Art Elements and Design Principles Are Independent of One Another

Listen to the sound version of this article

I of the almost difficult parts of talking about the principles of pattern is figuring out just how many principles in that location really are (are at that place v? Seven? 10?). And once that's been figured out, which of these supposed design fundamentals should be included?

Search for "principles of design" and Google will return results for articles that include from five to more than a dozen individual principles. Even the articles that concord on the number don't necessarily agree on which ones should be included in that number.

In reality, in that location are roughly a dozen basic principles of design that beginning and skilful designers alike should continue in mind when working on their projects. In addition, there are some other dozen or so "secondary" design principles that are sometimes included as basics (for example, the Gestalt Principles, typography, color, and framing). The principal design principles are explained and illustrated below.

Bones Design Principles

As already mentioned, in that location is no real consensus in the design customs virtually what the master principles of blueprint actually are. That said, the following twelve principles are those mentioned nearly ofttimes in articles and books on the subject.

Dissimilarity

One of the almost common complaints designers have near client feedback frequently revolves around clients who say a design needs to "pop" more. While that sounds like a completely arbitrary term, what the client mostly means is that the design needs more contrast.

Contrast refers to how unlike elements are in a design, particularly adjacent elements. These differences make various elements stand out. Dissimilarity is also a very important aspect of creating accessible designs. Insufficient contrast tin make text content in item very difficult to read, peculiarly for people with visual impairments.

Contrast is one of the basic design principles — Parabola's website is an excellent case of a high-contrast pattern.

Balance

Every element of a design—typography, colors, images, shapes, patterns, etc.—carries a visual weight. Some elements are heavy and describe the middle, while other elements are lighter. The manner these elements are laid out on a page should create a feeling of rest.

There are two basic types of balance: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Symmetrical designs layout elements of equal weight on either side of an imaginary center line. Asymmetrical balance uses elements of differing weights, frequently laid out in relation to a line that is not centered inside the overall blueprint.

Design fundamentals: Balance — A slightly off-centered layout lends residuum between the bold prototype and minimalist typography on The Nue Co'southward website.

Accent

Accent deals with the parts of a design that are meant to stand out. In most cases, this means the most important data the design is meant to convey.

The emphasis basic design principle in action — Clique'southward oversized typography clearly emphasizes its tagline.

Emphasis can too be used to reduce the affect of certain information. This is most apparent in instances where "fine print" is used for ancillary information in a pattern. Tiny typography tucked away at the lesser of a page carries much less weight than almost annihilation else in a design, and is therefore deemphasized.

Proportion

Proportion is one of the easier design principles to understand. But put, information technology'southward the size of elements in relation to 1 some other. Proportion signals what'south of import in a design and what isn't. Larger elements are more important, smaller elements less.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy is another principle of blueprint that directly relates to how well content tin can exist processed by people using a website. It refers to the importance of elements inside a design. The virtually important elements (or content) should appear to be the well-nigh important.

Hierarchy is nigh easily illustrated through the use of titles and headings in a design. The title of a page should exist given the most importance, and therefore should exist immediately recognizable as the virtually important element on a page. Headings and subheadings should be formatted in a way that shows their importance in relation to each other every bit well as in relation to the title and body copy.

Subscribe to the Toptal design blog and receive our eBook

Repetition

Repetition is a great way to reinforce an thought. Information technology's besides a great way to unify a blueprint that brings together a lot of unlike elements. Repetition tin can be washed in a number of ways: via repeating the same colors, typefaces, shapes, or other elements of a blueprint.

This article, for instance, uses repetition in the format of the headings. Each design principle is formatted the aforementioned every bit the others in this section, signaling to readers that they're all of equal importance and that they're all related. Consequent headings unify these elements across the page.

Repetition is an important principle of design — The images on the left-manus side of Type and Pixel's website are a great instance of repetition in design.

Rhythm

The spaces between repeating elements can cause a sense of rhythm to form, like to the way the infinite between notes in a musical composition create a rhythm. There are five basic types of visual rhythm that designers can create: random, regular, alternating, flowing, and progressive.

Random rhythms have no discernable pattern. Regular rhythms follow the same spacing between each chemical element with no variation. Alternating rhythms follow a set pattern that repeats, but there is variation between the bodily elements (such equally a 1-2-3-one-2-three pattern). Flowing rhythms follow bends and curves, similar to the fashion sand dunes undulate or waves catamenia. Progressive rhythms modify equally they go along, with each alter adding to the previous iterations.

Basic design principle: Rhythm — The irregular spacing between the shapes in the groundwork of TheArtCenter's website creates random rhythm.

Rhythms tin be used to create a number of feelings. They tin can create excitement (particularly flowing and progressive rhythms) or create reassurance and consistency. It all depends on the way they are implemented.

Pattern

Patterns are nothing more than than a repetition of multiple design elements working together. Wallpaper patterns are the about ubiquitous example of patterns that near everyone is familiar with.

In blueprint, nevertheless, patterns can too refer to set standards for how certain elements are designed. For example, top navigation is a blueprint pattern that the majority of internet users take interacted with.

Principles of design: Pattern — Elevation navigation is one of the most ubiquitous design patterns on the internet, illustrated here on Isabelle Fox's website.

White Space

White infinite—besides referred to as "negative space"— is the areas of a pattern that do not include any pattern elements. The space is, effectively, empty.

