ELEMENTS OF PRINCIPLES AND DESIGN_ (3)

ELEMENTS AND KAMRYNE' MOTT
PRINCIPLES OF 4TH P
DESIGN

THE ELEMENTS OF ART ARE THE VISUAL TOOLS THAT THE
ARTIST USES TO CREATE A COMPOSITION.

THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

• The elements of design refer to the • The principles of design refer to how
basic building blocks of any the elements are used, like the
composition. Elements of design are symmetrical and asymmetrical balance,
what are used to create a composition pattern, emphasis, movement, and
(lines, shapes, value, etc.) proportion.

LINES • Line: An element of art used to define
shape, contours, and outlines; also to
suggest mass and volume. It may be a
continuous mark made on a surface
with a pointed tool or implied by the
edges of shapes and forms.

• Lines can be vertical, horizontal,
diagonal, or curved. They can be any
width or texture, and can be
continuous, implied, or broken.

SHAPES

• Shape: When a line crosses itself or
intersects with other lines to enclose
a space, it creates a shape. Shape is
two-dimensional and has height and
width, but no depth.

• Static Shapes - Shapes that appear
stable and resting.

• Dynamic Shapes - Shapes that
appear to be moving and active.

COLORS

• Color is another powerful element of
design. It can stand alone, act as a
background, or highlight other elements in
your design.

• Color is also a fantastic tool for creating
and establishing a mood for your brand.
For example, red typically signifies love,
strength, power, and desire; green
typically signifies tranquility, good luck,
and health.

• Hue refers to the name of the color. For
example, “red,” “blue,” and “green” are
all hues.

TYPOGRAPHY

• Typography is arguably the single most important
part of graphic, web, and user interface design.
Your text and how it looks isn’t just about
conveying a message; it can also convey a mood.

• For example, a Serif font like Times New Roman
(below on the right) tends to evoke a more
traditional and serious feeling, while a Sans Serif
font like Open Sans (below on the left) reads as
more modern.

TEXTURE

• Texture is the surface quality of an object.
A rock may be rough and jagged. A piece
of silk may be soft and smooth, and your
desk may feel hard and smooth.

• Texture that you feel with your fingers is
called tactile while texture that the artist
recreates on a flat surface is called visual
texture.

• The texture stimulates two different
senses: sight and touch. There are four
types of texture in art: actual, simulated,
abstract, and invented texture. Each is
described below.

SPACE

• Space refers to the area that a shape or form
occupies. It also refers to the background against
which we see the shape or form.

• The positive space of a design is the filled space
in the design—often it is the shapes that make
up the design. Negative space is the background.

• 3-D Space can be defined as the space over,
under, through, behind, and around a form.

PRINCIPLES OF
ELEMENTS

• The principles of art and design are
balance, contrast, emphasis,
movement, pattern, rhythm, and
unity/variety.

BALANCE

• A feeling of equality in weight, attention, or attraction of the various visual elements
within the pictorial field as a means of accomplishing organic unity.

• Ex: Symmetry: A form of balance achieved by the use of identical balance
compositional units on either side of a vertical axis within the picture plane.

• Approximate Symmetry: A form of balance achieved by the use of similarly balanced
compositional units on either side of a vertical axis within the picture plane.

EMPHASIS

• The principle of visual organization that
suggests that certain elements should
assume more importance than others in the
same composition. It contributes to organic
unity by emphasizing the fact that there is one
main feature and that other elements are
subordinate to it.

MOVEMENT

• Movement is the path our eyes follow when we look
at a work of art, and it is generally very important to
keep a viewer’s eyes engaged in the work. Without
movement, artwork becomes stagnant. A few good
strategies to evoke a sense of movement (among
many others) are using diagonal lines, placing
shapes so that the extend beyond the boundaries of
the picture plane, and using changing values.

VARIETY

• Variety is the complement to unity and
harmony, and is needed to create visual
interest. Without unity and harmony, an
image is chaotic and “unreadable;”
without variety it is dull and
uninteresting.

• Good design is achieved through the
balance of unity and variety; the
elements need to be alike enough so
we perceive them as belonging
together and different enough to be
interesting.

RHYTHM

• A continuance, a flow, or a feeling of movement
achieved by the repetition of regulated visual
information.

• Rhythm provides a path for the viewer's eye to
follow in an artwork. Lines, shapes, color,
brushstrokes, light, and space help the artist create
this visual tempo.

• Rhythm refers to the movement within a piece of art
that helps the eye travel through the to a point of
focus.

CONTRAST

• Contrast art refers to the arrangement of
opposite elements (light vs. dark colors, rough
vs. smooth textures, large vs. small shapes,
etc.)

• It is one of the principles of art which
refers to the striking difference between two
elements. For example, there is a strong
contrast when you place a vivid red next to a
dull green, or a rough texture next to a smooth
texture, or a hard edge next to a soft edge,
and so on.

REFERENCES https://www.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAABSf7QlIAA41_0Xfz1w==

• https://www.incredibleart.org/files/elements.htm
• https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/ui-design/6-elements-

design/#:~:text=Color%20is%20another%20powerful%20element,other%20elements%20in%20yo
ur%20design.&text=Hue%20refers%20to%20the%20name,or%20purity%20of%20the%20color.
• https://www.extension.iastate.edu/4hfiles/statefair/EEHandbook/EEHJPDesign4H634.pdf
• https://kidcourses.com/elements-design-
texture/#:~:text=Texture%20is%20an%20element%20of,surface%20is%20called%20visual%20tex
ture.&text=Artists%20utilize%20the%20absence%20of,diminishing%20size%2C%20to%20suggest
%20distance.
• https://thevirtualinstructor.com/space.html
• https://learn.leighcotnoir.com/artspeak/principles/
• https://drawpaintacademy.com/contrast/#:~:text=Contrast%20is%20everything%20in%20art.&text
=It%20is%20one%20of%20the,soft%20edge%2C%20and%20so%20on.