GraphicDesign&Illustration: The Universal Language

The Universal language

	The principles of good design are the tools used by an artist or designer to create an effective composition or design. The difference between a weak design and a strong one, is completely dependent upon the designer’s knowledge of the design principles and how he/she supplies them.

The Design Principles

	Balance ·  A feeling of equality of weight, attention, or attraction of the various elements within the composition.
	Movement ·  The suggestion of action or direction, the path our eyes follow when we look at a work of art.
	Repetition & Rhythm ·  The act of repeating an element either regularly or irregularly resulting in a rhythm of the repeating elements.
	Emphasis ·  The stress placed on a single area of a work, or unifying visual theme.
	Simplicity ·  The elimination of all non-essential elements or details to reveal the essence of a form.
	Contrast ·  The difference between elements or the opposition to various elements.
	Proportion ·  The relation of two things in size, number, amount, or degree.
	Space ·  The interval or measurable distance between objects or forms.
	Unity ·  The relationship between the individual parts and the whole of a composition. Gestalt Psychology       “Greater than the sum of its parts.” ·  Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. Gestalts theory of visual perception is when parts identified individually have different characteristics to the whole (Gestalt means, "organised whole"). Perhaps the best known example of a gestalt is the vase/face profile, when at first glance, you see the vase outline, but on closure inspection (or if, like me you read that there were two faces) you see the side profiles of a basic outline of the two faces.