DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION

SRM INSITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

KATTANKULATHUR
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
UVC20S01T
 UNIT- I

Design:

The art of visualizing ideas is called design. Good

design makes a difference in the world, whether it is
communicating a social ideal or helping a business to
attract the clients or motivating people to join an
organization or simply helping traveller to find their
way in the busy city or even enabling citizens to vote
for the candidate of their choice. Design is
everywhere, design is what draw ones attention
towards whatever material he likes or buy.

Graphic Design:

Graphic design is a form of communication that

conveys a specific message to specific
audiences through the means of typography
and image. Graphic design is a mixture of art
and business, that is, an artistic creative vision,
applied practically into a work with help of
client, planning, properties and budget. All
graphic designs are made with theories of art,
at the same time; it has to fulfill the ultimate
goal by reaching the target audiences.

Graphic design is a process of combining text and graphics, and communicating with an
effective message using the visual communication tools that includes logos, graphics,
brochures, newsletters, posters, signs and any other form of art work.

Nature of Graphic Design:

The ability to design is not natural; it is acquired

through practice and expression. To develop this
skill, it is necessary to undergo professional
education and practice in reputed institutions.
Creativity, innovation and lateral thinking are key
skills to be acquired to become professional
graphic designer. Creativity in design is a cultivated
skill that finds innovative solutions to solve the
problems that translated into design work with
highest level and quality. Anyhow, creative alone
cannot be the key part of the design.

The design work is always based on customer demand, which ultimately established
linguistically, either orally or in writing. That is, the graphic design transforms a linguistic
message in a visual demonstration. The professional graphic design rarely works with
nonverbal messages.

The design work activity requires the participation of team professionals like photographers,
illustrators and other professional. Design often coordinates with various disciplines that
contribute to the production of visual message.

Graphic design is an interdisciplinary field and one who want to practice the design, need to
have knowledge in other activities like photography, freehand & technical drawing;
psychology of perception, Gestalt psychology, semiotics, typography, technology and
communication. The professional graphic design means specialist in visual communications
that is related to all steps of the communication process.

Graphic Design as a Discipline:

• Design is a discipline with a long history and many branches or areas of subject.
• The traditional branches of design include Industrial Design (ID), which focuses on
optimizing the function, value and appearance of physical objects, and Graphic
Design (GD), which has strong roots in graphic arts and print media and focuses on
bringing together the meaning and appearance of a product.
• The usability profession is primarily concerned with Interaction Design (IXD), a newer
branch of design dedicated to define the behaviour of digital products and systems.

Graphic Design as an Artifact:

The design process results in producing design artefacts that provide the following stages of
product development. Design artefacts include various system models, design terms, style
guides and prototypes that include low-depending prototypes such as sketches and rough
works and high-depending prototypes such as mock-ups and system demos.

Characteristics of Graphic Design:

There are number of important characteristics that have to be used when working on a
graphic design program. The professional graphic designer might use these characteristics
to make a design easier and functional.
• Graphic design involves with particular physical application to set a layout that
features one or more shapes, arranging text, images and other elements to display.
The display will decide what kind of design it is.
• Typography is another important of characteristics of graphic design, which involves
in many actions relating to design the text, colouring the text and arranging text in
the project.
• Colour plays important role as characteristics of graphic design. The colour is used to
balanced, used to divide, used to highlight and used to attract the audience.
• Illustration plays important action in the graphic design. Illustrations are used to
create new image and outline of the design, which provide space to incorporate
other basic elements.
• Retouching is the part of graphic design, which serves how well an image is to be
projected and designed based on what the client wants.
 • All Graphic designs end with a business. A planned design will give the potential to
sell the project whether it is poster, brochure, website or etc.

Graphic Design Process:

A good graphic design is based on the highest quality

ensured to the client. There are some basic steps involved
in finalizing the design, they are;

Gather Information:

Before we start a project we need to know what the client

needs. Gathering information is the first step of the
graphic design process. When approached for a new
design job, set up a meeting to discuss the scope of the
work and gather maximum information about the design
project. That is, gather information like;
• Who is the audience?
• What is the message?
• What are the size and how many pages?
• Budget specific and deadline for the project
completion.
• Do the client provide samples or to be designed
fresh?
• Is there any existing works to be incorporated with new project?

Take detailed notes when discussing with client, which will be very useful when getting into
the next step of the design process.

Create an Outline:

Using the information collected during the meeting with the client, we need to develop an
outline of the content and goal of the project, which can be presented to the client for
approval before starting the work. The outline for the design carries the size of the layout
(i.e., A5 to huge billboards) and etc.

Present this outline to the client for any changes or correct. Once the outline is finalized,
then we are into the agreement with client for the project and proceed to the next step of
the project.

Creative work:

Based on the correction and changes received from the client, we keep working to make the
final output. The design work should be very creative and effective. If wanted, we can take
some time to think about creative solutions for the project If necessary, we can also have
some reference from the research work, browsing websites and etc., or discuss with team
members. But the final output has to be original work with something different and creative
from other works. The different ways to get the creative ideas includes the following;
• Brainstorming: Get together with a group or team and throw out any and all ideas.
• Visit a museum: Get inspired by the original and existing works.
• Reading Books: Any small colour or shape in the books may spark to an innovative
idea.
• Take a walk: Sometimes it is best to get outside and watch the world; we may not
know what will spark our imagination.
• Line Drawing: If we feel that are not good artist, we can visualize the idea in rough
line drawing.
Once we are clear with the ideas, then it’s time to start creating a structured layout.

Multiple Versions:

Once the content and outline of the design is finalized by the client, we start working in
making the actual design of the project. Instead of making one final design for the project,
it’s better to have at least two versions of the design, which will be good idea to present
before the client. Multiple versions of the design work make give the client some options to
finalize the design and also allow us to combine or shuffle the elements in the design to
make the final output.

Production:
Once the final output is ready with the approval of the client, then we have to go final
output of the design. For example, for print Ad, we need finalize the printing press, print
material, printing proof and etc. After every step of the designing process completed
successful, the final completed version of the project can handed over to client and with
this, the design process is completed successful.

Fundamentals of Graphic Design:

There are some basic fundamentals of graphic design that has to be followed to understand
and reach the target audiences. Some of the basic fundamentals are;

• Usefulness: The information and functions provided in the design should be relevant
to the user, similarly the design should provide necessary usefulness and address to
the users.
• Consistency: The design should contain commonly understood concepts, text and
images. The information must be natural and logical order, which make sure the
actions, terminology and commands are used consistently.
• Simplicity: Reducing confusion and eliminating the unnecessary or irrelevant
elements makes the design to look simple and visible.
• Communication: Providing necessary information with clear and timely sense will
create good communication for feedback and emphasizing meaning.
• Preventing Error: Making reasonable corrections and inputs prevent the designer
from serious of errors. So providing clear and basic language is the solution to
recover from the error.
 • Efficiency: Any design must be very effective among the audience, which makes the
audience to use or view frequently.
• Judgment: Any design should make the correct judgment of the situation and
experience of user and audience.

Visual Design:

• Any piece of artworks like painting, Videography, photography,

animation and other artistic elements, which are composed and
appeals the human eye is called
visual design. In simple word,
Visual design is not about a piece
of work that literally said through
words; visual design is a piece of
work which is said through visually and
emotionally through appearance.

• Successful graphic design depends heavily on

visual concept. Without effective visual design,
the visual communication tools like
advertisements, poster, newspaper,
photography, cinema, animation and other
visual materials are meaningless. It is visual
design that grabs people's attention and
encourages them to analyze the work more
carefully. Some of the basic visual design
concepts are colour, typography, composition and layout.

Graphic Designer:

A professional individual who brings structural order and visual form to any form of
communication is called Graphic Designer. Since prehistoric times, people searched for ways
to bring out their ideas and concepts into visual form and stored these ideas and concepts in
the graphic form to get clear information. Over the period of time, the people’s visual needs
have been fulfilled by scribes, artists and printers. After the arrival of all this modern
technologies, now the people’s visual needs are fulfilled by specially trained people, who
were later, came to be known as Graphic Designers.

Graphic designer is a connector between the client and audience. That is client, who wants
to communicate an idea or product and the audience, who may or may not like to receive it.
So a graphic designer through his creative visual work helps to inform, sell or influence the
audiences on behalf of his client. That is, the graphic designer create the exact message
what the client want for his idea or product, which attract the audience, create awareness,
influence the audience and make the audience to buy or view the idea or product. The
graphic designer works with a variety of communication tools to convey a message from a
client to a particular audience through image and typography.
 • Image-based Design: Designers develop images to represent
the ideas what the client really want to communicate, that is
a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Images can be
extremely powerful and forceful tools of communication,
conveying not only information but also moods and
emotions. People respond to images immediately based on
their personalities, associations and previous experience.
The images may be photographic, painted, drawn,
graphically rendered and etc. For example, everyone knows
that chilli is hot, so this knowledge combines with the image
creates a visual for KFC product.

• Type-based design: In some cases, designers

rely on words to convey a message, but they
use words differently from the regular writers
do. For designers, than going with words, it’s
very essential that what meaning it gives.

Qualities of Graphic Designer:

The Graphic designers are responsible for

successful and failure of any product
launched into the market, everything
from product or company logos to the
packing strip of any product. So some
necessary qualities are must for anyone to
become a great graphic designer, because
today computer made it easy for anyone
to become a graphic designer. The basic
essential qualities of graphic designer are;

• Creative: The basic quality of a designer is creativity. To succeed in the field of

design, he must be able to consistently and effective produce creative and original
work that differentiate the work from competitors
• Responsible: Graphic designers must have a high degree of professional
responsibility and timeliness with deadlines. Clients include companies that have
promotional schedules they need to keep to stay in line with their overall marketing
plans. Consistent delays in design work could lead to lose the current clients and
poor reputation in the market.
• Team-Oriented: Some graphic designers have reserved personalities, where much of
their work time is spent alone designing. But a collaborative, team-oriented attitude
is a necessity in most cases of the work. Designers will be working with copywriters
and creative directors in putting together a complete design concept. A good
designer must be open to other ideas and flexible to adjust according to client’s
requirements.
• Analytical: The professional designer should need analytical character to research
and consider the business requirements of clients. In some cases, designers must
analyze customer data to get a good feel for the target audience of an ad before
they are created. A highly creative and visually stunning ad that doesn’t make impact
with the target market is not useful to the client.
• Technology: The designer should be well educated with the technologies and has to
update frequently with development of technologies like software, version of
software, plug-inns and etc.

