Chapter 3

Fundamentals
of Graphic Design
 Objectives
• Learn to design with the formal
elements of design.
• Understand the nature of color.
• See how to employ the principles of
design.
• Realize how to manipulate graphic
space.
 Formal Elements
• Any graphic designer must have a
foundation in two-dimensional design and
color.
• The formal elements are the building
blocks of two-dimensional design.
– Line
– Value
– Shape
– Texture
– Color
– Format
 Line
• A line is a mark made by a tool as it is
drawn across a surface.
– The tool can be almost anything — a
pencil, a pointed brush, a computer and
mouse, even a cotton swab.
• Also, a line is defined as a moving dot or
point, or can be called an open path.

Packaging
Designer firm:
Louise Fili Ltd.
 Shape
• The general
outline of
something is a
shape, also
defined as a
closed form or
closed path.

Graphic Identity Design

firm: Harp and Company
 Value
• Value describes the lightness or
darkness of a visual element.
 Color (1 of 2)
• Hue is the name of a color, that is,
red or green, blue or orange.
• Value is the range of lightness or
darkness, that is, a light red or a
dark red, a light yellow or a dark
yellow.
– Shade, tone, and tint are different
aspects of value.
• Saturation is the brightness or
dullness of a color, that is, bright red
or dull red, bright blue or dull blue.
 Color (2 of 2)
• Diagram/additive
color system
– When working with
light, the three
primaries are
green, red, and
blue.
– Primaries are also
called the additive
primaries
because, when
added together,
they create white
light.
– The color system
of white light is
called the additive
color system.
 Diagram/Subtractive
Color System
• The subtractive
color model is built
on the subtractive
primary colors.
– The subtractive
primary colors in
pigment are
yellow, red, and
blue.
– In printing inks,
they are cyan,
magenta, and
yellow.
 Diagram/Additive
Color System
• When working with
light, the three
primaries are green,
red, and blue.
• In printing, yellow,
magenta, and cyan
are the colors of the
process inks used
for process color
reproduction.
• A fourth color,
black, is added to
increase contrast.
 Color: CMYK Percentages
• Diagram / subtractive primary
hues with CMYK
percentages
– In printing, yellow, magenta,
and cyan are the colors of
the process inks used for
process color reproduction.
– A fourth color, black, is
added to increase contrast.
Using all four is called four-
color process.
• Four-color process is used
to reproduce color
photographs, art, and
illustrations.
 Color: Pantone
Matching System Swatch

• The Pantone Matching

System (PMS), offers
many custom mixed
colors with PMS books
to illustrate the
available colors.
 Texture
• The tactile quality
of a surface or the
representation of
such a surface
quality is a texture.
– Tactile textures
are real; we can
actually feel their
surfaces with our
fingers.
– Visual textures
are illusionary;
they simply give
the impression of Poster Design firm:
real textures. Studio Bustamante
 Pattern
• Pattern can be
defined as a
repetitive
arrangement of
elements, like a
wrapping paper
design or a plaid
shirt.

Poster Design: Luba Lukova

 Format
• The format is the substrate or
support for the graphic design.
 The Principles of Design:
Balance
• Balance is an equal distribution of
weight.
• A balanced composition can be
symmetric or asymmetric.
 The Principles of Design:
Symmetric Design
• Symmetry is the
arrangement of all
identical or similar
visual elements so
that they are evenly
distributed on either
side of an imaginary
vertical axis, like a
mirror image. Theater poster
Design firm: Spotco
Illustrator: Roz Chast
 The Principles of Design:
Asymmetric Balance

• When you
arrange
dissimilar or
unequal
elements of
equal weight
on the page, it
is called
asymmetry.
Poster Design firm: Jennifer
Sterling Design
 The Principles of Design:
Emphasis
• The arrangement of visual elements
giving stress or importance to some
visual elements
• Allows two actions
– Information to be gleaned easily
– The graphic design to be easily
received.
 The Principles of Design:
Emphasis—Focal Point

• The part of a
design that is most
accentuated

Poster Design firm:

Morla Design
 The Principles of Design:
Emphasis—Visual Hierarchy
• Establishing a visual
hierarchy, which
means arranging
elements according to
emphasis, is directly
related to establishing
a point of focus.
• It goes beyond a focal
point to establish a
priority order of all the Annual Report Design
information in a work. firm: Leiber Brewster
 The Principles of Design:
Rhythm
• Pattern created by
repeating or varying
elements, with
consideration given
to the space between
them, and by
establishing a sense
of movement from
one element to
another

Promotional Design firm:

Planet Design Company
 The Principles of Design:
Unity
• Established when
the elements in a
design look as
though they
belong together
• One of the primary
goals of
composition –
Packaging Design firm:
establishing an Louise Fili Ltd.
integrated whole,
rather than
unrelated parts
 The Principles of Design:
Unity—Correspondence
• When you repeat
an element like
color, direction,
value, shape, or
texture, or
establish a style,
like a linear style,
you establish a
visual connection Poster Design firm:
or correspondence Concrete Design Communications

among the
elements.
 The Principles of Design:
Unity—Grid
• A grid is a guide — a modular
compositional structure made up of
verticals and horizontals that divide
a format into columns and margins.
• It may be used for single-page
formats or multi-page formats.
 The Principles of Design:
Unity—Alignment
• Visual connections can be made
between and among elements,
shapes, and objects when their
edges or axes line up with one
another.
 The Principles of Design:
Unity—Flow
• Elements should be arranged so
that the audience is led from one
element to another through the
design.
• Flow is also called movement and is
connected to the principle of rhythm.
The Manipulation of Graphic
Space: Positive and
Negative Space
• In a successful
positive/negative
relationship, the
positive and
negative space is
interdependent.

Poster Design firm:

Chermayeff & Geismar Inc.
The Manipulation of Graphic
Space: Illusion
• On a two-dimensional surface, you can
create the illusion of three-dimensional
space or spatial depth.
– The illusion of spatial depth can be
shallow or deep, recessive or projected.

Book Jacket Design firm: Muller + Company

 Summary
• Learning to successfully manipulate the
formal elements -- line, shape, color,
value, texture, and format -- and apply the
design principles of balance, emphasis,
rhythm, and unity, as well as manipulate
graphic space is imperative.
– These formal elements and principles
underpin every visual solution.
– Without a complete understanding, one
creates primitively rather than with design
intelligence.