ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF

DESIGN
By David Packer
ELEMENTS
LINE

Horizontal, vertical, diagonal,

straight, curved, dotted, broken, This is line in nature and uses
thick, thin curved lines

This drawing uses thick curved lines

2D SHAPE

2D (two dimensional)
Flat Geometric (square, circle, This triangle is flat a
oval, triangle) geometric shape
Organic (all other shapes)

This leaf is an example of organic

2D shape
 3D FORM
This iconic image of
David Gilmour (God of
Guitar and all things 3D (Three Dimensional)
good) is an example of
organic 3D form Geometric (Cube, Sphere, Cone)
Organic (all other forms such as: people,
animals, tables, chairs, etc.)

This Rubix Cube uses geometric

squares
COLOUR

Refers to the wavelengths of This photo uses dark hue

light and short wavelengths to
Refers to hue (name), value get dark colour
(lightness/darkness), intensity
(saturation or amount of
pigment) and temperature
(warm and cool)
Relates to tint, tone and shade This picture uses bright hue and
long wavelengths to get its depth
of colour
 TEXTURE
The feel, appearance, thickness, or stickiness of a surface:
smooth, rough, silky, furry
The light in this image is coming from a high angle
This picture of laminated floorboards has a smooth
facing the floating rock, the texture of the surface is
texture
rough but mostly flat
 SPACE

This image uses The area around, within, or between

positive space to show images or parts of an image
the power lines
Relates to perspective
Positive and negative space

This photo uses dark

negative space to campaign
effectively against
domestic abuse
TONE

The darkness or lightness of a colour.

White added to a colour makes it shade

These two images use opposite tones to make

the one on the left make a lighter background and
darker man whereas the one on the left is the
opposite
PRINCIPLES
 PATTERN

A regular arrangement of alternated or

repeated elements (shapes, lines,
colours) or motifs

This picture uses This piece of wood has its

repetition in bricks to grains split into similar size
create a pattern pieces which creates a
pattern
 EMPHASIS
Special
attention/importance
given to one part of a This tree emphasizes the blue
work of art (for bits because of the huge
example: a dark shape contrast in colour
in a light composition)
Emphasis can be
achieved though
placement, contrast,
colour, size, repetition
This picture emphasizes the
Relates to focal point missing piece of the puzzle
with contrast
 CONTRAST
The juxtaposition of
a different elements
of design (for The light coming through
example: rough and the windows creates a focal
point because of the
smooth textures,
dramatic change in light
dark and light values)
in order to highlight
their differences
and/or create visual
interest or a focal
point This image creates a focal
point of the fan and
creates texture in the
ceiling
 The proportion of the size of
PROPORTION/SCALE the people makes the
mountain seem massive

The relationship between

objects with respect to size,
number and so on, including
the relation between parts of a
whole

The girl in the picture tricks your

eye by using a scale where the
other objects are much smaller
than her
 UNITY
The arrangement of
elements to give the
viewer the feeling that all
parts of the piece form a
coherent whole

These vegans are all white people which

shows they are all a whole because of their
similarities

These bricks are all similar and form a whole

 A / SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

This tunnel has line and tone which is reflects This building is asymmetric because it slopes to
on both sides of the tunnel and shows its its right and the windows have a different
symmetry pattern on the right hand side
A feeling of balance
results when the
elements of design are
arranged symmetrically
or asymmetrically to
create the impression of
equality in weight or
importance
 MOVEMENT

This graphic is of some

men mid step which
leads us to believe that The use of recurring elements This picture is obviously moving due to the woman's arms and legs
they are moving to direct the movement of the being aimed to move her body right
eye through the artwork.
There are five kinds of rhythm:
random, regular, alternating,
progressive and flowing.
The way the elements are
organized to lead the eye to
the focal area.
Movement can be directed,
for example: along edges and
by means of shape and colour
 DOMINANCE

The arrangement, positioning or scale of

the focal point of a design to provide little
chance for the viewer to see anything
beyond the principle object.
Creates a sense of power and is
unambiguous in trying to highlight a
certain focal point

Cassius clay is the bigger The sun in this picture

man and shows takes dominance
dominance by being because of how much
standing brighter it is than the rest
of the photo
COMPOSITION RULES
RULE OF THIRDS
The rule of thirds in this
photo is to put emphasis on
the main kid and in the other
third you can see another kid

The purpose of the rule of

thirds in this photo is to get
enough background into the
photo to see the setting

The castle falls on two

thirds and so does the
bench to give a
aesthetically pleasing
perspective on the objects
FORM OF CONTENT
(FRAMING)
This manmade frame
has been made from
bricks to emphasize
the dominance of the
castle
The natural wood in
this photo
emphasizes the focal
point which is the
seagull
These tree branches
shows the focal
point of the railway
clearly
GRID AND ALIGNMENT
The grid system provides vertical layout for a web design with either a 12
or 16 row column.

The primary benefit of using this system is that is allows for responsive
design whereby the finished web page can be viewed across platforms
devices and browsers
READING GRAVITY
F Type Gutenburg Z Type
FONT AND TYPEFACE Serif and Sans Serif