Functions and Responsibilities of Graphic Designer:

• All graphic designers have some basic responsibilities and limitations to work
with any project.
• The three basic responsibilities of the graphic designer are Financial, Physical and
Psychological.
• Financial: Financial responsibility is very essential for any graphic designer.
• Before starting any design project, the graphic designer has to discuss with client
regarding his demands.
• The graphic design has to understand what concept the client expect, how much
the client can spend for his project and who are the client’s target audience.
• For example, the design is targeted to the elite group of the society will be
entirely different with the design targeted to the middle class of the society.
• So a graphic designer has to give his best out to the client with planned budget.
Physical: The next responsibility of the graphic designer is based on physical
aspect.
• That is, while planning design for any idea or product, the graphic designer has to
decide on what medium the design is going to be displayed like video, web, print
or etc. Because based on the medium selected the concept, planning, budget and
etc will change accordingly.
• That is, based on the medium, the target audience are decided and based on the
target audience, the concept and the final output will be finalized.
• Psychological: Another responsibility of the graphic designer is based on
psychological aspects.
• That is, the graphic designer has to understand and analysis the target audience
before planning for any design project.
• The graphic designer has to know the likes and dislikes of the audience like what
they see and don’t see, what they read and don’t read, what they buy and don’t
buy, what they give and don’t give, what they share and don’t share and etc.
• By knowing and understand this basic behaviour of the audience, will help the
graphic designer to finalize the concept, colour, language, layout and medium of
any design project.
Qualification for Graphic Designer:

The basic essential qualifications for graphic designer

are;
• Education: A bachelor’s degree in graphic design is
usually required for the entry level and advanced
graphic design positions. Bachelor’s degree programs
in fine arts or graphic design are offered at many
colleges, universities, and private design schools. In
addition to design courses, a broad area of arts
education that includes courses in visual art history,
writing, psychology, sociology, foreign languages and cultural studies, marketing and
business are useful in helping designers work effectively. Graphic designers must
keep up with new and updated computer graphics and design software, either on
their own or through formal software training programs.
• Other Qualifications: In addition to the bachelor’s degree, creativity, communication
and problem-solving skills are essential graphic designers. Graphic designers must be
creative and able to communicate their ideas visually, verbally and in writing.
Designers must prepare a portfolio by putting together all his best works, because a
good portfolio will be the deciding aspects to get
placed. Graphic designer should need self-discipline in
making a project by their own, keep up timing, meeting
the deadlines and stick with the budget.
• Training: The graphic designers usually need one to
three years of working experience to get placed in good
position. An experienced graphic designer may be
placed in reputed companies as chief designer, art
director, creative director or other high positions. Many
faculty members continue to consult privately or
operate small design studios to complement their
classroom activities.

Common Visual Design Mistakes:

• To create a standard and professional design project, some mistakes that are
common to everyone has to be identified and rectified before submitting the
project.
• Some of the basic mistakes in the graphic design are;
• Impact of Design: In video production the framing makes everything special,
similarly the layout makes special in the graphic design.
• Because, the layout format convey message, convince, build the brand of the
product that is, everything in the design communicate something.
• So the designer has to special care in designing the content of the visual, which is
going to make special impact on the audience.
• If the designer fails to do so, the design will not make any special.
• Lack of Unity: Whatever elements added in the design should be consistent and
related with one another and should give sense of order and continuity.
• Instead of going with more elements in single design, the designer has to be very
smart in selecting the right elements that give sense of unity and meaning.
• Unmatched Graphics: The use of vector images and clip art in the design should
make some sense of meaning and communication.
• The first rule for using graphics in the design is not just decorative items, it should
contribute content message to the design.
• The second rule is the use of graphics conveys a sense of professionalism.
• So wrongly used graphics mismatches with content of design and it doesn’t give
sense of meaning.
• Confusing use of Contrast: Contrast is one of the most critical elements of design,
which allows highlighting the differences in the content of design because contrast
naturally attracts the audience attention.
• But wrongly highlighted contrast will distract the audience and make them to focus
on wrong content of the design.
• Misuse of Fonts: Fonts serve some important purposes, first they display text use
that means have to consider which font style and font size are going to work best on
design.
• The fonts should fit into the overall theme and concept of the design.
• For example, for traditional or formal design san serif fonts may be used and for
informal design, comical or decorative fonts may be used.
• So before getting into the design concept, the designer has decide on what font style
and size has to be used to convey the exact meaning of the design.
 QUESTION BANK

PART-A (2 MARKS)

1. Design 14. Lateral Thinking

2. Visualizing 15. Illustration
3. Idea 16. Image
4. Client 17. Outline
5. Visual Design 18. Brainstorming
6. Cave Painting 19. Line Drawing
7. Cuneiform writing 20. Image-based design
8. Hieroglyphs 21. Type-based design
9. Graphic Design 22. Team-Oriented
10 Graphic Designer 23. Audience
11 Creativity 24. Viewer
Visual
12 Communication 25. Web designing
13. Innovative

PART B (16 MARKS)

1. Give a detailed report on Visual Design with necessary examples.

2. Trace the historical development of design.
3. Explain the characteristics of Graphic Design with examples.
4. Describe the step by step process of Graphic design with examples.
5. Explain the role of creativity in design with necessary examples.
6. Discuss the fundamentals of graphic design with examples.
7. Discuss the scope and career for the Graphic Designer.
8. List out the functions and responsibility of Graphic Designer.
9. Graphic design is a professional field, comment with examples.
10. List out the qualities and qualifications for any Graphic Designer

*******
 UNIT- II

Elements of Design:

The elements of design create every object around us. Nothing can exist without these
elements. The discipline of learning the power of these elements and formatting them
within the principles of design is the basic responsibility of the designer.

All designs have certain basics elements or building blocks chosen to convey the message.
Basically there are five elements of design; they are dots, lines, shapes, form, space, texture
and colour.

Dot/ Point:
Points or dots are the simplest element of visual design
and they are the building blocks of everything. The
characteristic of a dot is that it’s a point of focused
attention. Dots anchor themselves in space and establish
a relationship with the space around it. If there is only
one point or dot on a blank page, the brain will have its
own meaning and look for some kind of relationship.

If there are two points, immediately the eye will make a

connection and ‘see’ a line. If there are three points, it is
obvious that the brain understand them as a triangle.
Things get more interesting when more than one dot is added and they interact with each
other. When the dots get closer together they start to be seen as a single object. If the dots
are allowed to get closer till one dot overlaps the other, the tension between the space
decreases and create a new appearance of depth.

Dots working together can form an endless variety of arrangement and solidity. The dot can
become lines, curves, shapes, patterns, textures, and any other structure imaginable. Dots
in combination can even form direction and movement.

Line:
Line is one of the oldest and most fundamental tools in the visual art that was found in cave
paintings and rock carvings some 20,000 years before. In geometry, a line is described as the
shortest distance between two points. The aesthetic definition of line is the visual
connection of two points. Out of various design elements that are used for design, line is
one of the simplest and most useful elements. The type of lines use in design can convey
different feelings, moods and add strength to our ideas.

Frequently, lines are used to divide sections of a page or layout and to join sections that are
related to each other. The lines are also used to frame photographs, separate sidebars and
join articles together. Lines can be long or short, straight or curved; line can also be
horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Lines can be solid, dashed, thick, thin, or of variable width.
Lines can indicate direction of movement or provide an anchor to hold elements on a page.
The basic types of lines are horizontal lines, vertical lines, diagonal lines and zigzag or
freeform lines.
 • Horizontal: Horizontal line suggests a feeling of rest or repose.
Objects parallel to the earth are at rest in relation to gravity.
Therefore designs in which horizontal lines dominate tend to be
quiet and restful in feeling.

• Vertical: Vertical lines communicate a feeling of dominance and

spirituality. Vertical lines seem to extend upwards towards the sky that is
beyond human reach. They often dominate public architectures from
cathedrals to the corporate headquarters.

• Diagonal: Diagonal lines suggest a feeling of movement or direction.

Since objects in a diagonal position are unstable in relation to gravity,
they are either about to fall or are already in motion. The diagonal lines
are used to indicate depth or an illusion of perspective. The diagonal
lines can also be used to create a feeling of movement or feeling of
activity.

• Curve: Curved lines are lines that bend and change direction
gradually. They can be simply wavy or spiral. Such lines convey the
feelings of comfort and ease, as well as sensual quality as they
remind us of the human body.

• Zigzag: Zigzag lines are a series of diagonal lines joined at

ends. They can convey action and excitement, as well as
restlessness and anxiety.

Shape:

Shapes are the basic element of design. The shapes

are made up of closed lines that create two
dimensional objects used in the design. Shapes are
used to convey meaning and organize information.
Basically there are three types shapes used in the
design; they are geometric shapes, natural shapes
and abstract shape.

➢ Geometric Shapes:

People naturally like to align any objects to the horizontal and vertical lines. Geometric
shapes are the most basic shapes used by any designer. In mathematics, Geometric is the
study of shapes and their relationships. Geometric shapes are structured and often
Symmetrical in shapes. Some of the common geometric shapes used in the design are
squares, circles, triangles and etc.
 • Square: The Square denotes honesty, stability, equality, comfort, or
familiarity. Square could also symbolize inflexibility or uniformity.

• Circle: Circles suggest infinity and protectiveness. Circle can denote

free movement such as rolling ball or denote more controlled
movement such as spinning globe. The Circle can also be used to
highlight, organize or solid.

• Triangle: Triangles suggest action and dynamic. Triangles may also

convey either conflict or strength. Triangle can represent a religious
Trinity, pyramid, flag, arrow and etc.

➢ Natural Shapes:

Natural shapes are the shapes that are found in

nature and most often represent real world objects.
Natural shapes are often irregular, complex, asymmetrical and random than geometric
shapes. Some of the common natural shapes are tree, human, animals and etc.

➢ Abstract Shapes:

Abstract shapes are images used to convey short meaning or

identity without the use of written language. Abstract shapes may
be universal to all people or culturally base. Abstract shapes are
those can be recognizable but are not ‘real’. Abstract shapes are
stylized or simplified versions of natural shapes. Abstract shapes in
design are usually added through images like sign, icons, logos,
symbols and etc.

➢ Volume/ Mass (Depth):

In a 2 dimensional shape if we create illusion of 3 dimensions

then we get a volume also known as mass that is depth. The
depth can be created in a design with the help of shadow or by
adding pattern and texture to the surface or by changing the
colour across the surface to imitate the effect of light and
shadow.
Since, the world is made with 3 dimensional when we add
amount or degree of qualities to the 2 dimensional to add a
sense of realism to a design.
If we overlap a flat surface on top of a volume it creates tension
between the foreground and background to create depth.

