As many of you know this blog is an offshoot of our book Design: A Beginner’s Handbook. In addition to this blog we also maintain a Facebook page and a set of Pinterest boards. The book contains real world examples of the elements and principles of design while the auxiliary resources showcase examples from the fields of art and design.
If you’ve read our book you know that we’ve divided it into fifteen chapters. Each of the first seven cover a specific design element (dot/point, line, shape, space, texture, value, and color) while the remaining eight chapters are devoted to one of the design principles (unity and variety, balance, grid, emphasis and focal point, scale and proportion, pattern, rhythm, and motion and time).
Today I encourage you to read the book as you look at the images I’ve plucked from our Pinterest boards. Try reading a chapter and then see if you can evaluate the image in light of what you’ve read. A next step would be for you to set up your own Pinterest boards (it’s free) and pin images that correspond to each of the elements and principles of design.
The 7 design elements:
Chapter 1 Dot Mona Hatoum “Drowning Sorrows (wine bottles 111)”
Chapter 2 Line Heike Weber on left – “Isohypse,” on right “Whirlpool”
Chapter 3 Shape Joseph Yoakum
Chapter 4 Space Aydin Buyuktas “Flatland Series”
Chapter 5 Texture Nick Cave “Sound Suit”
Chapter 6 Value Georges de La Tour “The Repentant Magdalen”
Chapter 7 Color Sandy Skoglund “Radioactive Cats”
The 8 Principles of Design:
Chapter 8 Unity and Variety Marc Andre Robinson “Right of Return (By Themselves and of Themselves)”
Chapter 9 Balance Kerry James Marshall “Club Couple”
Chapter 10 Grid Louise Bourgeois “Lullaby”
Chapter 11 Emphasis and Focal Point Shirin Neshat “My House is On Fire”
Chapter 12 Scale and Proportion Momoyo Torimitsu “Somehow I don’t feel comfortable”
Chapter 13 Pattern Lucy T. Pettway “Snowball quilt”
Chapter 14 Rhythm Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects “Ribbon Chapel”
Chapter 15 Motion and Time Damian Ortega “Controller of the Universe”
