8 elements of design

8 Elements and

Principles of Design

By: Erin Hakala

Table of Contents

1. Line2. Shape3. Texture4. Balance5. Contrast6. Unity7. Color8. Value

• Whatistheproductorservicebeingadvertised?

The product being advertised is Tiffany & Co. engagement rings. Since the magazine was published in December they used a holiday theme to advertise their engagement rings.

• LINEisbeingusedinthedesignto:(Check all that apply)

__X_ Create a mood

___ Organize other elements on the page

___ Create texture through illustration

• Pleasethoroughlyexplainyouranswertothequestionaboveandanalyze/describehowthisadvertisementorwebsiteusesLINE.

The advertisement effectively creates a mood of love and happiness with the line it uses. A red ribbon in the ad is used to represent the holiday season and creates a depth to the design by wrapping around the engagement ring. Since the magazine was published in December everyone is thinking of what to do for the holidays at this point, which can be very stressful. This ad with soft blues and reds, can calm the reader by showing that the ring is a great gift for the holiday season so you don’t have to worry about what to buy. The moods created by this ad are extremely effective.

• PleasedescribetheeffectivenessoftheuseofLINEinthisdesign.

I do believe the use of line in this design is extremely effective. The design the ribbon creates frames the ring and gives you a feeling of the holiday season, which is what this ad was created for. The simplicity of the design is also a wonderful aspect of the design because it’s not too busy, but creates the mood effectively.

• Whoistheprimaryaudienceoftheadvertisementorwebsite?

The primary audience of this advertisement is engaged woman, or those thinking of becoming engaged. The ad is on the back cover or the magazine which could mean that men passing by could see the ad and want to buy a ring for the holidays.

Shape is another element that can be used alone or in conjunction with line and type to help communicate the concept of a design. Shape can be defined as any element that’s used to give or determine form. Shape can exist as a design element all by itself, without the aid of line or type. Most flags are designed with nothing but shapes. Even if you remove the color from the American flag, the design survives intact. Likewise, many fabric patterns are the result of designing with shapes; they effectively convey a style or mood, usually without the benefit of type. When shapes contain pictorial information in the form of decorative illustration, such as floral patterns or other

subject matter, additional interest is added.

• Whatistheproductorservicebeingadvertised?

The product being advertised is Beautiful perfume.

• SHAPEisbeingusedinthedesigninthefollowingway(s):(Check all that apply)

___ Photos and illustrations are creating shape through the actual shape and content of the art.

___ Line or a line illustration is creating the predominant shape

___ Type is creating the predominant shape

___ Shaded or colored areas are creating the predominant shape

_X__ Shape is sustaining the viewer’s interest.

___ Shape is organizing the page

_X__ Shape is helping the viewer understand the concept

___ Shape is leading the viewer’s eye through the design

• Pleasethoroughlyexplainyouranswertothequestionaboveandanalyze/describeinyourownwordshowthisadvertisementorwebsiteusesSHAPE.

Theflowersinthebackgroundoftheadvertisementarewhatpredominantlygiveusshape.Theflowersintheadreallygrabyourattentionbecausetheyaresobeautiful.SincetheperfumeiscalledBeautifultheadwantstogiveyouasenseofbeautywhichiswhattheflowersdo.Thesimplicityofthewhiteflowersgatheredinthebackgroundisverybeautifulandhelpwithwhattheadistryingtoaccomplish.

• PleasedescribetheeffectivenessoftheuseofSHAPEinthisdesign.

I do believe the use of shape is very effective in this design. Since the perfume is called Beautiful, thesoftnessandbeautyoftheflowersreallygivesthemessageofwhytheperfumeistherightchoice.Sincetheflowersarewhite,also,itgivesyouthevisionofweddings.Sinceit’sprimarilytargeted at engaged woman it helps to show that they can feel beautiful on their day with the perfume, whichiswhythewhiteflowersaresoimportantinthedesign.OverallIbelieveitisaveryeffectiveadvertisement.

• Whoistheprimaryaudienceoftheadvertisementorwebsite?

The primary audience of this advertisement is women who are getting married and want to feel beautiful on their wedding day.

Texture

What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? Epic Games utilizes this website to show information and trailers for their game Gears of War 3. http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/en-US/

• TEXTUREisbeingusedinthedesignto:(Check all that apply)

_X__ Create a particular mood or feeling

___ Fill individual shapes or areas

_X__ Reinforce or support the concept of the design

• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe how this advertisementorwebsiteusesTEXTURE.