Mass and Weight are physical qualities that don’t really exist in
the two dimensional formats. In design we talk about visual or
optical mass and weight. In the physical world objects with great
mass attract and pull other objects toward them. In the world of
visual design elements with great mass also attractThe perception of mass in a design
element is how strongly that element pulls the eye towards it. We can add mass to a series
of angular planes by rotating them and letting them overlap each other.

➢ Space:

Space in design refers to the distance or area between two shapes or forms found within a
composition. There are two types of space in design, they are positive and negative space.
Both positive and negative spaces are important factors to be considered in every good
composition. They appear in both two-dimension and three-dimension design and
complement to one another.

• Positive space: Positive space is the ‘occupied’ areas in a design that is filled with
design elements such as, lines, colours and shapes. It is the primary subject matter of
a design; the animals, plants, building, mountain, people and etc., forms the area-of-
interest. The positive space which dominates the eye is the focal point in a
composition.

• Negative space: Negative space also known as ‘whitespace’

in design is the unoccupied areas that surround the subject
matter. Negative space is the ‘empty space’ or unoccupied
area that lies between objects, shapes and forms within a
design. Negative space is important in a design because it
gives balance to positive space by giving the eye a place to
rest. Space is a basic element that is often overlooked as a
principle of a good design.

• Deep Space: The illusion of three dimensional spaces in a design creates a sense of
effectiveness in a design is referred as deep space. The deep space there are three
terms used to describe depth:
❖ Foreground is the area that visually appears close to the viewer in a design. Very
often it appears in the lower plane or bottom of the design.
❖ Middle ground is space that makes up the distance between the foreground and
background of a design.
❖ Background is the area of a painting that visually appears far away in the distance.

➢ Texture:
Texture is an element that we can touch and feel in a design. All shapes in the universal
have texture. The texture can be divided into two parts; they are physical texture and visual
texture.
• Physical Texture: Physical Texture is the texture that we can
feel with our own hand. That is layout with roughness; mat
finish, glossy finish, layering of collage and etc. are the
examples of physical texture.
• Visual Texture: Visual Texture is the illusion of physical
texture that is created with the help of materials used in the
design. Design can be manipulated to give the impression of
texture, while the support surface remains smooth and flat.
 ➢ Pattern:

Pattern is the repeating of visual element that can be created by

duplicating size, shape, position, symmetry, frequency, value, and colour.
All texture in the universal have a pattern. Patterns are usually stronger
when combining two or more repeating elements. Pattern in visual arts is
used for building larger objects, decoration, organization, association
with other objects and meaning.

When a unit is used for building a larger object, patterns are created. When the shape of the
units is similar, the pattern becomes well defined. Patterns have cultural, religious, and
philosophical significance. Many patterns have traditional meanings that symbolize the
place of mankind in relation to nature and the universe. Natural icons are common in
cultural patterns, such as rope, baskets and etc. are the patterned decorative of cultural
imagery.

➢ Colour:

Colour is all around us and probably for that reason

people don’t think much about it. But in design, the
techniques of using colour are based on science. The
concepts of colours are basically divided in primary
and secondary colours, which are the fundamental of
colour. The primary colours are Red, Green and Blue,
which are considered as the foundation colours.
Secondary colours are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow,
which are created when equal amount of two primary
colours are mixed together.

Any pure colour is referred as Hue. When white colour

is added to any pure colour, the colour is diluted and
produces a tint, also known as pastels. When black colour is added to any pure colour, the
colour produces shade. Brilliance and luminosity are terms used to describe the amount of
black mixed with the colour to create the shade.

Whenever a colour is mixing white or black, the colour loses saturation. That is pink colour is
created by mixing red with white, technically the colour pink can be described as ‘a tint of
red’ or ‘low-saturation red’.

Principles of Design:
The principles of design are the tools used to create an effective design. The difference
between a worst and a best design is completely depend on the designer's knowledge on
the design principles and how he applies them. For example, every designers whether they
realize it or not they are familiar with the elements of design. The principles of design are
what the artist uses to create a composition. The basic principles of design are Balance,
Movement, Repetition and Rhythm, Emphasis, Simplicity, Contrast, Proportion and Unity.
 ➢ Balance:

Consider we are purchasing two kg vegetables in the local market. We will not buy the
vegetables unless it is equally balanced with the two kg weight. Similarly, when creating a
design, all the elements used in the design have to be equally balanced. As we physically
balance the vegetables, the designer create an illusion of balance know as visual balance. In
visual balance, each part of the design suggests certain visual weight or certain degree of
lightness and heaviness. For example, light colours appear lighter in weight than dark
colours. Bright colours visually weigh more than neutral colours in the same areas.

To balance a design is to distribute its parts in such a way that the viewers are satisfied.
When elements are balanced left and right of a central axis then they are horizontally
balanced. When they are balanced above and below then they are vertically balanced and
when the elements are distributed around the centre point or jump out from central line
then they are radically balanced. The two basic forms of visual balance are ‘symmetrical
balance’ (formal balance) and ‘asymmetrical balance’ (informal balance).

➢ Symmetrical Balance:

In a design, when the elements are equally distributed on both sides of the central axis then
it is called as symmetrical balance. Symmetry is the simplest and most noticeable type of
balance. It creates a secure, safe feeling and a sense of strength. Symmetrical balance can
be achieved in two ways, one by ‘pure symmetry’ and another by ‘approximate symmetry’.

• In ‘pure symmetry’, identical parts are equally distributed on either side of the
central axis like mirror; a good example of
pure symmetry is the human face that has
same on both the right and left side of the
nose. Similarly, in design the identical parts
are equally distributed on either side of the
central axis. However, pure symmetry of a
design can easily become too monotonous and uninteresting to view.

• In ‘approximate symmetry’, identical parts are not equally distributed on either side
like pure symmetry. Even though the approximate symmetry of design is varied to
some extent, they still similar enough to be symmetrically balance and have greater
appeal and interest for the viewer.

➢ Asymmetrical Balance:

In a design, when the elements are not equally

distributed on both sides of the central axis then it is
called as asymmetrical balance. The asymmetry balance
is not identical but still appears to be the same visual
weight.
Once the designer judge or estimate the various elements and visual weight, then it will
help the designer to balance them accordingly. As a result, a more interesting design will
occur in the work. The use of asymmetry in design allows more freedom of creativity. The
basic way to use asymmetrical is by balancing two or more unequal components by varying
in size, value or distance from the center.

➢ Radial Balance:

The third type of balance is radial balance, where all elements

spread out from the center point in a circular fashion. It is very
easy to maintain a focal point in radial balance, since all the
elements lead our eye toward the center.

Movement:

• Movement is the path of our eyes following when we look at a design. The purpose
of movement is to create unity in the design, which can be achieved by using
repetition, rhythm and action. The Movement will fix the design together by relating
various elements of the design.

• By arranging the design elements in certain way, the designer controls and forces the
movement of the viewer's eyes from large elements to little elements, from dark
elements to lighter elements, from colour to non colour, from unusual shapes to
usual shapes and etc.

• Movement can be created by action. In design work, action must be understood,

which creates life and activity within the design.

For example, the action may be created by an arrow, a pointing finger, bouncing ball at
midair, a runner about to take next step or a swimmer taking a dive and etc.

Repetition and Rhythm:

The movement of repetition is create when the design

elements have something in common and are repeated
regularly or irregularly tocreate a visual rhythm.
Repetition doesn't mean exact duplication, it mean similarity or nearer one. Actually, slight
variations to a simple repetition will add interest and connect thing together, which is an
easy way to achieve unity.

Rhythm is the flow of repetition which leads the eye from one area to another. The
movement can be produced by continuous or periodic or regular repetition, which may be
slightly changed in size, colour, texture and value to unify various areas of design.

Emphasis:
Emphasis is the importance given to a particular area of the design instead of jumbling the
details in the design. When a design has no emphasis then nothing will be understood to the
viewer. So the effective use of emphasis creates attention to important areas of the design.
By placing emphasis on particular areas of the design creates interest
which makes the eye to watch again and again. The basic way of creating
emphasis is by deciding the center of interest. That is important point to
be focused in the design. The center of interest is created by making one
area of element of the design dominant or most important
than the other areas, which are treated as subordinate or least
importance.

The center of interest may be the largest, brightest, darkest, or most

complex part of the whole, or it may get special attention because it
stands out for some other reason. At the same time not more than one
element should compete to the primary attention.

When several elements get equal importance then emphasis will not be created. The other
way to create emphasis is by contrasting the primary element with its subordinates or
emphasis by a change in direction, size, shape, texture, colour, tone or line. It doesn’t
matter what element is selected for emphasis but it should not spoil the importance of
other elements too.

So emphasis is very important for any design, but a good design is one in which all the
elements work together for a unifying effect.

Simplicity:

Simplicity in design is also known as visual economy or minimal design, which means
omitting all the non-essential or un-important elements and details that doesn’t contribute
much to the overall core design. The beauty and skill in good design focuses mainly on what
is left out than trying to include everything we can. The secret of a great design knows when
to stop and what to stop. Basically, simplicity is based on the design problem.

Good design means keeping it simple. That means trimming down to the essential elements
required to achieve the necessary design. Moderation and simplicity are the key factors of
good design. At the same time there are no rules for using economy. If an element works in
the design it should be kept and if distracts it should be re-evaluated for its purpose. Always
the designer has to justify the inclusion and exclude of the elements to achieve the best
design.

Contrast:

Contrast in design occurs when two related

elements are different that is greater the
difference, greater the contrast.
Contrast adds variety to the total design and
creates unity. Contrast draws the viewer's eye
into the design and helps to guide the viewer
around the design work, which also adds visual interest.
At the same time, the design requires certain amount of contrast, like too much of contrast
create confusing and too little contrast in a design becomes bland, monotonous and
uninteresting. The right amount of contrast keeps the viewer's participation in comparing
the various elements of the design. For instance, the viewer will compare light and dark,
wide lines and thin lines, light-weight forms and heavy forms, filled spaces and unfilled
spaces, etc. of the design.The most common ways of creating contrast are by creating
differences in size, shape, value, alignment, colour, direction, type, movement and texture.

Proportion:

Proportion is the comparative harmonious

relationship between two or more elements in a
design with respect to size, colour, quantity, degree,
setting and etc. A relationship is created when two or
more elements are put together in a design. This
relationship is said to be harmonious when a correct
or desirable relationship exists between the
elements.
This refers to the correct sizing and distribution of an element which creates good
proportion.

