Formal Elements

There are several types of elements in design, ranging from the overall colours of the design to the way it feels, to the rhythm in which the emphasis of the design is placed on the page. These elements make up every piece of design.

Rhythm is the way in which each section of the design is positioned upon the piece of work, how it flows through the canvas in which it is placed upon. When rhythm works well, the viewer will not get confused about where to go, merely follow the course of the design, when it doesn’t work well, the design becomes confusing, and the viewer becomes unaware of where they go next, causing miscommunication of the art work.

I feel one of the main elements is texture. Texture really brings the piece of work to life, gives the image feeling and a sense of personalization. It’s what makes a plain boring piece of work into something that jumps out and snatches the readers attention, draws them to the piece of work, and keeps them fixated up on it. Texture can range to a simple gradient background, to a handcrafted piece scanned in to a computer and edited to be in the back drop of your design.

Another element that works well in design is volume. Volume can really make a piece of work emphasize its message. Adding a lot of volume to an object can really make it stand out of the page, for instance, using a lot of volume on one word of a sentence really brings out that the word is the centre of attention.

Although I feel texture is very important, I feel colour is by far the most vital of all elements. Having the right colour and tone in your design can be a make or break deal on whether it will work or not in its given market. Simple mistakes such as trying to perceive something to be warm and comfortable and having a dull dark colour can instantly turn the viewer of the design away. Colour is pivotal to all design, and quite often with great designs, they work just as well in black and white, as they do in colour. Sometimes it is best to go through tones of the colours in which you/the client wish to use can help find the perfect colour for the design.

Keeping proportion in your design is also essential. When different objects or type are not in proportion with each other (not purposely) the design can look very unprofessional. If the designs proportion is purposefully set off, it can look abstract and interesting, however not done properly can completely ruin the design. Keeping objects generally in proportion with each other, works a lot better.

Unity within a design is extremely important in a design as it is what pulls all the design elements together. Unity looks at how the elements work in contrast with each other, whether they sit closely together in the design or whether they are spaced apart. The closer they sit the stronger the unity is, this is affected by layout and spacing of areas of image, line and text.

Every design has emphasis, whether it is on logo, wording or image there will always be a definite emphasis on a certain bit of any design. This is especially apparent in design for advertising as the emphasis is always on the element they are trying to advertise.


Event though there is always emphasis a good design will always have balance.Balance can be simply each half of the page being symmetrical to each other or it can be 2 parts of the composition that are placed together to give the design unity. In some cases balance can be obscure and the two halves of the composition can be contrasting and asymmetrical, yet still create some kind of balance on the design. 

Line is probably the most common element of any design. Most smooth, professional designs have, objects, shapes and text that are kept in line. It makes the design sharper and you read it better when things are lined up. However, more sporty and `’bouncy’ designs, look more towards rhythm and randomly placing the objects around the page.