The Elements of Design

The eight elements of design are Point, Line, Shape, Direction, Size, Texture, Value, and Color. The seven Principles of Design are Contrast, Harmony, Unity, Balance, Gradiation, Repetition, Rhythm, and Dominance.

Understanding the Elements and Principles of Design gives you a way to discuss and understand design. As you use these elements and principles regularly, their use will become second-nature and your designs will automatically move to a higher level. I like to think of a karate practicioner, who practices the basic moves by drilling over and over until those movements are automatic; once the basics are mastered, more advanced movements are possible, as are completely new innovations that are only possible because of the mastery of the basics. When you research the Elements and Principles of Design, you will find different lists. This is my interpretation.

1. Point

A Point can be a dot or a series of dots that in itself creates or forms an image.

2. Line

There are three ways line can be formed in a design; first, as a continuous or broken line in the traditional sense; second, as the line that forms the edge of a (usually filled in) shape; and third as a side effect of points or other shapes that, in sum, suggest a line. The images above illustrate each of these cases. At upper left, continuous and broken lines describe shapes. In the middle, shapes define lines by their edges; note the box that becomes more pronounced and thus describes edges more clearly as the frames advance. On the right, a curved line (a spiral in this case) is described by an arrangement of dots, which becomes more evident as more dots are added to the pattern.

3. Shape

Shape is formed when a self-contained area is described. This can be organic, geometric, or a blend of the two. On a white background, a colored shape would be considered the positive shape, but the mere act of creating it also creates a negative shape around it. In some ways, shape can be considered silhouette, as the shape describes the silhouette of the form.

4. Direction

Direction can apply to points, lines (all three possibilities of lines), and shapes. If the imagery seems to flow horizontally, calmness is suggested. If the imagery seems to flow vertically, there is suggested a sense of balance, alertness, and formality. If the "lines" are oblique or angled, movement and action are suggested. Below, each of these possibilities is illustrated using lines.

5. Size

Size is the relationship of the area of different positive or negative shapes to one another.

6. Texture

Texture is the surface quality of the point, line, or shape. It can be rough, smooth, patterned, wavy, glossy, etc. Depending on the media, this can be two-dimensional only, or three-dimensional, or a blend.

7. Value

Value has to do with tonality - lightness, darkness, whether the image is black and white, shades of gray, or different values of color.

8. Color

Color is foundational to good design - to do justice to this subject will require a separate Theory & Principles page, but in a nutshell, color can primary (red, yellow, green) or secondary (green, orange, violet). Secondary colors are mixtures of the colors they lie between on a color wheel. Tertiary colors lie between primary colors and secondary colors (for example, yellow-orange lies between yellow and orange). See the pages on Color Theory for more information.

The Principles of Design

The seven Principles of Design are Contrast, Harmony, Unity, Balance, Gradiation, Repetition, Rhythm, and Dominance.

The principles of design are more overarching than the elements of design. Where the elements of design (points, lines, shapes, etc.) can be used to make up the content of the design, the principles speak to how they are arranged with respect to one another, and how all of the elements within the piece relate as a whole.

1. Contrast

Contrast is a juxtaposition of opposite elements such as tone or color. For example, you can have dark tones next to light tones, or red color next to red's opposite, green. This is an alternation of colors, tones, or shapes.

2. Harmony

Harmony can be achieved in a work by composing areas that have, for example, colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Another way to achieve harmony is in the stroke of lines and tonality of a work. A work of consistently low-contrast will be harmonious at least in tonality, though it may need an object of higher contrast that stands out against the background.

3. Unity

When a work has more than one element, connecting or relating the different elements to one-another in some way adds unity. For example, a trail or road might visually connect different elements in a landscape. Colors can also join different elements together, when they are near each other on the color wheel, as they eye and brain groups these things together to some degree.

4. Balance

It helps a composition balance itself if the work is not all crammed into one corner; consideration should be given to where you want the viewer's eye to go, in fact what path you want the viewer's eye to take. A river or road can wind through an image and draw the eye along it - balance dictates that if there is an interesting object on one side, there should be something on the other side of the work as well, perhaps smaller or less pronounced. It is with balance, perhaps more than any of the other principles of art, that good composition is achieved.

5. Gradiation

Gradiation is tonal variation; light to dark, dark to light, and color variation, from warm to cool and vice-versa. Generally with a darker the object on a white background, the eye will follow a change in tonality from light to dark. If the background is dark and the image is white, a gradual change in tonality will lead the eye from dark to light. The stronger the variation between the different neighboring elements, the more dynamic the image. The less variation there is in gradiation, the more static the image will appear. Gradiation can also be used to suggest three- dimensional form, causing the image to seem more real and substantial. Gradiation can be applied procedurally via a three-dimensional modeling package, or hand-drawn in a two-dimensional editing solution such as Photoshop or Illustrator.

6. Repetition

Repetition is used to draw the eye along a path, as in the repetitive pattern of a picket fence or the repetitive pattern of barbs on barb wire. Repetition can give a work a sense of motion. Size can be combined with repetition to show distance, as in the case of telephone poles or trees along a road in a landscape.

7. Rhythm

Here we separate out Rhythm from Repetition where some combine them - to us, rhythm is an entirely separate principle, where the artist or designer is arranging the regularity or pattern of the repetition much like a drummer arranges beats on various drums to establish the rhythm of a song. Many dots, closely spaced, can be analogous to eighth-notes, played by a bassist. Fewer dots with more space between them might be quarter-notes. Varying the rhythm of the elements of the design can serve to add interest and direct the eye.

8. Dominance

If there is a genericness in the image, where all the shapes and colors are similar, there will be no sense of dominance. If have a light blue background and add a big red ball to the picture, now you have added a dominant element. Color and size can give a shape dominance, as can a difference in the tonality of the shape and even the types of lines with which it is created.