Good proportion adds harmony and balance among the parts of a design
as a whole. When the proportion is applied to a design, it is usually in the
relationship of size. That is, the size of one element compared to the size
of another related element.
The comparison is made between the:
• Height, width and depth of one element to that of another
• Size of one area to the size of another area
• Size of one element to the size of another element
• Amount of space between two or more elements

Proportion is usually not even noticed until something is out of proportion. When the
relative sizes of two elements are out of balance, then it is said to be ‘out of proportion’. For
example if a person has a head larger than their entire body, then we would say that they
were out of proportion. There are several ways for achieving good proportion:
• Place the similar elements together or have some common features.
• Create major and minor areas in the design, as the equal parts may become
monotonous and boring.
• A small relationship in the elements creates more dynamic design.
• Create harmony in the design.

Unity:

Unity is the ultimate of good design. Unity is the final result in a

composition when all the design elements combine work cordially
together making the viewer to feel pleasant, satisfying and
comfortable of the design. The unity is achieved when all the
design elements complement one another than compete for attention.

Unity in a composition achieved when all of the design principles (balance, movement,
emphasis, visual economy, contrast, proportion) are been correctly applied. All the design
elements selected for design must complement the main theme and must serve some
functional purpose within the design. Achieving unity in design are;

• Similarity: Repeating colours, shapes, values, textures, or lines to create a visual

relationship between the elements. Repetition works to unify all parts of a design
because it creates a sense of consistency and completeness.
• Continuity: Treating different elements in the same manner. Continuity helps to
create ‘family resemblances’ between different forms. This helps to tie them
together by creating an uninterrupted connection or union.
• Alignment: Arranging shapes that lead into another shape helps to create unity in
design. When an element is placed in a composition, it creates an indirect horizontal
and vertical axis at its top, bottom, canter and sides.
• Proximity: Elements that are placed close to one another are supposed as related
while the elements placed farther are considered as less related.
 QUESTION BANK
PART – A (2 Marks)
1. Illustration 22. Physical Texture
Special
2. Character 23. Visual Texture
3. Dot 24. Pattern
4. Point 25. Colour
5. Line 26. Balance
Symmetrical
6. Horizontal line 27. Balance
7. Vertical Line 28. Pure Symmetry
Approximate
8. Diagonal Line 29. Symmetry
Asymmetrical
9. Curve Line 30. Balance
10
. Zigzag Line 31. Radial Balance
11
. Shape 32. Movement
12 Geometrical
. Shape 33. Repetition
13
. Natural Shape 34. Rhythm
14
. Abstract Shape 35. Emphasis
15
. Depth 36. Simplicity
16
. Volume 37. Contrast
17
. Space 38. Proportion
18
. Positive Space 39. Unity
19
. Negative Space 40. Similarity
20
. Deep Space 41. Continuity
21
. Texture 42. Proximity

PART- B (16 Marks)

1. Elaborate the elements of design with necessary sketches.

2. Explain line and its types with necessary illustrations.
3. Explain shape and its types with necessary illustrations.
4. Discuss the importance of depth in design with examples.
5. Explain space and its types with necessary examples.
6. Explain texture and its types with necessary examples.
7. Illustrate a rough design by using different elements.
8. Elaborate the principles of design with necessary sketches.
9. Explain balance and its types with necessary sketches.
10. Discuss the function and importance of unity in layout design
DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION
SRM INSITUTE OF SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY
KATTANKULATHUR

DESIGN PRINCIPLESUVC20S01T
 UNIT - III
Environment:
Designers welcome the challenges of designing within limitations; sensitivity to the
environmental, economic, social and cultural effects of design is central to the
professional designer’s ethical commitment. Good design respects planet, profits and
people and welcomes the opportunity to meet client needs within these challenges.
Sustainability relates to more than the environment; the designer's goal is to enhance
human experience and client need while doing no damage to the civilization.

Awareness of Environment:
Observation:
An environmental observation is information about a change, trend or development in
industry, economic, national or global environments. Environmental observations are key
pieces of data that, put together, help build understanding of the changing environment.
Experience:
Environmental experiences refer to time spent in the natural areas (forest, garden). There
are two different types of environment experiences;
 Incidental contact with nature: Experiencing nature as a by-product of another
activity (walking the dog).
 Direct contact with nature: Direct connect with nature involves the use of different
senses.
Another way of experiences in nature is by focusing on the type of activity conducted in the
natural setting. Intentional contact with environment;
 Consumptive: Taking from the environment (hunting).
 Mechanized: Equipment is used to interact with nature (off- road vehicles).
 Appreciative: Enjoying the natural environment without altering (surfing, bird
watching).
Analysis:
Environmental analysis is a strategic tool used to identify all the external and internal
elements that affect the working performance. The analysis involves assessing the level of
threat or opportunity the factors might present. These evaluations are later translated into
the decision-making process.
Steps involved in Environmental Analysis are;
 Identifying: Identifying factors influence the work flows
 Scanning: Critically examining the factors that highly influence the work.
 Analyzing: Determine their effect on different work levels.
 Forecasting: Impact of the variables is to be forecasted.
Environment and Design:
The role of the designer is not only to achieve successful match between form and
context, but also to determine how much of the surrounding context will be engaged in
design work. Therefore, the graphic design professionals should reflect some basic
environment concerns like:
 Usefulness: The social value.
 Usability: The effectiveness and fulfillment of people.
 Attraction: The emotional, social or cultural benefits.
 Sustainability: The lifespan of designed objects.
 Possibility: The technological ability to produce and distribute.
 Capability: The economic potential for return on investment and growth.

Manmade Environment:
Manmade Environment means the landscape architecture and the strategies used to
sustainable solutions for promote and improving the living conditions of people for both
urban and rural areas. It brings importance of finding alternative and interdisciplinary
planning methods and use of natural resources and combines new technology with
awareness of local conditions, culture and identity.

Here the landscape architects means, everything from major regional projects to urban
developments that include industrialized, commercial, institutional, recreational and
residential environments. They lower carbon emissions, clean the air and water, increase
energy efficiency, restore surroundings, promote solutions that develop or protect natural
possibilities and create value through reasonable economic and social improvements.

The term ‘built environment’ refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the
setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings, parks, green
space to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure,
such as water supply or energy networks.

The built environment is a material, spatial and cultural product of human labour that
combines physical elements and energy in forms for living, working and playing. It has
been defined as ‘the human-made space in which people live, work, and recreate on a
day-to-day basis’. In recent years, public health research has expanded the definition of
‘built environment’ to include healthy food access, community gardens, walking space and
traveling space.

Manmade Environments Types:

 Tools
 Shelters
 Communications
Manmade Environments- Shelters:
The word habitat is derived from the Greek word meaning home, the shelter for living
beings. The shelters in environment can be natural shelter or physical shelters, in which
the species lives.

 Natural Shelters: The natural shelters are occurred naturally in the environment like
forests, wetlands, deserts, grasslands and Arctic, which supports a particular species
through a natural provision of water and shelter that are favorable for water, food
and breeding.

 Man-made Shelters: The man-made shelters refer to an environment manufactured

or created by human beings, which contains the elements that are necessary to
support a species.

Manmade Environments- Communications:

The spreading of information and performing of communication patterns that are
interconnected with the environment are known as environmental communication. The
environmental communication provides two important functions, the pragmatic and
constitutive.
 Pragmatic: Human communications are referred as pragmatic because it helps the
individual and organization to achieve goals with help of communication (Eg:
educating, persuading & collaborating).
 Constitutive: Human communications are referred as constitutive because it helps
the individual and organization to understand the natural and artificial environmental
issues (Eg: values, attitudes & ideologies).

Functions of Design:
The important functions of design are;
 Orderly Presentation: Composition can be defined as the orderly arrangement of
elements in a scene, which conveys intent and meaning. Composition in art, use the
elements of art to form the unity.
 Attraction: Various studies state that the professional designers make the first
impression of their design in 5 seconds. That is, based on the first impression make
the people to take quick decisions about what they see and the perception of how
well the design works.
 Stimulation: Creative design provides the details of how creative properties,
cognitive processes, design operations and design units interact with one other. The
origin of creativity is the creative properties that stimulate idea generation and
exploration.
 Reflection: Reflection in the design is the thoughtful study of the designer’s
awareness on design situation and activities.
 Support: The following points support the designer to complete the task within a
limited time frame.
 o Getting to know the project.
o Analyzing project scope.
o Understanding product fundamentals.
o Discussion with decision makers.
o Understanding the end user.
 Retention: Retention refers to how the design can keep its users active over a
specific period of time. Design has good retention when users keep using the design
and bad retention stop the user to use the design again.

Layout Design:
The master plan or blueprint of any printed or published works that layout the
arrangements of graphic elements is called layout design. That is, the printed works like
advertisement, book, magazine, newspaper or website lays out the arrangement of
different graphic elements like body copy, colours, headlines, illustrations and scale is
called layout design. The layout design establishes the overall appearance, relative
importance, and relationships between the graphic elements to achieve the smooth flow
of information (message) and eye movement for maximum effectiveness or impact.

A pre-layout planning is used to help in creating the ideas of the designer, who is going
to start the design work. Normally some basic questions are asked before creating a
design, they are;
 Objective of the design: What is the purpose of the design, is it to sell or inform or
reference?
 Target group: Do the printed material is meant for any specific age group like
teenagers, elders, ladies, children or others, because for each group, the design will
have different approach.
 Personality of the design: Should it be sophisticated, colorful, grand, comical or other
quality. The type of paper, typography and illustrations decides the personality of the
design.
 Style of the finished product: Will it contain photographs or will it be strictly
typographic or will it contain cartoons, illustrations or a combination of both decides
the style of product.
 Layout format: Will the product be a booklet, folder, brochure or pamphlet?
 Layout size: What will be the physical size of the printed product, which will decide
the paper size to be used?
 Number of pages: Will it be single sheet or both side or folded or will it be many page
prints?
 Completion of work: How long will it take to complete the work, which will help in
making cost estimate?
Layout Process:
The process followed for preparing graphic layout materials is drawing thumbnail
sketches, rough layout, and comprehensive layout. Several thumbnail sketches are usually
prepared and the client selects the one from it, which is created as final output.

Thumbnail Sketch:
Thumbnail sketch is a simple idea sketches which will help the designer to achieve an
attractive and suitable final result.
The client can see the ideas and then choose the layout which he prefers. Thumbnail
sketch serves the primary purpose like;
 Graphically preserve ideas;
 Visually portray ideas; and
 Compare two or more ideas visually.

Thumbnail sketches are initiated immediately after the completion of pre layout
planning. Copy selection comes first in thumbnails sketch, so the main responsibility of
the designer is to place all the copy that will appear in the final print. The methods for
preparing good thumbnail sketch are;
 Prepare the pre-layout planning and list the copy.
 Choose the final size of the printed product and plan to sketch the thumbnails, in
correct proportion to it.
 Select the copy elements need to be emphasized with blocks or shades.
 Outline the space for illustrations or photographs and for headlines, which helps the
client to understand the idea.

