The Elements & Principles of Design: Part 2

Element
Color

Example

Principle
Balance: The ratio of text to image isnt offset, theres the same
amount of image and text.
Contrast: The color chosen do not clash and work well together
while still giving a good contrast.
Emphasis: Your eye sees the big yellow M then moves down the
legs of the M to the company name.
Movement: The legs of the M guide your eye to the company
name.
Rhythm: The double arch of the M gives the movement an up and
down rhythm.
Unity: This logo, frankly, doesnt have a great sense of unity. The
way the text fits into the M is slightly unifying though.
http://www.impomag.com/sites/impomag.com/files/legacyimages/mcdonaldslogo.jpg

Line

Balance: This logo is overall very symmetric in its weight

distribution.
Contrast: The blue against the white looks great together and
helps give the soft shape of the inside of the logo.
Emphasis: While subtle, the emphasis is on the GE in the middle
of the logo.
Movement: The lines around GE tend to guide your eye towards
the emphasis (GE).
Rhythm: The lines around the GE give your eye a line to follow to
GE then also away from GE.
Unity: The font of GE and the style of the lines surrounding it are
the same, so that gives it a solid unifying factor.
http://blog.weaverappliance.com/files/2013/08/GE-logo.jpg

Shape

Balance: Even though this logo isnt symmetric, the size of the
wing on the left and the size of the beak/chest/head seem to even
out and keep it symmetric, weight-wise.

Contrast: This logo only consists of one color but tends to

contrast nicely over most colors.
Emphasis: The whole logo as itself is emphasized.
Movement: The wing catches your eye and then you follow it to
the head of the bird.
Rhythm: This logo is slightly lacking of rhythm, your eye only has
one guide to follow (wing to beak).
Unity: The sharpness of the wing tip and the tipped end of the
beak give the different sides of this logo a sense of similarity even
though it isnt symmetric.
https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.png

Scale

Balance: While the person to the right is considerably smaller

than the person to the left, the curved line under the smaller
person distributes the weight relatively evenly.
Contrast: Theres only one color in the logo so there isnt much
contrast in the logo itself.
Emphasis: The emphasis lies on the adults head.
Movement: Your eye starts at the emphasis (the adults head) and
moves through his arm to the childs arm, then the childs head.
Rhythm: There are a few ways this can go. You can see the
rhythm from the adults head, through the arms, to the childs
head. Or the child, follow the curved line, to the adult.
Unity: The fact that both people are the same (ones just smaller)
and their arms are connecting is unifying.
http://monroechamber.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/09/BigBrothersBigSistersLogo1-1.jpg

Space

Balance: The weight on the bottom of the log is symmetrical. The

weight at the top of the logo, while lighter, is still symmetrical.
Contrast: The dark blue works well with the light green and gives
a subtle contrast.
Emphasis: The emphasis, while very subtle, seems to lie on the
blue/green/blue group of lines sweeping across the middle of the
logo.
Movement: The eye can follow many things with this particular
logo. The green line going up and down, the group of horizontal
swooping lines in the middle of the logo and the blue curved line
in the background on the left.

Rhythm: The rhythm in this logo is poor considering the eye cant
follow a swooping line to another swooping line.
Unity: The curvedness of the lines give a three-dimensional feel,
unifying the logo as a single three-dimensional object.
http://ecelliitk.com/images/logo_lt.png

Texture

Balance: This logo is perfectly symmetrical and weighted evenly.

Contrast: The light and dark colors used on this logo give it a
three-dimensional look and metallic texture.
Emphasis: The dark hues in this logo emphasis the curved line
crossing the middle of the logo. Therefore emphasizing the M in
the logo (for Mazda).
Movement: Your eyes follow the arches in the M down to the
inner point of the M.
Rhythm: The arches of the M give the movement a sort of up and
down rhythm as you move across them.
Unity: The arches give movement through them and then around
the M, so your eye can follow through the whole logo.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/nah/b/b1/Mazda_logo.png

Value

Balance: Even though theres more weight on the right side of the
logo, the darker coloring on the left side makes it seem heavier,
therefore evening it out.
Contrast: The light to dark color aspect of this logo gives it some
contrast.
Emphasis: The emphasis is on the head of the bird, where the
color is darkest.
Movement: Your eye starts at the head and moves through the
body to the tips of the wings.
Rhythm: The repetitive wings give this logo rhythm.
Unity: The overall color and weight of this logo is continuous,
giving it unity.
http://vsual.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/HumanRightsLogo_CO.jpg