Elements Of Design

Design is an intricate, fun, and exciting business. There's a lot to learn, do, and consider when you're a designer. Technology is constantly evolving and new trends are coming at you rapid fire. It's what makes design exciting. T We're going to explore how a dot, line, shape, form, tone, texture, color, and text are the basic building blocks of art and design. Understand these elements and you'll understand how art and design are fundamentally made. So we'll begin with the simplest of the simple, the dot. A dot is a dot. In design you might call it a point. A dot can't be anyt T Now we're looking at a whole scenario. Is it dramatic? Are they awkwardly touc All of a sudden we have design decisions to make. What if we try to connect the dot? That's exactly where we A line can be defined as a linear mark. It might be wavy to create a sense of movement. Or maybe it'straight, w Lines are everywhere. Even in the word line itself. We can place lines strategically to lead eyes toward a focal point. T We call these leading lines. And they control the way viewers look at our entire design. Here, the designer has positioned lines in a zigzag arrangement. What do you first notice in t And where do your eyes want to move to next? You can't help but follow the line, can you? Other contrasting lines also help your design stand out. Take a look at how these outline illustrations use w Now we're going to show you how a series of lines can come together to create a shape. When a line comes full circle, you get, well, a circle. That's a type of shape. Remember the outlined illustration? Those lines were curved and connected to create two-dimensional shapes. A 2D shape is a flat object with no depth. Those outline shapes represented familiar objects, such as a lighthouse, camera, and torch. But a shape can also be simpler than a lighthouse. Even a basic rectangle could be used to make a design stand out. It could act as an outline that borders around a heading or filled in to make a solid frame. When we start to change the lines and tones that surround our shapes, we can turn them into objects that look 3D. T A shape as simple as a square can be turned into a cube. The word for this is form, and we use elements The size and placement of a shadow is one way to bring form to a flat shape. Take a look at the way these squares, with their new depth, width, and height, these squares now seem tower off the page. We see form in other simple shapes. With shadows, a circle can become a sphere. And a triangle can become a pyramid. When we talk about shadows, we also talk about tone. At its simplest, tone is how bright or dark a color can be. For example, a shadow will usually be illustrated in a darker tone compared to the object it surrounds. In these tones help us to understand what's being shown and allow us to view the picture from a certain perspective. Here, the lighter tones of blue imply a moon reflecting over the sea. The darker tones imply backs of leaves that frame the picture. Don't you feel Texture helps an illustration feel realistic. We use the word feel because texture can remind us of the tactile nature of rough stone or woven canvas. Imagine how it would feel touch these texture brings feelings to your work. Imagine a vintage feeling, calm feeling, or modern feeling. Texture can be used in any part of your design. In t It complements the retro style of the words to give an older, authentic feel. In t Color will be one of your biggest design choices. T For example, in some cultures, w Red on the other hand could represent passion and power. Blue might feel calm as water. W But colors will rarely stand alone. That's why we have a color wheel to show us w A color wheel will help you find different combinations that make your design look right for its intention. Color is a big element and one that will take time to understand. It's worth the effort. Good color palettes can make a design pop and grab the audience's attention. That's why we go into greater detail in another lesson. Remember, any part of your design can have color, w It's not just what you say, but how you say it. The design, color, and placement of your text can be just as important as the words and letters themselves. We use typography to describe the shapes, forms, and lines that make up a letter. W Serif and Sans Serif. Serif adds a few little lines to the edges of letters. It's a great option for print projects because it's easy to read. Sans Serif literally means without Serif. So we take those little lines away to get a cleaner shape. These smoother edges look good when you're publis But really, it comes down to you and the style you're after. There's a lot to learn when it comes to typography. But for now, we just need to acknowledge it's an important element of design. Now we know the most basic elements. Try to isolate individual elements when you look at artwork or design. See if you can train your eyes to pull apart designs and dissect them into individual elements. If you can pull somet