It is important to sketch several ideas from which a final selection can be made by the
client. Professional designers prepare at least four thumbnails for any work given to
them.

Rough Layout:
The second major step in layout process involves the preparation of rough layout, which
is an improvement or refinement of a thumbnail sketch. The purposes of a rough layout
are:
 Force a selection of one of the several sketched ideas;

 Begin refining a specific idea; and

 Provide a solid item that can be studied and changed.

Actually, the rough layout can be considered as pre-final product. Therefore, in some
cases it can be used as the base for the final product without the need of comprehensive
layout. Mostly two rough layouts are necessary to produce the client approval and for
assessment. The methods for preparing rough layout are;
 Study numerous thumbnail sketches that have been prepared.
 Select the best one in coordination with client for the final product.
  Take the exact paper size that allows the final project to be printed.
 Select the type font that is aimed for design.
 Outline the areas allotted to type and illustration based on the thumbnail sketch.
 Sketch the illustration within the outlined areas with high quality and more details
than thumbnail sketch.
 Study the rough layout and consult the client to make any additions or changes or
suggest if necessary.
 The rough layout should sensibly look similar to the finished product.

Comprehensive Layout:
The comprehensive layout is the most important step in the production of a design work.
It is the master plan or blue- print of the finished design product and its value cannot
be under estimated. It allows the designer and the client to see the finished product and
to make changes if necessary. After the designer and the client have made all the
necessary decisions, the comprehensive layout will contain all of the necessary
information to produce the final product. The methods for preparing good
comprehensive layout are;
 Study the rough.
 If the complete material is to be multi-coloured, choose the colours and represent
the colour of each element.
 Letter all type in the exact position preferred like the actual kind.
 Draw the illustrations carefully in the correct position.
 Attach the glossy print of photographs and illustration in space provided with
outlines.
 Cover an overlay sheet to protect the finished layout after all content has been placed
in the layout.
 Carefully review the layout and see whether included all copy and given complete
information.

A designer is mainly concerned with the layouts or plans of work to be carried out. Most
designs involve two different finished layouts. One may be the carefully drawn and
coloured for the client and the other one is very simple with more technical details. The
second one is called as working layout or printer’s layout referred for the printer to get
the exact quality.

Elements of Newspaper Layout:

Each newspaper or magazine consists of several important elements that
attract readers into the content. Since these elements are important, there
should be a deeper understanding on it.
 Headlines: First and most important textual element in newspaper
and magazines are headline. The headline is as important as the
layout. When the reader opens a newspaper or magazine, the first
thing that catches his attention is the layout some dominant images.
 The second thing that will draw his attention and tempt him
into reading the article is the headline. The reader may find
layout attractive but if the headline is not appealing and
interesting he may skip that article and continue to next one.
 Kicker (Intro): Kicker is the
introduction for an article, after headline catches the attention
of the reader the kicker act as a bridge between headline and
copy body. Normally the kicker should be bigger type size
than body copy, at the same time must be smaller than the
headline. The kickers are mainly used in magazines and
feature articles in newspapers.
 Body Copy or Text: This is the largest part of any article in newspaper or magazine.
Even with good design if the main body copy is not written in interesting ways, the
magazine will lose the reader’s attention. Designing body copy is the first thing that
decides the designing templates of newspaper or magazine. The size of the body
copy, columns and setting right margins create impacts on the readability and
usability.
 Pull Quotes: Pull quotes are very useful and attractive design element in the
newspaper or magazine design. Pull quotes serve as a great tool to break up big
blocks of body copy and to give a more interesting look to the article. The pull
quotes are mainly used in the magazine design and occasionally used in the
newspaper design.
 Subheads: Subheads are used to break up the body copy and to give some quick
insight into what the reader can expect in the following paragraphs. The size of the
subhead should be just bigger than the body copy or the subhead can be same size of
body copy but has to be emphasized with bold font.
 Bylines and Credits: The credit given to the journalist who wrote article and the
photographer who took the photos are called by-lines and credits. That is, the by-line
or credit will be the name of the journalist and photographer. In the articles, the by-
line of the author’s name will be displayed below the headline and followed by
articles, similarly in the photography; the by-line of the photographer’s name will be
displayed below the photography.
 Running or Section Head: Section heads are navigation elements that guide the
reader into the newspaper or magazine. The running head may be designed on first
page of the newspaper and magazine that indicates the place and date of the articles
and the section head may be designed mostly for newspapers show what are the
news contents available in the newspaper or magazine.
Running heads should be carefully designed to reflect the style and tone of the
newspaper or magazine.
 Panel and Box Copy: Boxes are used as news items or as extensions to a long
article in which you can place some other facts or data which are relevant to the
article. These types of copy are generally shorter in length and have more accurate
quality. They can be in a form of a text, bulleted text or lists. From the design point
of view boxed text should be set in a different style than main body copy.
Elements of Print Advertising Layout:
Visual content and design in advertising have a great impact on the consumer, but it is the
language that helps people to identify a product and
remember it. The normal advertisements will have
the following elements with slight variations base on
the target audience.
 Visual: Research indicates that 70% of people
will look only visual in an ad, whereas only
30% read the headlines. So visual is required
to
draw the attention of the viewer. Another
suggestion is to use photographers instead of
illustrations if possible, at the same time the
visual must be interesting to see.
 Headlines: The first component of the advertisement is the
headlines, which used to recall the name of the product.
The headline must be short, efficient and must touch the people who read it. The
headlines must influence the readers emotionally by making them laugh, angry,
curious or think. Finally, whenever possible, avoid the headlines longer than fifteen
words, because people do not read lengthy headlines.
 Copy: The copy is the second major category, which make up text of an
advertisement. The importance of body copy varies according to the nature of the
advertisement. It states the sales message, develops argument, gives proof and
provides explanation. The decision for the number of words to be used depends on
the types of product advertised.
 Slogan: The other name of slogan is theme line or tagline. Slogans are equally
important as the headlines. It is the main component of the ad which has
maximum recall value. For example, Apple says “Think Different”, Amul says
“Taste of India” and Nike says “Just Do It”.
 Logo: Logo is the symbolic representation of a company or a
product. It can be a picture, letter or combinations of both. Before
designing a logo, lots of research is done and a decision is take to
use the picture, fonts, colour or the combinations of all.
 Signature: Signature is also refers to contact details of the Ad in the design,
mostly appear in the bottom of the Ad. The signature consists of one or more
details like; Advertiser Name, Address, Phone Number, Web Site Address and if
necessary provides details like Map or Driving Directions.

Types of Layout:
Whether you start right off on a comprehensive or try some thumbnails and rough layouts
first, you will be trying to put the elements of the ad into a pleasing and useful
arrangement. The number of arrangements and patterns you can come up with as a
designer are almost endless, but it is possible to fit most print-medium advertisements into
 ten basic categories or formats, if you interpret them loosely enough.

Mondrian Layout:
Mondrian layout, named after the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. The layout refers to the
forms of square or landscape or portrait, where each fields parallel to
the field of presentation and load the image or copy of each fused to
form a composition that conceptual.
In arranging the rectangles, the designer lightly rules a series of
horizontal and vertical lines, then eliminates some of them, either
entirely or partially, and strengthens others, striving to leave rectangles
of varying sizes and dimensions. The balance is almost always
informal.

Circus Layout:
This type of layout is called as ‘circus layout’, which is filled with reverse blocks,
oversize type, tilts and mixed attention- grabbers, it may not win
prizes in art directors’ competitions, but apparently it does sell
merchandise-at least a certain kind of merchandise to a certain
class of customers.

Circus layout takes in a wide range of layout approaches and

deals usually with a larger-than-average number of components.
Elements are organized into units, which in turn are organized
into a unified pattern.

An orderly approach in design is probably more important to the

editorial than to the advertising side. The reader is already interested in
editorial. The purchase of the newspaper or magazine proves
this. Advertising has to work harder for attention and to set
itself apart from the serious editorial material; it takes more liberty with
basic design principles.

Retail advertisers find circus layout especially useful. Because retail ads are often
directed to bargain hunters, prices played up in large sizes become an important element,
ranking with headlines and art units.

Multi-panel Layout:
The ‘comic strip’ layout technique is more useful, with photos
replacing the drawings and with conversation set in type beneath the
pictures rather than ballooned within.
The designer often plans for panels of equal size; feeling that the
disconnected effect keeps the reader moving naturally through the ads.
A proportional difference is achieved by keeping the block of panels larger than the block
that remains to house the headline, explanatory body type and signature.

The panels can be used to tell a story or they can be used simply to display a series of
products, pretty much in checkerboard fashion.

Silhouette Layout:
In another kind of layout the designer arranges elements in such a way as to form one
imposing and interesting silhouette. Silhouette layout evolves from the
unique shape created by the design of the ad, not by the shape of the elements
used.

To test a silhouette, the designer tries to imagine the elements in the ad

blacked in. To illustrate the superiority of an irregular silhouette over a
regular one, consider the ancient art of paper-cutting portraiture.

The outline of a front view of a face is never as interesting as the outline

of the side view. So, silhouette layout is a ‘side view’ layout. Just
combining a silhouette photograph with some almost touching copy will
give silhouette ads.

Too much white space separating elements within the silhouette destroys the unity of the
ad; so the designer usually

Big-Type Layout:
Type manufacturers, typesetting houses, printers and periodicals all issue type-specimen
sheets or books for their clients, so that the clients can look over
the selection and marvel at it and pick those types that may be
appropriate for a given job or use.

In their largest sizes, types hold particular appeal to the artist and
the designer, who derive an almost sensual pleasure through study
of type’s peculiar curves and corners and serifs and stroke
variations. Type overpowers art in layouts and art may not even be
needed.

Some of the best big-type ads use lowercase letters rather than all caps because lower
case is more interesting. If only a few words are involved, the designer takes some
liberties with readability. Lines may ride piggyback on each other; they may overlap; they
may be doctored to intensify the mood of the ads.
Alphabet-Inspired Layout:
The basic shape of letters, both capitals and lower case, can serve as the
basic pattern for the arranging of elements within ads.

The designer should avoid an arrangement that too closely suggests a

particular letter. The letter should serve only as the starting point. The
reader ordinarily would not be conscious that the ad took off from a letter
or number.

************
 UNIT – IV
Colour:
Colour is the response of the eye to differing wavelengths of radiation within the visible
spectrum. The visible spectrum is what we perceive as light and we see all the reflected
wavelengths of light as colour.

