The Elements and Principles of Design

The ELEMENTS of Design… Are the basic building blocks we use to create art. They are:  Line  Shape  Value  Texture  Color

 Like the ingredients in a recipe, these elements, when combined together in a pleasing way, can make an image, a sculpture, or other form of art attractive to the viewer. Like different combinations of the letters of the alphabet in writing, different arrangements of the Elements of Design communicate different things to the viewer. A good artist learns to use these elements effectively in order to communicate what he or she would like to “say” to his or her audience.

The PRINCIPLES of Design…  Are the guidelines that help us to arrange the Elements in an effective way. Just as following the instruction portion of a recipe or rules of grammar and composition can allow us to make good food and literature, following these principles usually allows us to create the most pleasing and attractive artwork.  Artists first learned about the Principles of Design from nature – the handiwork of the Great Creator. Since they are eternal in nature, the Principles of Design can be found in effective examples of creation all around us.

The PRINCIPLES of Design… Are general rules or guidelines that have been tried and proven to help artists create successful work. However, as with any rule, it’s important to remember that there are exceptions, and that effective visual communication happens in some instances even when the rules are broken.

The PRINCIPLES of Design…  Are numerous. In order to be concise, we will only deal with a few here. Some of the most important principles include:  Dominance/Subordinance  Repetition/Variation  Focal Point or Area  Balance

Dominance/Subordination  When arranging the elements of design in your artwork, your capacity to communicate visually will increase when you make some lines, shapes, values, textures, and colors dominant (more important) and others subordinate (less important). This creates clarity for the viewer, who will appreciate not having to look at everything at once.  Dominant/subordinate can also mean “bigger/smaller,” “more/less,” “longer/shorter,” etc. Used in this way, dominance and subordination can provide variation that will make your piece of artwork more interesting.

The dominant colors in this leaf are red and yellow; the subordinate color is green.

Because of contrast and the active shapes of the tree in this photo, the trunk and branches are dominant, and the leaves are subordinate.

This composition could have been made more interesting by the use of the principle Dominance and Subordination.

The spaces on the left side are almost equal. Same, same, same = boring, boring, boring. same

The right side is divided almost equally. same

The right side is divided almost equally. same

Using Dominance/Subordination improves the composition of this picture.

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Using Dominance/Subordination improves the composition of this picture. dominant subordinate

Using Dominance/Subordination improves the composition of this picture. subordinate dominant

Repetition/Variation  Repetition creates harmony and unity within an artwork.  Variation creates interest.  Repetition with Variation can allow you to create something that is both interesting to look at and cohesive. Without repetition, the elements you use in your piece won’t relate to each other, and will seem out of place. Without any variation, your piece will be monotonous and boring, like an entire song played using only one note.

 Suppose you are commissioned to do a still- life painting, and are only allowed to use the objects given to you by the patron. She sends a box filled with crates of orange spherical objects - mostly fruits of various sizes. It’s now your job to arrange the objects in a way that will make a good composition, so you can paint it.

The first crate contains a set of golf balls. In the crate, they are arranged with repetition, but not variation. You could just paint them like this, but decide to add some variation since your patron is a paying customer, and a decent person.

After unpacking all of the objects, you arrange this setup with the fruit, and it’s looking pretty good. Since all of the objects are round and orange, there is a natural repetition of shape and color, and now you’ve introduced variation of size and placement.

But then, fortunately for you, before you begin painting you have an even better idea…

Voila! This may be your best composition so far. You have a dominant and a subordinate orange by size. Orange is the dominant color, and now you have a subordinate color – green.

The round curve of the orange in front is repeated in the curve of the orange behind, and in the shapes of the leaves. There is variation in the placement of the leaves, and in the oranges, since one of them has been cut and one has not.

Focal Point or Area  As an artist, you have the power to direct the viewer’s eye to the place you would like him or her to look first, second, third, etc. You can do this by creating areas of greater and lesser contrast within your art. The human eye goes to the area of greatest contrast first. This contrast can be a contrast of value, color, texture, etc. It can also include contrast of multiple elements at once.

In this image, the dark value of the bee’s head against the lighter value of the surrounding petals creates a clear focal point by value contrast.

This is also the only place in the picture where there is black or yellow, which creates color contrast with the surrounding blue and blue-violet.

The contrast of hard and soft edges helps to make the bee’s head the focal point.

We look at the hardest edge first.

Then the second hardest...

…and so on…

…to the softest edge.

By control of the contrast in this image, a path is created for the viewer to follow. It leads back to the focal point and keeps us looking at the picture

Balance  An interesting thing happens when you put elements into your artwork. Each focal point or focal area you create will appear to have some amount of “visual weight.”

 Unless you are trying to say something specific by having an unbalanced image, it’s a good idea to make your artwork balanced by creating roughly the same amount of visual weight on the left half as on the right half of your composition. If your design has a focal point on the far right side but nothing on the left side, we might say your design is too “heavy” on the right.

 Let’s try an experiment that offers a very simplified way of seeing this.

In this picture, where do you look first?

Two focal areas are created by the value contrast, intense color, and hard edges of the orange trees.

The first or primary focal point demands our attention because it’s the largest of the two.

The secondary focal point draws our attention next.

Now for the visual weight part…

Suppose we hang actual weights from the center of each focal area… Suppose we imagine that there are actual weights hanging from the center of each focal area…

Suppose we hang actual weights from the center of each focal area… Suppose we imagine that there are actual weights hanging from the center of each focal area… …and that the picture is placed on a fulcrum.

Hmm… not balanced.

What if we added a third focal area?

This focal area needs to be subordinate to the other two so we don’t have to look everywhere at once. So it has less contrast, less color saturation, and softer edges.

Suppose we hang actual weights from the center of each focal area… Suppose we imagine that there are actual weights hanging from the center of each focal area… However, it also needs to draw just enough attention - visual weight- to balance the picture.

Now you have a balanced composition.

You can apply the Principles of Design in an infinite number of ways, each time creating a new and unique piece of art. Have fun, and good luck!