The Elements and

Principals of
Design
By Joshua Croteau

What are the elements and Principals of

Design?
The Principals of Design, are basic rules you need to follow for an image to
be visually appealing. Principals of Design include Balance, Harmony,
Unity, Emphasis, Perspective, Movement, and Variety.
The Elements of Design are the Elements of an image. The Building
Blocks per se. The Elements of Deign include Line, Shape, Value, Colour,
and Texture.

Balance
Balance is basically balancing an image, drawing attention to all parts of the image, with equal weight
across the whole image. It can be 2 identical images on either side, like 2 triangles, or it can be do
different images; one large grey circle on the left, and another smaller rainbow circle on the right. The
rainbow circle, being more visually appealing, while being smaller draws the same attention as the large
grey circle. Without balance, it is difficult for the viewer to clearly understand the Image.

Harmony
Harmony means all parts of an image relate to and compliment
each other. Some examples are, Organization of elements,
choice of colour, or repeating shapes.

Unity
Unity is when an image has elements that help each other
function together as a complete whole. Unity helps organize
images, increasing understanding of said image.

Emphasis
Emphasis is the principle of design that causes one element or
area of a visual image to be more important than the other
parts and makes it attract the viewers attention.

Perspective
Perspective is created through the arrangement of objects in
two-dimensional space to emphasize function and provide realworld feedback to the user's actions

Movement
Movement creates the illusion of action, motion, or physical change of position.
Movement in a visual image comes from the repeating images or changes of shapes,
forms, lines, curves, direction, textures, colors, and light and dark values that are used. A
series of images shown as individual frames (like a comic strip) can also provide a sense
of movement through time.

Variety
Variety is the principle concerned with combining design elements that are
different or contrasting. It provides contrast to harmony and unity, and
consists of the differences in objects that add interest to a visual image.