Christina's Blog #3

The SIX Elements of Design

Below is our guide to the most important elements of design, have a read and let us know which is your favourite!

 

 

Shapes. 

From ancient pictographs to modern logos we create today, shapes are used in every piece of design. They can be geometric shapes or free-formed curved shapes; these shapes can be squares, ovals or almost anything! Shapes can have curves or sharp angles… as long as they have space between the lines, they are defined by boundaries such as lines or colour. 

Typography. 

This is the most important element of design in my opinion, in graphic and web design typography is needed. The font you use can teach a reader’s brain how to feel, how to read the text and exactly how you want to communicate it to your audience. Not only are the words important but the style and type you use are equally essential. 

The type of font (Serif or Sans Serif), size, alignment, colour, and spacing all work together to communicate a mood or a style you want to denote. This could be happy, sad, modern, feminine and the list goes on. Typography has no limits.

Lines.

Smooth, rough, continuous, broken, thick or thin… lines can be used to divide space, direct the eye, and create shape and forms. Lines don’t stop there, us designers can make them curved, dotted, zig-zag and much more. Lines are used in all illustration and vector work, lines are used in creating fonts and shapes. In essence, lines are used in every element of design. 

Colour.

There are over 18 decillion colours… It’s important to choose the correct colours in each design piece. Even in Grayscale artwork – the shades of grey must be balanced and work cohesively. In addition, not only do you need to choose the right colours, you must make sure to adjust the hues, saturation and brightness of the colour you use to ensure the correct mood, feeling and story you want to send out. A colour can be used in multiple situations, for example, it can help images stand out, emphasize a message, enhance meaning and much more. 

Illustration & Photography. 

Photographs, illustrations, and artwork tell us stories, support big or small ideas, give out emotion and feeling, and they can (if done effectively) grab a viewer’s attention. Photography is great for printing material as they give life and character to a leaflet, poster or a POSD. In Web design photography or illustration is heavily needed or else you will have a long page of text to scroll through and this can become boring which leads to a loss of interest or potential clients. 

Photography and Illustration artwork can be created and taken by our in house Graphic Designers or Photographers here at Designers Room. However, we do also offer Stock Imagery if needed.

Texture. 

Texture is everywhere, all around us, wherever you go you will see and find textured materials, such as, your t-shirt that you are wearing, the floor that you’re standing on, nature, the sky, the list is endless. You may not be able to feel them on websites and print material but you can see them and with the help of our graphic designers we can definitely make the textures seem real. 

There are many ways to work textures into your artwork. You can use images of cotton balls to give off softness and coziness whereas, you can use bricks to give a firmer and industrial feeling to the artwork. Furthermore, the use of shapes and lines can also build texture in a logo design or an abstract poster design. It’s great to use texture in your design pieces as it can really help to stop it from looking ‘flat’. 

Overall, us designers here at Designers Room we use most or all of these elements every day. Using these elements help us to come up with masterpieces for our clients. If you are interested in any of our services, simply give us a call on 01204 917817.

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