different hues of one color. Red, yellow and orange shades are classified as warm colors. Cool colors, on the other hand, are shades of blue, green and purple.
You can see colors by light bouncing off of a surface or by using light sources with colors. You may use color, specifically contrasting color, to put focus on a particular point in the design.
- Shape
Shape is basically a space that stands apart from its surroundings due to a boundary set around it. This boundary could be explicit or implied. Boundary could be made by drawing lines or curves, of by contrasting colors, texture and value. Shapes can be organic or geometric.
In design, shapes can be used to define perspective by overlapping them. Shapes in interior design and house décor are used to define the style, theme and interest. It really depends on the function of the object. Natural shapes such as wood and stone patterns improve the visual appeal in interior design and decorating. In landscaping, natural shapes like trees can be used in contrast to geometric shapes like houses.
- Texture
Texture refers to the quality of the surface. There are two kinds of texture in art- tactile texture and implied texture. Tactile, or real, texture refers to the actual feel of the surface. Real texture can be felt on rock, fur, tree bark, cotton, sand paper and the like. Implied texture, on the other hand, alludes to how the surface seems to feel, visually. This kind of texture is employed by artists in their drawings or paintings. They can create objects that look like rough, gritty, fizzy, even if they cannot be actually felt.
- Form
Form refers to any object that has length, width and depth. The dimensions of a form are measurable. A form can be organic (a.k.a. natural), or geometric (a.k.a man-made). You can make a form by joining at least 2 shapes. Forms can be constructed into 3D creations or they could be drawn. Forms can be modified using color, tone and texture.
- Value
Value is also known as tone. It refers to the balance or contrast of dark and light on an object or surface. It enhances form as it provides depth and perception to the object.
Principles of Design
The principles of design administer all the elements used in an art work. They put to order the composition of the work. A good visual design is able to achieve the artist’s intent with the use of both design elements and principles. There is no set of guidelines or rules in using them. The right combination of elements and principles depends on the artist’s purpose.
The following are the design principles:
- Unity
Unity renders the work complete and unified. It refers to a feeling that everything in it are truly in their right places. By using repetition, harmony and/or balance, you can achieve unity.
- Contrast
Contrast makes use of opposing elements, such as size, value, color and others. It is important in drawing attention to a focal point in your work. It adds interest.
- Variety
Variety, or alternation, utilizes different elements to create distinctiveness and fascination. In interior design, variety is applied to prevent monotony. For example, by placing a painting on a wall or adding color to a house décor to enhance beauty.
- Emphasis
This is also referred to as dominance or focal point. Emphasis guides the viewer toward and out of an image. This is accomplished with the use of varying levels of focal points, such as primary, secondary, tertiary focal points, and so on. Emphasis, thus, means not giving all objects in a work the same treatment. One object is more dominant than the rest. You can give more emphasis to an object by any of the following: putting it in the foreground, increasing its size, making it more intricate or sophisticated, and others. Emphasis makes the art work more organized and gives it direction. Remember, the biggest emphasis should be given to the primary focal point in a design.
- Balance
Balance gives the art work a feeling that the dominant focal points are not placed in any one part of the work. You could employ symmetrical balance, asymmetrical balance or radial balance. Balance in a design could be accomplished by strategic placing of things, varying sizes and volumes of objects, and different colors. You can balance bold colors by adding lighter, neutral colors. While light colors can be balanced off by dark colors.
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