This website really helps to create a mood that really represents the game. From experience of playing this game I know how gritty it is supposed to feel and you get that feeling just from the look of the characters on the website. All of the characters are really dirty and grimy looking and they’re all carrying these giant guns. The world behind them is extremely detailed and destroyed looking like a bomb just went off somewhere. The mood it gives off is very depressing but also shows you that they aren’t giving upbecausetheyareallreadytofight.EpicGamesreallyreinforcestheconceptofthegamewiththedesign of the website. They want to show you how strong the characters are by giving you a rough looking website with the lead character in the front looking worn out, but ready to go.

• Please describe the effectivenessoftheuseofTEXTUREinthisdesign.

I believe the texture in the design is extremely effective. For the idea that the designers are trying to show with the design it comes through really well in the website. The grittiness of the texture in the design shows what the meaning of the game will be and helps give a better understanding of the story behind it.

• Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?

The primary audience of this game would be people that are already fans of the series to show them how much more intense the game has gotten, or fans of shooter and post-apocalyptic games.

Balance

What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? The name of the company utilizing this website is Notch Studios. They are a design company based out of Singapore. http://notchstudio.com/

• BALANCEisbeingusedinthedesigninthefollowingway(s):(Check all that apply)

_X__ To create a mood.

___Symmetrical balance is reinforcing the message—such as; serious, conservative, sophisticated, stable, elegant, etc.

_X__ Asymmetrical balance is reinforcing the message—such as; relaxed, informal, freeform, creative, etc.

___To create visual tension by being obviously unbalanced.

• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own wordshowthisadvertisementorwebsiteusesBALANCE.

Notch Studios uses asymmetrical balance to show they are a caring company, which they say in their website. They really appreciate the people they work with and for because they wouldn’t exist without them. The home page of the website shows approximate symmetry because not everything is mirror-like but we can see how the elements balance one another out. This home page shows a video which describes the company which is why the main page may be more formal, but the design still shows a carefree, fun aspect. The rest of the pages are more asymmetrical but they all work together extremely well. They vary in their design but all show fun designs in balance. With the asymmetrical balancing we get the message that the company is carefree, but also professional because they take time to make sure all of their designs still look good.

• Please describe the effectivenessoftheuseofBALANCEinthisdesign.

I believe their use of balance is effective because it really gets down to the point they’re trying to make. The fun designs they use to keep balance shows what they want to put across as the main idea of their website.


Anyone interested in hiring this company to design a website for them or anyone just looking for information on different design studios around the world.

Contrast

Contrast:

Whatisthenameofthecompany,organizationorindividualutilizingthiswebsite?

The person utilizing this website is Nik Papic who is a designer. He uses this website to show his resume and other works for people who would like to hire him. http://www.papic.org/

• CONTRASTisbeingusedinthedesigninthefollowingway(s):(Check all that apply)

_X__ Strengthen an idea; support the message.

___To create a contradiction (BIG written in very small type).

_X__ Contrasting colors

___Contrasting values

___Contrasting shapes

___Contrasting texture

___Contrasting typography

• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own wordshowthisadvertisementorwebsiteusesCONTRAST.

This website uses contrast in the lettering. The background of the website is black and his lettering is a bright white. Also his header with the links are pink which is the color of his logo so they match. He writes effective in large letters on the homepage to show how he thinks of himself. He doesn’t believe most designers are effective so he wants to show what makes him different. With the way he contrasts the colors on his website it gives the feeling of a very modern, professional aspect that some designers may not have. He even places a picture of himself in black and white on the front page so it stands out against the black background. The contrasting he uses on the website really brings the idea of his skills and makes him seem like a very good designer.

• Please describe the effectivenessoftheuseofCONTRASTinthisdesign.

I really think the contrast in this website is very effective to show how innovative and professional he is. The contrast is done very well and he keeps the same layout throughout which helps get the message across as well. Without the contrast it would be hard to make the website look as clean as he has it now. The contrast makes it look very professional and gets his message across the way he wants it to look.


This website would attract people who would like to hire him as a designer and want it done quickly but very professionally.

• What is the product or service being advertised?

The product being advertised is L’Oreal make-up. The ads were put together for the 40 year anniversary of the make-up brand.

• UNITYisbeingusedinthedesignto:(Check all that apply)

_X__ Provide consistency

_X__ Unify the design with consistent elements (grouped/repeating elements)

___Lead the viewer’s eye through the design

• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe how this advertisementorwebsiteusesUNITY.

