ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

Course: Fundamentals of Design

Instructor: Zeib Jahangir
ELEMENTS OF DESIGN
• Line
• Shape
• Form
• Value
• Space
• Texture
• Color
LINE
• A line is an element of art. It is a mark made upon a surface. In order
to be a line, the mark's length must be longer than its width. There
are many different types of lines, including horizontal, vertical, wavy,
diagonal, and more.
• A line is a shape that connects two or more points. It can be fat, thin,
wavy, or jagged—the list goes on. Every possibility gives the line a
slightly different feel.
TYPES OF LINES
LINE CONTROL
The ability to draw smooth lines that or not
jagged or have breakages.
LINE INTENSITY
Line intensity can be defined as how bold a
line is.
SHAPE
Shapes are areas of enclosed space that are two-dimensional. Shapes
are flat, and can only have height and width. The two different
categories of shapes are: geometric and organic.
Geometric shapes are mathematical, like circles and squares.
Organic shapes come from nature, like clouds and leaves.
FORM
• When a shape becomes 3D, we call it a form. Forms make up a
variety of things in the real world, including sculptures, architecture,
and other three-dimensional objects.
• An artwork that has the art element of form can be viewed from
different angles, and is not flat. Forms have height and width, but
they also have depth. Forms can be hard-edged like a cube or more
free-flowing.
Summing up, form is something that is three-dimensional and encloses
volume, having length, width, and height, versus shape, which is two-
dimensional, or flat. A form is a shape in three dimensions, and, like
shapes, can be geometric or organic.
SHAPES
VS
FORMS
GEOMETRIC FORMS
• Geometric forms are forms that are mathematical, precise, and can
be named, as in the basic geometric forms: sphere, cube, pyramid,
cone, and cylinder. A circle becomes a sphere in three dimensions, a
square becomes a cube, a triangle becomes a pyramid or cone.
• Geometric forms are most often found in architecture and the built
environment, although you can also find them in the spheres of
planets and bubbles, and in the crystalline pattern of snowflakes, for
example.
GEOMETRIC FORMS
ORGANIC FORMS
• Organic forms are those that are free-flowing, curvy, sinewy, and are
not symmetrical or easily measurable or named. They most often
occur in nature, as in the shapes of flowers, branches, leaves,
puddles, clouds, animals, the human figure, etc.
ORGANIC FORMS
VALUE
• Value refers to the lightness and darkness of areas in an artwork.
White is the lightest value, while black is the darkest. A value
scale shows a range of lights and darks.
SPACE
• Space refers to the area within, around, above or below an object or
objects.
• It is important to creating and understanding both two dimensional or
three dimensional works of art. With three dimensional art the space
things occupy is real as is the space around object. In two
dimensional art this is definitely not the case. Two dimensional art
exists on a flat surface, so if something looks three dimensional- it is
an illusion.
POSTIVE AND NEGATIVE SPACE
• Space can be defined as positive or negative.
• Positive space is the filled space, the object(s) or element(s) in the
design.
• Negative space is the empty space, or the open space between
design elements or objects, such as a background.
Positive and
negative space,
white or black
Areas of a design that Reducing (or increasing)
contain "nothing" negative space can affect
(negative space) are the impact of a design.
important visual
elements that
provide balance.
Designers can create the illusion of physical space and spatial
relationships through:

• Linear Perspective
It use lines that converge on vanishing points to achieve a more realistic
illusion of space. Linear perspective is described by the number of
vanishing points used- one point, two point or three point.

Linear perspective in a Linear perspective in a

photorealistic image. drawing form.
• Size
larger objects appear closer,
smaller further away

• Shading
Adding light and shadow to the
surface of objects to mimic the
way real objects would appear
under the same lighting.
• Placement
Where a shape or object is in relationship to the horizon line creates
depth. Things closer to the horizon line appear further away. Objects
closer to the bottom or top of your paper (canvas, etc.) appear closer.
• Overlapping
Partially covering one shape (object with
another makes the one in front appear
closer.

• Value and focus (detail)

Lighter value and less focus suggest distance.
TEXTURE
• Texture is the surface quality of an object in a tactile sense. Texture is
captured in a two-dimensional plane by varying the pattern of light
and dark areas on an object. Textures are described by word such as
rough, silky, or pebbly.

Leather Scratchy metal Wood

COLOR
• Color occurs when light in different wavelengths strikes our eyes. Objects
have no color of their own, only the ability to reflect a certain wavelength
of light back to our eyes. As you know, color can vary in differing
circumstances.
• For example, grass can appear gray in the morning or evening or bright
green at noon. Colors appear different depending on whether you view
them under incandescent, florescent or natural sunlight. Colors also
change according to their surroundings.
• You can see this by looking at the color squares below - the reddish outline
box is the same color in all the examples.
PROPERTIES OF COLOR
There are 3 properties of colors
1. HUE: It is the color itself.
2. COLOR VALUE: Color value refers to the lightness or darkness of the
hue.
3. INTENSITY: Intensity, also called chroma or saturation, refers to the
brightness of a color.
Kinds of colors: primary, secondary and tertiary colors