When all the wavelengths in the visual spectrum are absorbed, we see black and when all are
reflected we see white. When some are absorbed and some are reflected we see different
colours of the spectrum

Colour Properties:
Colour is described in three ways; by name, how pure and its value. For example, pink,
crimson and brick are the variations of red colour; that is each hue is distinct and
differentiated by its chroma, saturation, intensity and value.
 Hue: Hue refers to the dominant color family. Hue refers to the origin of the colors we
can see. Red, green, blue, yellow, and orange are a few examples of different hues.
The different hues have different wavelengths in the spectrum.
 Value: Basically, the light and dark of a hue is known as value. When adding white
to a hue makes it lighter and increases its value or luminance and adding black
makes it darker and reduces the value or luminance.
 Saturation: Saturation refers to the degree of purity of a hue. It’s similar to chroma,
where pure hues are highly saturated and when gray is added then the colour
becomes de-saturated.
 Tint & Shade: Tint is the result of adding white to a hue to produce a lighter hue
and Shade is the result of adding black to a hue to produce a darker hue.
 Chroma: Chroma refers to the purity of a hue in relation to gray. When there is no
shade of gray in a colour that colour has a high chroma. Adding shades of gray to a
hue reduces its chroma. All true colours are known as ‘chromatics’ (science of
colours). Black and white is called ‘achromatic’ because theoretically black and
white has no colours. Black is the absence of all colours and white is the presence
of all colours.

Types of Colours:
 Primary Colours: Primary colours are defining colours of wheel. In
traditional colour wheel, primary colours are red, blue and green.
 Secondary colours: Secondary colours are three colours that are
created by mixing primary colours. In traditional colour wheel,
secondary colours are yellow, Magenta and cyan.
 Tertiary colours: Tertiary colours are colours between each primary
 and secondary colour. In traditional colour wheel, tertiary colours are
red-violet, blue-violet, blue- green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and
red-orange are tertiary colours.

Colour Theory:
Colour theory is both the science and art of using colour. Colour depends on the wavelength
of light. The normal eye has a sensation of colours from long wavelength to Red through
Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue at the short wavelength to Violet at the end.

When light of one colour is added to light of another such as by projection on to a white
screen, then the combination of colours is called Additive Colours. When one or more
colours are removed from white light when light pass through filter is called Subtractive
Colours.

Additive theory:
The additive primary colours of light are Red, Green and Blue.
These colours cannot be produced by mixture of any other
colours. If three projectors are setup so that they will project on
the same screen overlapping each other, the fundamental of
adding colours can be incorporated.

That is placing a Blue light in one projector and projects it on to

the screen. In a second projector place a Green light and project it
on to a screen, overlapping the part of Blue. It will be noticed
that wherever colors overlapping on the screen results a new color called ‘Cyan’ (bluish
green) is projected.

A Red slide placed in the third projector and projected on the same screen so that red
overlaps on the other two colours Blue and Green. When Red overlaps on Blue, new
colour ‘Magenta’ (purplish red) is produced. When the Red overlaps the Green, a new
colour called ‘Yellow’ is produced. Where all these three colours overlap, a new colour
‘White’ is produced. The spectrum primary colours are Red, Green and Blue. The
additive secondary colours are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. The relation of these six
colours is as follows:
 Red is complementary to Cyan.
 Green is complementary to Magenta.
 Blue is complementary to Yellow.
 Red is equal to Yellow and Magenta.
 Green is equal to Cyan and Yellow.
 Blue is equal to Cyan and Magenta.

Subtractive theory:
The subtractive theory deals about colour combination in printing on white paper. The image
subtracts certain colours and transmits other colours. The colours of the subtractive theory
are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.

If Cyan filter is placed between the lights it will subtract Red. The
Magenta filter will subtract Green and Yellow filter will subtract
Blue. If Cyan and Magenta filters are super-imposed between the
White light the Cyan subtract red and Magenta subtracts Green
allowing only Blue to come through.

If Magenta and Yellow filters are used the Magenta subtracts

Green and Yellow subtracts Blue leaving only Red to come
through. If Cyan and Yellow filters are super-imposed between
the White lights the Cyan subtracts Red, Yellow subtracts Blue allowing the Green to come
through.

If all three filters are super-imposed and placed between White lights, all light are
incorporated and Black is created.
 Cyan + Magenta = Blue
 Cyan + Yellow = Green
 Yellow + Magenta = Red.

Colour Wheel:
Colour wheel is a way to arrange colours, making it easier to select
a palette that works. A colour wheel arranges colours around edges
of a circle. Colour wheel helps in selection of colours using any
colour model. A standard colour wheel has 12 distinct hues.
These 12 hues can be classified in three categories, primary,
secondary, and tertiary. A colour wheel arranges colours around
edges of a circle and each colour has a relationship to each or, which is based on physics
of light waves.

Colour Harmony:
Once the key colours are identified, it is easy to identify harmonious colours using a
colour wheel. Colours can be placed into different categories such as monochromatic,
analogous, complementary, split-complementary combinations to describe how
colours in colour wheel are related to each other.

 Monochromatic: Monochromatic colour refers to a colour

scheme that is comprised of variations of one colour. For example,
adding White to Red creates Pink, adding Black to Red creates
Reddish purple, etc. The three main components of
monochromatic colour scheme are hue, shade and tint.
  Analogous: Analogous colours are groups of three colours that
are next to each other on the colour wheel. Analogous colours
are usually made up from one primary, one secondary and one
tertiary colour. For example, Yellow,Yellow green and Green
are analogous colours.

 Triadic: Triadic colour scheme is comprised of three colours

evenly spaced on the colour wheel. The two most basic triadic
palettes are the primary colours- Red, Blue, Green, and the
secondary colours Orange, Purple and Yellow. That is, instead
of grouping three or more nearby colours in the colour wheel,
three colours equally positioned at distance from one another
in the colour wheel.

 Complementary: Complementary colours are two colours that

are on opposite sides of the color wheel. This combination
provides a high contrast and high impact color combination–
together; these colors will appear brighter and more prominent.

 Split-Complementary: Split complementary color scheme is

one where a primary color
is used with the two analogous colors to its complement. Split
complementary colors have a strong visual contrast like standard
complements, but tend to be a bit less jarring since they're not direct complements.

Colour Meaning:
The most important thing to understand about the meaning of colour is that there is no
evidence to support the universal system of colour meaning. So that it doesn’t mean that
colours themselves have specific meaning, but the colour meanings are assigned based
the cultural aspects. That is, red as the colour of stop sign and green for- go are some of
the colour symbolism exists globally.

Colour symbolisms are likely to be more common within a given culture than across
different cultures. That is, white is used for weddings in Western cultures and for funerals
in Eastern cultures. Even within a single culture individual differences will exist within a
family. Two members within a family will not necessarily be affected in the same way by
seeing the same colour. So it’s important to understand the target audience and how they
interpret the meaning to colour.
 Warm colours: Colours, which tend towards red, are called warm colours. Fire and
sunshine are the warm colours that naturally give red light. So red and its shades,
yellow and orange are considered warm colours, which are cheerful and exciting.
 Cool colours: Colours, which tend towards blue, are called cool colours. Cool
 colours are calm and collected.
 Advancing and receding colours: Warm colours project objects closer to the
viewer, while the cool colours show objects far away. Warm colours are called,
advancing colours and cool colours are receding colours.
 Psychic effect: Psychic effect of colour is very strong. It stimulates the reader,
attracts and makes the reader to act. Effect of colour on individuals varies according
to the people, their cultural background and educational capacity.
o Women like red, blue, violet, orange etc. (the bright colours).
o Men’s favorite colour is blue than red, violet and etc. Men like calm or sober
colour in general like blue.
o People who are educationally and culturally backward like bright primary and
secondary colours.
o Old people like soft colours as they like soft music.
o Colours used at random will irritate the readers/ viewers, creating a strong sense
of dislike rather than attraction.

Colour Principles:
Colour theory has real practical value for designers. The principles of traditional colour
theory are just like the other design principles that used every day; they are creative tools
that can be used to solve visual problems. Different colour combinations offer varying
experiences and visual contrasts for the viewer.

In visual communication, a colour palette or colour scheme is a set of colours that work
together in ‘colour harmony’ to express an idea (light, heavy, warm, cool, etc). Most colour
palettes used in design projects are built around a base colour called ‘hero colour’. The hero
colour is usually supported by two or more colours.
 Colour Choices: Choosing a hero colour is often the easiest part of creating a colour
palette. The hero colour is usually associated with a familiar idea. For example,
associate blue-green colours with cool temperatures or yellow-green with growth.
 Choosing Colour Combinations: The supporting colours work with the hero
colour to express or complement the idea. Choosing the supporting colours isn’t
always as easy as choosing the hero colour. A basic awareness of colour theory is
helpful, especially the theories of colour contrast. For example, if hero colour is red,
supporting colours analogous to red will always express unity. Another way to
express unity is to use monochromatic colours, all based on the same hue varying in
lightness and darkness.
 Understanding Basic Colour Relationships: Primary colours and their related
secondary colours are colour systems defined by extreme contrast and make
excellent colour palettes. For example, if red is our hero colour, and the other
primary colours (green & blue) as supporting colours, the palette will express
extreme contrast and really highlight. The lightness of green, and the coolness and
relative darkness of blue, make the sensation of these hues completely distinct from
 the sensation of red.

Colour Perception:
The ability to see colour depends on the wavelength of light is referred as colour
perception. That is, the light wavelengths that are in the visible spectrum for humans
ranges from 400- 700nm. There are many wavelengths that the eyes cannot see are X-rays
or radio waves.
The wavelengths of light that can see are absorbed by cells (photoreceptors) in the back of
the eye. The photoreceptors that are sensitive to colour and bright light are called ‘cone’
cells, whereas the photoreceptors which are not sensitive to colour and work better in low
light conditions are called ‘rod’ cells. When a person views an opaque coloured object, it is
only the light reflected from the object that can activate the visual process in the eye and
brain, because different illuminants have different spectral energy distributions.

Colour Illusion:
There are numerous optical illusions that are not being answered yet. Optically human eyes
may perceive things that are physically different from the reality. It is also known as Optical
Illusion. Eyes see and the brain perceives. Often what the eyes see not necessarily matches
with the perception. The information processed by brain does not tally with the physical
appearance. Colour Illusion is among those illusions that frequently experienced.

Following are the three main aspects:

1. Plain optical illusions that create images that are different from the objects that make
them,
2. Physiologically, the effects on the eyes and brain of excessive stimulation of a
specific type (brightness, colour, size, position, tilt, movement),
3. Cognitive illusions, the result of unconscious inferences

Psychological of Colour:
Red:
Red is colour of fire and blood, which is associated with energy, war, danger, strength,
power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. Red is a very emotionally
powerful colour. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises
blood pressure.

