The elements and principles of design are two distinct categories of theories, building blocks and practices that make up the discipline of design. They give us a common language so that we can effectively discuss and critique designs. They also aid us in the design process because the principles and elements of design give us a guide or a standard to reference when we feel our design is lacking.
I have a sticky note that I keep tacked up next to my monitor that lists the elements and principles and two questions:
- How do each affect the mood?
- How do each contribute to the message and the delivery of that message?
My goal is to think about each of the elements of design and each of the principles of design every time I create a new piece. Every project is a new opportunity to learn to use them more effectively. I also use these elements and principles to dissect good design so that I can improve my own skills.
The Elements
We’ve talked about the elements quite often on Creative Curio. The elements of design are color, line, scale (size), shape, space, texture and value.
The Principles
The principles of design are balance, contrast, direction, economy, emphasis, proportion, rhythm (repetition) and unity (harmony).
Why Two Categories?
The principles are principles because they can involve all the elements and are dependent on other principles as well.
For example, you can balance a large “empty” area (space) with a small (scale/size), dark (value) shape. Similar balance in multiple parts of a piece creates unity and rhythm. Principles are not exclusive like elements.
Many people put contrast as an element, but I group it into the principle category because you can have contrast with any of the elements, not just with value (which is usually the first thing that comes to mind). Contrast with color would be red and yellow. Contrast with line would be thick vs. thin, and so on.
For this next series focusing on the Principles of Design, I will present examples and talk about how you can use each of these elements to improve your designs.
I stumbled upon your blog from Brian Gardner’s comments section … thought it was so awesome that you were keeping that positive vibe alive … great to read
And what a surprise when I landed here! It just looks … uhmmm … beautiful! I can only imagine … no wait … I can’t how much work and effort went into creating such an aesthetic site … it really are the details that count … love the splashes of color … ESPECIALLY when someone leaves a comment … sorry I am just leaving this comment so I can see my name with the splash of color above the top … hehe.
I am not so much into graphic design … can I say that here … more into photography (just starting … as in weeks not years), but i still found myself snooping through your site … all very exciting … not used to so much eye candy … and there is just so much positivity riveting through your posts … and your comments … kuddos to a job very well done!
Your list of 103 has inspired me to do something similar … but this could take some time
Brilliant!
Keep up the good work and keeping the positive vibe alive!
Mark,
Wow, thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed my blog. Feel free to look around as much as you like and if you ever do get the itch for more graphic design goodness, stop by again! Any questions, also feel free to ask away!
More years ago than I care to count, when I had just begun rudimentary design on my first Macintosh and before email and the Internet, I used to spend Sunday morning going thru the NY Times and Newsday, answering every ad that could remotely put me in contact with anyone who might be able to use a computer artist/desktop publisher, etc.
I worked on flyers, resumés, and the occasional brochure back then, not having discovered the book design/layout market (even tho’ I’d been a proofreader for years before that).
One winter afternoon, I got a phone call at my day job. I’d put my day job phone number in the cover letter I’d sent to a local ad agency with my resumé. This was also a time when it was hell trying to find places willing to let me work in my own studio on my own equipment. No one wanted to hear the advantages of not having to pay social security and provide computer space for an employee.
Anyway, the voice on the phone complimented me on the work samples I sent, lauding in particular my “use of negative space.” I remember looking into the glass of the window next to my day job desk. It was winter, dark outside, so i could see my reflection as if I were looking into a mirror. I grinned, pointed at myself, and mouthed the words “your use of negative space” to my reflection.
Then I said into the phone, “Yes, well, I believe that the negative is what gives the positive its power.”
Steve,
That is a great quote! So that phone call was the start of it all for you, eh?
Not quite the real start. That came when an ex-girlfriend who remained a good friend told me that a book production service where she was proofreading was looking for a freelance layout artist. This was my break. I contacted this place, a local, and did layout on 8 or 10 books over 2+ years.
During this time, I was just becoming aware of the Internet and email. I started scouring newspapers online and whatever jobs boards for creatives I could find. My second break came when I answered a job posting on the great, but—sadly—long defunct Freelancers Online.
A Florida publisher of science journals needed a freelance layout artist. I emailed them with my resume and got back an answer that began, “Steve, is this you,” from an old friend who’d relocated to Florida when her husband retired. The friend, a woman who had worked at the same typesetter I proofread at, had also been my tea leaf reader for a number of years, after we met at an astrology class I was teaching in or around 1975.
The science journal work gave me my first taste of typesetting math, equations, and heavy tabular material.
Don’t underestimate the value of luck, by the way, when it comes to breaking in as a freelancer.
Stephen, that is an awesome story. I keep hoping the same thing will happen to me someday. In regards to this post I find it interesting how digital photography has aided me as a designer, because you have to apply the same principals in setting up a shot as you would in setting up a drawing.
Here’s the thing, Doug … You have to keep working at good luck finding you. You need to be focused on getting yourself to the right place—wherever it may turn out to be—at the right time.
I appreciate your likening of digital photography to design. Much of visual creativity obviously requires the same sense of sight.
Steve,
I think I remember you talking about your friend from FL… I think it was on your blog. That luck you’re talking about entails getting your information and person in front of as many people as possible. It can be a lot of hard work, and sometimes it’s easier for some than others.
Doug,
I think photography would help me in design composition, too. I would like to take a class on it. I love seeing those shots that are not of anything all that exciting (like a window in a brick building), but are composed so perfectly that you just can’t tear your eyes away!
Good point about contrast. I’ve even heard of fonts being described as high contrast because of the varied line widths.
“Don’t underestimate the value of luck, by the way, when it comes to breaking in as a freelancer.”
Or friends? I’ve always enjoyed the jobs that I got through friends more than ones that I’ve applied for out of the blue.
Kris,
I’ve heard that, too, about the fonts.
Kris/LaurenMarie, that leads into how typographers talk about “the color” of a page of type, referring to the way a more solid page of type is “blacker”.
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