Many beginning designers feel the need to pack every pixel with some type of "design" and overlook the value of white space. But white space serves many important purposes in a blueprint, foremost beingness giving elements of the design room to breathe. Negative space tin can also assistance highlight specific content or specific parts of a design.

It tin can also make elements of a design easier to discern. This is why typography is more legible when upper and lowercase messages are used since negative space is more varied around lowercase letters, which allows people to translate them more speedily.

White space is one of the most important basic design principles — White space gives the unproblematic text and illustrated content of Jan Behne's website room to "breathe" while contributing to a minimalist artful.

In some cases, negative space is used to create secondary images that may non be immediately apparent to the viewer. This tin can be a valuable office of branding that tin can delight customers. Have the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo, for just one example.

Movement

Movement refers to the fashion the eye travels over a blueprint. The most important chemical element should lead to the adjacent nigh of import and so on. This is done through positioning (the eye naturally falls on certain areas of a design offset), emphasis, and other blueprint elements already mentioned.

Diverseness

Variety in design is used to create visual interest. Without diverseness, a pattern can very apace become monotonous, causing the user to lose interest. Diversity can exist created in a diversity of ways, through color, typography, images, shapes, and virtually any other design element.

Nonetheless, diverseness for the sake of variety is pointless. Variety should reinforce the other elements of a design and exist used alongside them to create a more than interesting and aesthetically pleasing effect that improves the user's experience.

Variety is an important basic design principle — Kennard Lilly's website background uses a variety of colors and shapes to create interest, while besides placing emphasis on the chief text content.

Unity

Everyone has seen a website or other design out in that location that seemed to only throw elements on a folio with no regard for how they worked together. Newspaper ads that utilise ten unlike fonts come to mind almost immediately.

Unity refers to how well the elements of a design work together. Visual elements should have clear relationships with each other in a blueprint. Unity as well helps ensure concepts are being communicated in a clear, cohesive fashion. Designs with practiced unity besides announced to be more organized and of higher quality and dominance than designs with poor unity.

Principles of design: Unity — The apply of a blue throughout the design (including the blue overlays on the images), along with consistent typography and proportion, creates a sense of unity in the design.

Other Principles of Blueprint

Other principles of design are also touched upon in various articles on the subject. These include typography, colour, Gestalt Principles, grid and alignment, framing, and shape. Some definitely fit the definition of "principles" while others are more than similar elements of design.

Typography refers to the way text is arranged in a blueprint. That includes the fonts used, their spacing, size, and weight, and the way unlike text elements chronicle to each other. Skillful typographic design is heavily influenced by all of the other blueprint principles mentioned earlier in this commodity.

The use of color in blueprint is one of the most psychologically important parts of a design and has a huge influence on user experience. Color psychology and theory heavily influences some of the other principles mentioned earlier.

Gestalt Principles include similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, effigy/footing, and symmetry & society (also called prägnanz). Some of those principles are closely related to the principles mentioned higher up.

Grid and alignment are closely related to balance and refer to the fashion elements are arranged in relation to an invisible filigree on the folio.

Framing refers to how the main bailiwick of a blueprint is placed in relation to other elements on the folio. It'south near frequently heard referred to in cinematography or photography, with how the main focus of an paradigm is placed within the overall paradigm. Only the principle carries over into design.

Shape is also a major part of any design, both in terms of specific shapes used as elements within the blueprint, and the overall shape of the design itself. Different shapes can evoke different feelings, i.e circles are organic and fluid, while squares are more rigid and formal, and triangles give a sense of energy or movement.

These design "principles" or elements are of import aspects of skillful blueprint and should exist considered alongside the other basic principles to create the best user experiences.

Conclusion

What constitutes the "basic" principles of pattern is certainly upward for debate. But understanding and implementing the principles covered above is vital to the success of whatever design project.

Designers should aim to sympathise how each of these pattern principles actually impact their work. Studying how other designers have implemented these ideas to structure their own designs is too an incredibly valuable tool in learning to create amend designs.

It's entirely possible to create a proficient design without a thorough understanding of these elements and principles of pattern. However, it'south typically washed by "designer'south intuition" and may have a lot of trial and fault in order to create something that really looks good and creates an optimal user experience. Designers could salve a lot of fourth dimension and energy by practicing the principles we take discussed until they become second-nature.

•••

Understanding the basics

The elements, or principles, of visual design include Contrast, Residuum, Accent, Motion, White Space, Proportion, Bureaucracy, Repetition, Rhythm, Pattern, Unity, and Diverseness. These principles of design work together to create something that is aesthetically pleasing and optimizes the user experience.

Dissimilarity refers to how dissimilar elements are in a design, making them more easily discernible from one some other. Dissimilarity is very of import in creating accessible designs. Insufficient contrast tin make text content in particular very hard to read, especially for people with visual impairments.

The spaces betwixt repeating visual elements create the bones design principle of rhythm to form, similar to the style the space betwixt notes in a musical composition create a rhythm. There are five basic types of visual rhythm that designers tin create: random, regular, alternate, flowing, and progressive.

Every element and principle of a pattern—typography, colors, images, shapes, patterns, etc.—carries a visual weight. Some elements are heavy and depict the eye, while other elements are lighter. The fashion that these elements are laid out on a page should create a feeling of balance.

The basic blueprint principle of accent is used to either make certain elements of a pattern stand out (such as through using contrasting colors, making an chemical element larger, increasing the white space effectually it, etc.), or not stand out (like when including tiny "fine print" at the bottom of a page).

kramerclon1975.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.toptal.com/designers/ui/principles-of-design