Red also has very high visibility and indicates danger, which is used to for stop signs,
stoplights, fire equipment, high voltage signs and etc. Red is used to indicate courage and
found in many national flags.

Red brings text and images to foreground, which is mostly used to stimulate people to
make quick decisions like ‘buy now’, ‘offer’ and etc. Red can also be used to promote
energy drinks, games, cars and products related to sports and physical activities.
 Light red represents joy, passion, sensitivity, and love.
 Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and
passiveness.
 Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage,
longing, malice, and wrath.
 Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
 Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.

Orange:
Orange combines energy of red and happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine
and tropics, which represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination,
attraction, success, encouragement and stimulation.

To human eyes, orange is seen as a very hot colour, so it gives sensation of heat. Orange
increases oxygen supply to brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental
activity. It is highly accepted among the people.

As a citrus colour, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is
colour of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.
Orange has very high visibility, so can use it to catch attention and highlight most important
elements of design, which is very effective for promoting food products and toys.
 Dark Orange: Dark orange mean deceit and distrust.
 Red-orange: corresponds to desire, passion, pleasure, domination, aggression and
thirst for action.
 Gold: evokes feeling of prestige. Meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and
wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality.

Yellow:
Yellow is colour of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect and energy, which
produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity and generates
muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food.

Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter that’s why taxicabs are painted this colour.
When overused, yellow may have a disturbing influence; it is known that babies cry more
in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before or colours when placed against black; this
combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and
loyalty. Later meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice. Use yellow to evoke
pleasant, cheerful feelings. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to
highlight most important elements of design.
 Men usually perceive yellow as a very ‘kiddish’ colour, so it is not recommended to use
yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men- nobody will buy a yellow
business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous colour, so
avoid using yellow if we want to suggest stability and safety. Light yellow tends to
disappear into white, so it usually needs a dark colour to highlight it. Shades of yellow
are visually unappealing because y lose cheerfulness and become dingy.
 Dull (dingy) yellow: represents caution, decay, sickness and jealousy.
 Light yellow: is associated with intellect, freshness and joy.

Green:
Green is colour of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green
has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly
associated with money. Green has great healing power. It is most restful colour for human
eyes; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green
denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice.
In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is
colour of free passage in road traffic. Use green to indicate safety when advertising drugs
and medical products. Green is directly related to nature, so can use it to promote 'green'
products. Dull, darker green is commonly associated with money, financial world, banking,
and Wall Street.
 Dark green: associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.
 Yellow-green: indicate sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealousy.
 Aqua: associated with emotional healing and protection.
 Olive green: traditional colour of peace

Blue:
Blue is colour of sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes
trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered
beneficial to mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect.
Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness.

In heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity. Blue can be used to promote
products and services related to cleanliness (water purification filters, cleaning liquids),
air, sky (airlines, airports and air conditioners) and water (sea voyages, mineral water).
Blue is linked to consciousness and intellect. Blue is a masculine colour; according to
studies, it is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise,
and stability; it is a preferred colour for corporate America.

Avoid using blue when promoting food and cooking, because blue suppresses appetite.
When used together with warm colours like yellow or red, blue can create high-impact,
vibrant designs; for example, blue-yellow-red is a perfect colour scheme for a superhero.
  Light blue: associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.
 Dark blue: represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.

Purple:
Purple combines stability of blue and energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It
symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance.
Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
Almost 75 percent children prefer purple to all or colours. Purple is a very rare colour in
nature; some people consider it to be artificial.
 Light purple: evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.
 Dark purple: evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration.

White:
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, and purity. It is considered to be
colour of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black,
white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In
heraldry, white depicts faith and purity.

In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it's colour of snow.
White can be used to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is an appropriate
colour for charitable organizations. Angels are usually imagined wearing white cloths.
White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility, so can use white to suggest safety
when promoting medical products. White is often associated with low weight, low-fat food,
and dairy products.

Black:
Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black is a
mysterious colour associated with fear and unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative
connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it
is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour (black tie, black
Mercedes).

In heraldry, black is symbol of grief. Black gives feeling of perspective and depth, but
black background diminishes readability. A black suit or dress can make look thinner.
When designing for a gallery of painting or photography, we can use a black or gray
background to make or colours stand out. Black contrasts well with bright colours.
Combined with red or orange or very powerful colours- black gives a very aggressive
colour scheme.
Colour and Society:
Different colours mean different things in different places. This is extremely important for
designers to know because without an awareness of the cultural significance of a particular
colour, one may risk offending the entire target audience.

For example, Purple colour means mourning in Thailand. However, in western culture the
purple colour is associated with royalty, luxury and wealth. Mostly, purple colour is used
for the expensive perfume bottle packaging design and the brand colour for Thai Airways is
purple. Even though purple colour means mourning in Thailand, the Thai Airways has
purple colour because it targets on tourists from western and the locals.

In western cultures black is a colour of mourning. However, In Japan it is a colour of honour

and white is the colour of mourning. In western, Red represents danger, love, and passion,
in India it is a colour of celebration (marriage), in China it is a colour of good luck and in
South Africa it is a colour of mourning. Yellow represents courage in Japan, celebration of
Spring Season, mourning in Egypt and hope in the West

Colour and Emotion:

Colours and emotions are closely linked. Warm colours can evoke different emotions than
cool colours; similarly bright colours can create different feelings than dull colours. It all
depends on how the psychological effects of colour are being used. Colours can make to
feel happy or sad, and they can make to feel hungry or relaxed.
These reactions are rooted in psychological effects, biological conditioning and cultural
imprinting. The way different colours can affect emotions depends largely on a colour’s
brightness, shade, tint or tone and whether it’s cool or warm toned. Some of the effects
colours can have are;
 Happy colours: Happy colours are bright and warm colours like yellow, orange,
pink and red.
 Sad colours: Sad colours are dark and dull. Grey is the typical sad colour.
 Calming colours: Cool colours like blue and green can make to feel calm.
 Energizing colours: Colours like bright red, bright yellow and neon green can feel
energizing and make to feel more alert.

**********
DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION
SRM INSITUTE OF SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY
KATTANKULATHUR

DESIGN PRINCIPLES-----UVC20S01T
 UNIT – V
Perspective:

Perspective is a Latin word meaning ‘look through’ or ‘perceive’. Perspective is the art of representing
three- dimensional objects that gives the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in
relation to each other.

There are two simple rules in expressing depth, ‘size decreases with distance’ and ‘overlap when one
is in front of the other’. That is, when there are two objects, one object is place away from other object
then the closed object looks bigger and the other object away from it appear to smaller, which create
depth or one object is placed in front by overlapping the other object by hiding part of it creates depth.
These two explanations are the basis for perspective.

The simplest concept to understand perspective is just standing in the middle of the railway track,
highway road or street and looking into their distance. Visually follow the tracks and the tracks appear
to meet at one point of distance, which is called ‘vanishing point’.

Types of Perspective:

Basically there are two types of perspectives used in the design to create the illusion of depth for the
image, they are;

Linear Perspective:

Linear Perspective is a technique used in the design to show the illusion of depth in the image with the
help of lines. There are different types linear perspectives used in the design, theyare;
 One Point Perspective: The train tracks are the best example of one point perspective, this
technique is useful when expressing landscapes, city
streets and other environments in which things are
aligned and join to one central point. One-point
perspective images have a tendency to draw the
viewer along the lines to the vanishing point.The viewers
will more naturally focus their attention because most of
the lines in the imageconverge onto that area. The boxes
next to the tracks in the one-point perspective example
have one face perfectly aligned parallel to the picture
level. At the same time, one important problem with
this technique is that objects become more misleading.
 Two Point Perspective: The two point perspective, allows
the designer to express the world more realistically by
placing two faces of an object indirectly to the picture level,
because the viewer view most objects from an angle and
not directly from thefront or sides, where the two point
perspective allows representing the real world.

The position of the horizon line represents the viewer’s eye level
and affects how the viewer understands the image. A higher
horizon line can also be used to suggest the viewer waslooking
the road from a window of the building. The higher horizon line
placement is similar to ‘bird’s eye view’ used in the photography, which creates more dramatic visual.
A lower horizon line suggests that the viewer looking into the tall building from the ground. The both
higher and lower horizontal lines are mainly used in comic books, where horizon placement and
exaggerated perspective are used to suggest the action and create more visual interest.

Nonlinear Perspective:

Nonlinear Perspective is the method of showing depth that includes the following techniques.
  Position: Placing an object on top of the page makes it to appear higher on the page than makes
it appear beyond the objects that placed on the bottom of the page.
 Overlapping: When an object overlaps another object it appears closer to the viewer and the
object behind the object appears farther away.
 Size Variation: Smaller objects look farther away in the distance, whereas larger objects look
closer.
 Colour: Bright colors look like they are closer to the viewer and neutral colors looks like they are
farther away.
 Lines: Using line variation to suggest depth is another useful technique in illustration.
 Shading & Shadow: Shading adds depth to an object by suggesting volume, and shadows place
an object in an environment. Both are also used together to indicate light sources in an image and
help represent three dimensions in two-dimensional media

Grid:

Grid is a series of vertical and horizontal lines that are used to subdivide a page vertically and
horizontally into margins, columns, inter-column spaces, lines of type and spaces between blocks of
type and images. These subdivisions form the basis for linked and systematic approach to the layout,
particularly for multipage documents, making the design process quicker, and ensuring visual
uniformity between related pages.

Anatomy of Grids:

Depending on the content, the grids differ in size, shape and

complication. Anyhow, every grid is made of the following parts:
1. Margins: The space that separates the content from theedge of
the page.
2. Flow-lines: Alignments that break the space intohorizontal
groups.
3. Columns: Vertical divisions ofspace on a page.
4. Rows: A series of flow-lines that create horizontal divisions of
space on a page.
5. Gutters: Space that separates rows and columns or two facing
pages.
6. Units: Individual parts of space
created from intersecting rows and columns.
7. Spatial Zones: Groups of units that cross multiple rows and
columns.

Types of Grids:

The five kinds of layout grids are;

Manuscript Grid:
A Word document or a presentation template will always have a manuscript grid.
Sometimes these grids are invisible, although they can be toggled to show up on
documents editors like Word. Manuscript grids in a text document separate the
header, the footer and the space on the edges (margins). The manuscript layout
creates a rectangle inside the page (format), like a bounding box for text.
Manuscript Grid is the foundation for all magazines, newspaper, eBook and all text-
based design.
Column Grid:
Column grids are used to organize elements into columns. Magazines use column
grids to place the text in easy-to-read sections. Columngrids can have as little as two
columns or as many as six or more. Text and images in a column grid are placed
following the vertical lines and flow lines that make up the columns. Images can be
placed inside one column, or across two or more to create a different visual layout.
The spacing between columns (gutters) should be proportional and consistent
throughout the entire document. Printed newspapers usually use a symmetric
column grid to organize their stories.

