Elements & Principles Of Design

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

BY: DESTINY WORTHY

LINES

A type of art that is utilized to define shape, contours, and outlines. Any EXAMPLES:
width, size, shape, location, direction, interval, or density can be used.  Grids
TYPES OF LINES:
 Outlines- Created by an object's edge or silhouette.  Dotted lines on
 Contour Lines- Describe object's contour and internal detail. road
 Gesture Lines- Movement and gestures of a moving figure.
 Sketch Lines- Depict appearance of an object or a place's impression.  Horizontal mark
 Implied Line- Created by a group of objects seen from a distance. drawn on a piece of
paper.

Click Here To Learn More...

COLORS

Visual feature created when light strikes an item and reflects back to the eye. Helps to evoke emotions and establish a mood
behind the design. Color is a three-dimensional art element with three properties: hue, value, and intensity.
• Hue: Color name
• Value: The lightness/darkness of a hue
• Intensity: The brightness & purity of a color
Examples:
Red symbolizes love, strength, and power
Orange symbolizes joy, heat, and enthusiasm
Yellow symbolizes happiness, warmth and sunshine
Green symbolizes tranquility, good luck, and health.
Blue symbolizes freedom, intuition, and imagination
Purple symbolizes wisdom, Bravery, and Spirituality

Click Here To Learn More...

SHAPE

Formed when a line crosses itself or connects with other lines to enclose a space.
No depth, it is two-dimensional with height and width. Can also be a three-
dimensional object with a definite or suggested border that distinguishes it from the
space around it.

Types of Shapes: Examples:

 Geometric Shapes – Seen in architecture and manufactured items.  Geometric Shapes: Triangle, Square, and Circle
Organic Shapes: Leaves, seashells, and flowers
 Organic Shapes -We see them in nature and they have free flowing, informal and 
irregular characteristics. Positive Shapes

Negative Shapes
 Positive Shapes - In a drawing or painting, positive shapes are the solid forms  Static Shapes

(positive space) in a design such as a bowl of fruit. In a sculpture  Dynamic Shapes
 Negative Shapes - The space around the positive shape is negative space.

 Static Shapes - Shapes that appear stable and resting.

 Dynamic Shapes - Shapes that appear to be moving and active

Click Here To Learn More...

SPACE

Element of art, refers to the emptiness or area between, around, above, below, or within objects. space is found in
nearly every piece of art created.
Examples:
 If you were to place an image on a page, the area that does not contain the image would constitute space.
 There are two main types of space in art: positive and negative.
 Positive space: refers to a focal point in a work of art, such as trees in a landscape, a person in a portrait, or a

bowl or piece of fruit in a still life.
 Negative space: refers to the area around and between objects, not the object itself.

Click Here To Learn More...

TEXTURE

Uses our sense of touch to elicit feelings of pleasure, discomfort, or familiarity. It can relate to the
visual "feel" of a. Visual texture is two-dimensional because it lacks actual depth.Tactile texture is
three-dimensional because it has height, width and depth.
Examples:
 Natural texture : wood, sandpaper, canvas, rocks, glass, granite, metal,
 Brush strokes create a textured surface that can be felt and seen.
 Some textures include: rough, hard, liquid, solid, wet, bumpy, fuzzy, sticky, dusty, sharp, rough,

gritty, soft, lumpy.

Click Here To Learn More...

VALUE

The contrast between light and dark in a photograph. Formed when a light source shines on an item, causing
highlights and shadows to appear.
Examples:
 The lightest value is white, while the darkest value is black.
 All other colors have value and fall into the light-to-dark spectrum.
 Yellow has a relative light value
 Purple has a relative dark value
 Use when trying to show emphasis on specific parts of the work.

Click Here To Learn More...

BALANCE

 Visual weight of objects, colors, texture, & space

Examples:
 line down the center of paper
 Cut a cookie in half
Click Here To Learn More...

UNITY

 adds order to a composition
 helps us see a number of separate parts.
 relationship between the different elements
EXAMPLES:
 2 different colors that complement well
 the same color for 2 different buttons

Click Here To Learn More...

RHYTHM

 When elements are repeated
 Create a feeling of organized movement
 Creates a mood like music or dancing.
EXAMPLES:
 slant in the trees that are repeated
 angle of the lines & change in color
 the pattern in this afghan

Click Here To Learn More...

CONTRAST

 Arrangement of opposite elements and effects
 Difference of elements in a composition

EXAMPLES:
 black and white
 big and small
 fast and slow
 thick and thin

Click HereTo Learn More...

PROPORTION

 relationship of one part of design & another
 a comparison of sizes, shapes, and quantities
EXAMPLES:
 eye should be smaller than a face
 male's shoulders should be wider than hips
 dog should be scaled to a person.

Click Here To Learn More...

EMPHASIS

 Creating a center of interest.
 Artists’ focal point in their work.
EXAMPLE:
 Eye is drawn right to his shirt
 Red will stand out against gray background

Click Here To Learn More...