The advertisement is used consistently for three pages in the magazine. Each one gradually shows more and more of the make-up being advertised, which is the newest eye-shadow they are putting out. Incorporated in these designs is a logo they use for all three advertisements. The logo states that they are celebrating 40 years of service, which could be why they are putting out a new line of eye-shadows. The purple eye-shadow is used in all three ads which seems to be their main unifying element, besides the logo. The ads are very consistent throughout the three designs. They all use the purple eye-shadow as their main focus and it’s also consistent that all 3 ads are on the right side of the magazine. This could have been done for many reasons but I believe they did it this way because when you open a magazine youimmediatelylookattherightpagefirstwhichwouldbegreatforthemtogetnoticed.

• Please describe the effectivenessoftheuseofUNITYinthisdesign.

I do believe the ad is very effective with its use of unity. Each design shows the make-up in a different light which gives the reader different ideas as to why the make-up is so great. The repetition of the ads and the fact that they come one after another also helps the reader to become more interested. If the designs had been spread out throughout the magazine it may not have caught the attention of the reader as well as it did with them going in order. Also the fact that the ads keep a consistency with the purple eye-shadow is also very important. Even though the ads are for all of the different colors of eye-shadow fromL’Oreal,theykeepaconsistentelementwiththepurpleeye-shadow.Inthefirstadwiththewomanshe is wearing the purple eye-shadow with other make-up from L’Oreal. In the second ad it is just advertising the one purple eye-shadow, while in the third they show all of the different colors, but in the background there is a purple mist. With this consistency throughout the ads it drives the thought of unity and keeps the ads in our head.


The primary audience of this advertisement is women aged 17-30

• What is the product or service being advertised?

The product being advertised is Neutrogena Morning Burst body wash.

• COLORisbeingusedinthedesigninthefollowingway(s):(Check all that apply)

_X__ Creates a mood or feeling

_X__ Creates visual tension and movement

___Provides unity and balance

___Provides structure and forms a grid in a design

___Provides a sense of order

___Creates harmony

• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own wordshowthisadvertisementorwebsiteusesCOLOR.

This advertisement is showing the new body washes from Neutrogena. The body wash comes in orange, pink, and yellow and have little beads inside that burst. The designer uses these elements to create a burst of beads in the background of the three colors of the body washes. With the colors it seems that the beads are coming out of the magazine which looks great and gives the message they are trying to get across as to how the beads work. Since the colors are so bright it gives a fun and bubbly feeling. With the morning burst body wash the beads are supposed to wake you up, which you get a feeling from with the bright colors they use.

• Please describe the effectivenessoftheuseofCOLORinthisdesign.

The color in this design is extremely effective. Incorporating all of the colors in both the lettering and the bursting bead design is really important to the design. If they didn’t incorporate all of the colors then the design wouldn’t have as much meaning or have as much of an impact. The fact that the beads are bursting at you from the background expresses the sensation you would receive from using the body wash. Keeping consistency with the colors of the body wash with the colors used in the ad was also very important. If they had used other colors the ad would have seemed all over the place and not put together well.


The primary audience of this advertisement is teenage girls and young women.

What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? The person utilizing this website is Ali Hussain. He is a graphic designer that uses his website to show people his portfolio and give a brief description of himself.

http://alihussain.me/

• VALUEisbeingusedinthedesigninthefollowingway(s):(Check all that apply)

_X__ Creates a mood or feeling

_X__ Creates contrast

___Creates movement and direction

• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own wordshowthisadvertisementorwebsiteusesVALUE.

Ali Hussain’s website uses value to create a mood about his work. He uses a blue pattern in the background of alternating squares with different shades of blue. The blue does not give the person a feeling of sadness like blue normally portrays. Rather it gives the person a sense of professionalism and it is also a very calming sensation. Through the description he gives he is a very professional designer thatworksforthebenefitofhiscustomer.Thisdescriptionreallycomesthroughwiththevalueheusesfor his website. He also creates contrast with the way he uses the colors in the design. He uses light blue lettering on a dark blue background to make the lettering and a picture of himself stand out to the reader. With the contrasting elements variety is added between the blues and makes the design more interesting rather than just black text on a blue background.

• Please describe the effectivenessoftheuseofVALUEinthisdesign.

I do believe that the website does use value effectively for his purpose. The value gives a cool, professional feeling for the reader. Without the value in the design I feel it wouldn’t look as put together, also without the contrasting blues it wouldn’t have any variety. If the designer had just used one shade of blue with varying it, it would just look rushed and extremely boring. The blues used are also not too bright but not too dark which helps to not be over-dramatic with the colors, but too give a nice, relaxed feeling. Without using the value in the design and if the color chosen had been changed the design would not mean the same and would not attract the same audience it attracts.


The primary audience of this website is anyone looking to have a website designed for them and need it

done professionally.

8 elements of design

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