Unit 1 | The Elements of Design
Unit 1 of FDD covers the basic elements and principles of design and layout. By making conscious decisions, designers can use these base units to create powerful design statements.
What is Design?
Design
Design is a crucial aspect of conveying messages and information effectively. It not only enhances the visual appeal but also improves functionality. In the publishing industry, designers play a vital role in creating books, magazines, and newspapers that inform and entertain readers. Additionally, they help businesses stand out from their competitors by developing unique branding strategies and designing messages, products, and services that reflect the company’s character and resonate with consumers. Advertising design focuses on promoting commercial products and services through various media platforms. Information designers simplify complex explanations by transforming them into visual forms that facilitate understanding patterns in data and relationships between ideas. Typography, photographs, illustrations, and graphic elements are utilized by designers to create attention-grabbing messages that stimulate thought and leave a lasting impact.
Certain areas of design require specialized skills. Motion graphics, for instance, incorporate sound and movement to enhance visual communication. They can be observed on television, computer screens, movies, and even in technology walls and stadiums. Exhibition and packaging designers not only work with text and images but also construct physical structures and select materials to convey messages effectively. Wayfinding systems and signage design focus on guiding people’s behavior in unfamiliar places over time and space. These practices consider the specific settings where individuals encounter messages and emphasize both their actions and comprehension of the content.
In today’s digital era, designers utilize computer technology to create visual, audio, and time-based content. However, their primary focus lies in designing digital experiences that seamlessly integrate with people’s daily lives. Through various digital technologies like smartphones and voice-activated devices, designers connect individuals with others, provide information, and offer services. They also consider how people interact with digital information and prioritize the visual aspects of communication. User experience (UX) designers develop tools and systems that enable users to create their own content and connect with like-minded individuals. Software design supports a technology-driven environment that adapts to users’ actions.
Designing experiences extends beyond arranging form and content. It is rooted in models of conversation and community, emphasizing relationships and engagement with the cultural and physical environment. Interaction and experience designers study people’s motives and behaviors in activities that hold significance to them. They shape these relationships and support engagement by considering the humanistic aspects of technological experiences. Web and software designers strike a balance between technical efficiency and creative expression, exploring innovative solutions to complex societal problems through technology. By continuously evolving and adapting, designers play a crucial role in shaping our digital world.
Summary
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Design is important for conveying messages effectively and improving functionality.
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Designers play a vital role in creating books, magazines, newspapers, websites, motion graphics and videos.
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They also help businesses stand out by developing unique branding strategies and designing messages that resonate with consumers.
Basic Elements of Design
Line
An element of art defined by a point moving in space. May be two-or three-dimensional, descriptive, implied, or abstract.
Shape
An element of art that is two-dimensional, flat, or limited to height and width.
Color
The perceived [[wikipedia:hue|hue]] of an object, produced by the manner in which it reflects or emits light into the eye.
Also, a substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts a hue.
Value
The lightness or darkness of tones or colors. White is the lightest value; black is the darkest. The value halfway between these extremes is called middle gray.
Texture
An element of art that refers to the way things feel, or look as if they might feel if touched.
Mass/Form
This element refers to the way in which a three-dimensional form (or the illusion of a three-dimensional form) appears to have weight, density or bulk, based on the way the form is created.
Principles of Design
Balance
Balance is the distribution of one or more elements which visually equal each other. If elements are not balanced, a design is said to be asymmetrical.
Alignment
the lining up of text or graphics on a page
Contrast
The range of light to dark areas in a composition. A composition is said to have greater contrast if there is a greater distinction between light and dark regions.
Unity/Harmony
The principle of design that states that design elements should be both visually and conceptually harmonious. A work is is unified if the elements that compose the work are in agreement, and no one element is more important than the whole design.
Proportion
Refers to the harmonious relation of parts to each other or to the whole.
Design Layout Principles
Proximity
The principle of design which states that elements near each other are perceived as related, while elements spaced apart are perceived as belonging to separate groups.
Alignment
the lining up of text or graphics on a page
Repetition
repeating a single element many times in a design.
Contrast
The range of light to dark areas in the composition.
Rule of Thirds
The [[Wikipedia:rule of thirds|rule of thirds]] is a layout principle that suggests that images are most aesthetically pleasing when key objects are placed at the intersection of imaginary lines that divide the image into thirds.
Designers can use this rule to draw emphasis to more important elements within a design.
Rule of Phi/The Golden Ratio
| The rule of Phi, or the [[wikipedia:Golden Ratio | Golden Ratio]] says that by incorporating the mathematical ratio of [[wikipedia:phi | phi]] into design layout humans can recreate one of the organic patterns present in nature. The ratio has been claimed to have used by Ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian architects, and is prominently used in the work of Leonardo da Vinci. |
| A type of spiral similar to the golden ratio is the [[Wikipedia:Fibonacci_number#Nature | Fibonacci spiral]] which is constructed using a different mathematical equation. |