Design Principles and Elements

One word, "DESIGN"

What is design? According to Oxford Dictionary, design can be defined as a realization of a into a pattern, drawing or model which will form a new image that has it's own meaning. In order to create an artwork, both elements and principles of design are used as it's foundation.The elements of design are things that would make up an artwork or design while the principles of designs act a principle on how a person decide on combining all suitable elements into one.

There are 6 elements of design which comprises of -

(i) Line :
It is an element which can be considered in two ways. How can we know when a line is formed? A line can normally be seen when the linear marks made by a pen, pencil or brush created after two shapes meet each other.

(ii) Shape :
A shape is seen as a self contained defined area of either geometric or organic that stands out boldly from the space surrounding it due to an implied boundary.

(iii) Direction :
Lines have a lot of direction which includes vertical, horizontal or oblique. Every direction of a line has it's own meaning. For instance, a vertical line expresses equality or balance, alertness and formality. On the other hand, a horizontal line shows calmness, tranquility and stability while an oblique line suggests an action and movement. Each element of direction brings an impact on creating and changing the mood of a painting.

(iv) Texture :
A texture act as an indicator that show the surface quality of a shape whether it has a smooth, rough, low or high glossy surface. Texture can be divided into two different parts called as the physical and visual texture. A physical texture happens when you can feel the real texture of a surface by using your bare hand while visual texture takes place when you have your own illusion of the physical texture of the surface based on the materials that are used.

(v) Colour :
The 12 colour Wheel or also known as the Colour Circle is an abstract illustrative organization of colour hues on a big wheel or circle that comprises of the primary, secondary and tertiary colours. Besides that, the colours that are situated outside the big wheel are known as saturated colours.

(vi) Value :
Value is the lightness or darkness of a colour which can be called as Tone. A tonal contrast can be seen by showing the differences between the light and dark areas in an artwork. A high attention of an area can be achieve by having a massive difference between both light and dark areas in the painting that would trigger the attraction force on it.

There are 5 design principles which comprises of -

(i) Balance :

Balance occurs when the components of the design appear to be the same or equal. This principle is similar to the balance concept in physics. For example,

BALANCE (John Lovett, 1999)

(ii) Rhythm : 
A good example of rhythm is repetition. Repetition is to create a sense of pattern or movement used in a  painting. There two types of repetition.
The first one would be repetition with variation which is interesting while the second one is called as repetition without variation which can result a monotonous sense.

REPETITION (John Lovett, 1999)

(iii) Contrast : 
Contrast can be defined as the juxtaposition of opposing elements. A good way to see contrast would be by using the opposite colours from the Colour Wheel such as red with green and yellow with purple.

CONTRAST (WILL KEMP, 2012)

(iv) Dominance :
The application of dominance principle creates an interesting atmosphere of the art, counteracting confusion and also monotony. This principle can be used one or more of the elements in order to give emphasis.

DOMINANCE (John Lovett, 1999)

(v) Unity :
Unity describes a relationship between both individual part and the whole part of the composition. Furthermore, this principle also gives the composition a sense of the wholeness or breaks it apart, in order to create a new sense of variety.