Modular Grid:
A modular grid is similar to a column grid in that it has columns, but it also has rows.
This kind of grid is used when there are more elements to organize and a column grid
isn’t enough. Newspapers use column and modular grids to organize the stories
comfortably and easy to read. Modular grids have equal size modules. This makes it
easier to “break the rules” and use the spatial zones in different ways. Modular grids are
also great for laying out forms, charts and schedules. Instagram also uses a modular grid
to show the feed.

Baseline Grid:
A baseline is the line where text sits. Leading is the spacing between baselines. A
baseline grid can be applied to any of the grids mentioned above. Using a baseline
grid will give a flowing rhythm to the text. It will also give the headings and
subheadings a proportional space in relation to the body text, making them more
pleasing to the reader. There is a baseline grid in something that used a lot during
school and might still be using now. Lined notebooks have a baseline grid. It
kept a good rhythm in our written assignments.

Hierarchical Grids:
Hierarchical grids are mostly used in web design. The purpose of a hierarchical grid
design is to organize elements in order of importance. It is still called a grid because
the modules are still set up inside a measured manuscript grid. A hierarchical grid
can be set up freestyle, or with a modular grid as a guide. In their move to digital
platforms, newspapers moved from the usual symmetric column grids to hierarchy
grids with columns inside the spatial zones. The word comes from the concept of
royalty: the king and queen are first, then the prince and princess, then the dukes
and so forth. Web designers use hierarchy to make sure the most important
information is seen first.

Composition Grids:
To know better about any art form, first need to understand particular tools and procedures that form it.
Design is no different from playing an instrument or chef making a meal. If the elements of design are the
ingredients for preparing meals, and principles of design are the recipe used to make the meals; then
design layout and composition are the final plating.

The chef could throw everything into a bowl and call it goodor could arrange the ingredients in a way
that highlights the individual elements inside; the chef can deliver a message in a beautiful package. With
time and care, the chef can create an incredible experience for the person consuming the meal.

Rule of Thirds:
In rule of thirds, the picture is divided into three sections vertically and horizontally and lines and
points of intersectionrepresent places to position important visual elements. Moving a horizon in a
landscape to the position of one third is often more effective than placing it in the middle. To place
visual elements for effective composition, one must consider many factors including colour, control,
size and balance together with proportion.
Understanding proportion and various elements of design are only
guidelines one should always follow their instincts combined with
knowledge. Always experimenting and trying something extremely
different, and learn from both the successes and failures. Also try to be
open minded about new ways of taking pictures, new techniques, ideas
and share an open mind in improving the compositional skills.

Golden Ratio:
The Rule of Thirds and the Golden Ratio are some of the most
foundational concepts in the world of photography. The Golden Ratio
divides a scene into two parts. When the longer length is divided by the small length, the result is equal
to the entire length divided by the longer length. The big promoter of the Golden Ratio is Leonardo Da
Vinci, and his famous picture Mona Lisa uses the Golden Ratio concept. The primary differences lie in
focal placement.

The Golden Ratio grid looks a lot like the Rule of Thirds (ROT) grid, but the middle lines of the Golden
Ratio grid are closer. ROT’s compositional points of interest lie on any of the line intersections. However,
on the Phi Grid, because the lines of intersection are not equally apart owing to the closer set of the
center lines, the point of interest is more centralized.

Typography:
Typography is the art of arranging typefaces, selecting style, line spacing, layout and design as a means of
setting language. Typography is a central component of design. There are some common terms and
concepts found in typography, they are;

Characters:
The basic typographic element is called a character, which is any individual letter, numeral, or
punctuation mark. The capital letters are called caps or uppercase characters and small letters are called
lowercase characters, whereas the numbers are called numerals or figures. Pi characters are special
characters used in the Math signs, Punctuation marks and reference marks like © and etc.

Character components:
Typographic characters have basic component parts. The easiest way to differentiate characteristics of
type designs is by comparing the structure of these components.

 Ascender: The lowercase character stroke which extendsabove the x-height.

 Descender: The lowercase character stroke whichextends below the baseline.
 Bar: The horizontal stroke on the characters ‘A’, ‘H’, ‘T’, ‘f’,‘t’
 Baseline: The line on which all letters rest.
 Bowl: The round or oval parts of a letterform.
 Counter: The white space surrounded by a letterform, whether completely or partially.
 Serif: A stroke added to either the beginning or end of one of the main strokes of a letter.
 Sans Serif: San is a French term, meaning “without serif”. A typeface which has no serifs is called
Sans serif.
 Stem: The main stroke of a letter that is generally straightand not with a bowl.
 X-height: The distance between the baseline and midline of an alphabet. The x-height is usually
the height of the unexpended lowercase letters.
 Loop: The bottom part of the lowercase roman ‘g’
 Shoulder: The part of a curved stroke coming from the stem.

Type Face:
A set of metal casts is called a typeface or font. Each typeface consists of different fonts, often
representing a single weight or style. That is, a typeface refers to a family of fonts (such as Arial) while
a font refers to a single member of that family (such as Arial Narrow or Arial Black).

Type size:
All typefaces are not created equally and have different size. Some are fat and wide; some are thin
and narrow. The height of each character is known as ‘x-height’ and the width of each character is
known as the ‘set width’, which extends the body of the letter plus a space that acts as a safeguard
with other letter.
The most common method used to measure type is the point system, which dates back to the
eighteenth century. One point is 1/72 inch. 12 points make one pica, a unit used to measure column
widths. That is 1 pica is equal to 12 points and in 1 inch there are 6 picas, so 1 point is 1/72 inch. In
the computer design, the type sizes are measured in inches, millimeters or pixels.

Leading:
Leading describes the amount of space between lines of text, where the distance can be measured
between two baselines. When the leading decrease, the lines get closer to each other, whereas
when the leading increases, the lines get away from each other.

Tracking:

Tracking or letter spacing is the space between group f characters. Tracking can also been
described as loose or tight, where when the letters have a large distance between them it is called
loose and when the letters are closer, they are called tight.

Golden Mean (Phi):

Phi is also known as the golden mean, is the ratio between two successive numbers in the
Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers which appear throughout
nature. This sequence can be used tocalculate the ‘golden mean’ which isrepresented by the Greek
letter Phi.
The Fibonacci sequence and Phi can be found visually in plants, seashells and in the reproductive
family trees of animals. The Golden Mean or Phi occurs frequently in nature and it may be that
humans are genetically programmed to recognize the ratio as being pleasing.

The Ratio formed 1:1.618 is called the golden mean, if divide each smaller window again with the
same ratio and join their corners will end up with a logarithmic spiral. This spiral is a design found
frequently throughout nature like in horns, flowers and etc. Golden Ratio is a sequence number starts
from 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and continues to infinitive. Each new number in the sequence is
created by adding the previous two numbers. Each succeeding number after 1 is equal to the sum of
the two preceding numbers. For example, the sum of 8 + 13 is 21, making 21 the next number after
13.
 Proportion:

Proportion refers the size relationship of visual elements to each other and to the whole picture. The
main reason that proportion is frequently considered important in composition is because the
viewer responds to it emotionally. Proportion in design has been examined for hundreds of years,
long before photography was invented. The proportion that is frequently mentioned in design is the
Golden mean or Golden ratio.

Proportion- Size & Scale:

 Size: The physical dimensions of an object. An artwork has a physical size; when referring to an
artwork's size, use the term scale. Scale is more than simply the object's size, however. It is the
size of the art object in relationto another object. The relative size of the artwork is always
compared to the size of the human body- life- sized, miniature, enormous are all terms that use
the human body as a size reference.
 Scale: Scale refers to the size of an object (a whole) in relationship to another object (another
whole). In art, the size relationship between an object and the human body is significant. In
experiencing the scale of an artwork we tend to compare its size to the size of the own bodies.

Proportion refers to the relative size of parts of a whole (elements within an object). Often think
of proportions in terms of size relationships within the human body.

Structure:

When two or more objects are placed on a page in relation to each other then they form a
structure, because the elements that are placed in the design organize a structure between the
elements, which makes the design more complex and interesting.
Structures are defined by their lines that connect the objects.
These lines are not necessary to be visible, but can be active or inactive. Structures can be;

 Abstract: The structure lines are both invisible and inactive.

 Concrete: The structure lines are either visible, active, or both.

The objects in the structure or the structure lines can be used to form patterns and textures.
The structures formed can be geometric or organic, which can combine geometric forms organically
or organic forms geometrically, each can convey a different message.

White Space:

Whitespace or negative space is the space between design elements. On a macro level it’s the space
around the design and on a micro level the white space is the space between two lines of text or the
space between an image and its caption. Mostly new designers think that the objective of the design
is just to fill the page without living any space unused.

But the actual fact is that it’s not correct. The correct use of whitespace helps to create the design with
flow and balanced that will lead to a clear and more professional design, which makes the viewer to
feel easier and absorb the content. When all the design elements are united with each other, it’s
difficultconcentrate on any one element, where the whitespace provides the visual relief.

Whitespace can also add style and superiority to a design. White space can be used to separate and
connect elements in a design. Wider spaces separate elements from each other andnarrower spaces
connect elements to expose relationships between them. Whitespace plays a major role in many other
design principles. It’s used to achieve balance, both symmetrical and asymmetrical. By controlling
and shaping the white space in the design creates rhythm, direction and motion.

Why to use Whitespace:

Whitespace can be used in design to convey variousmeanings, some of which includes;

 Quality, wealth & luxury
 Separateness, abandonment & loneliness
 Cleanliness, bleached & washed
 Purity, clean & unadulterated
 Spirituality, sacredness & connection to somethinggreater
 Honesty, distance & infinity
 Calmness, mildness & inaction

White space or Negative space can be used with active or passive. When the space in a design is
symmetrically balanced the space becomes passive, which makes the design static, formal and
boring. When the space is asymmetrically balanced it becomes active, which makes the design
dynamic, modern and interesting.

How to use Whitespace:

Whitespace used can be divided into two types, they are;

 Micro whitespace: Micro whitespace is the space within elements, such as the margins
surrounding text and the leading between lines of text or the spaces between the individual
characters.
 Macro whitespace: Macro whitespace is the space between major elements in the design.
These spaces have a tendency to be larger and are usually immediately misleading.

********