Elements of Design

GRAP 2743 Design Studio 1:

Drawing & Model Making
for Design

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Elements of Design
● space ● form
● line ● colour
● shape ● texture
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Space is an area or distance
between certain points and may be
two-, three-, or four-dimensional.
Two-dimensional space has length and
breadth; three-dimensional has length,
breadth and depth. Four-dimensional space
is space-time, or space combining time,
motion and three-dimensional space.

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 Two-dimensional
space
Purist Still Life, 1975,
Roy Lichtenstein

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 Two-dimensional or
Three-dimensional
space?
A News Kiosk, 1924,
Herbert Bayer

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 Three-dimensional
space?
The Parthenon, 438BC,
Athens, Classical Greece

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 Four-dimensional space
Nude Descending A Staircase 2, 1912,
Marcel Duchamp

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Line is a mark or mass usually
longer than it is wide. In nature it occurs
alone and in combination with other lines.
All have distinct properties.

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Linear characteristics
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Linear elements in objects
Serac Bench, 2013, Zaha Hadid
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 Linear elements
in objects
Carlton Room Divider, 1981,
Ettore Sottsass

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Shape is an area defined. It may be
two-dimensional having length and width
but no depth and be called a pattern, or
it may be three-dimensional with length,
width and depth or volume, and be called
a mass or form.

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Formal elements in architecture & objects
Sydney Opera House, 1973, Jorn Utzon
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Formal elements in
architecture & objects
Table Lamp, 1923-24,
Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Carl Jakob Jucker

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Organic forms in nature & design
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Organic forms in nature & design
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997, Frank Gehry
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Elements of Design cont’d
● space ● form
● line ● colour
● shape ● texture
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Colour is both an external occurrence
and an internal sensation comprising three main
properties: hue (colour or shade), value
(lightness or darkness of a colour) and intensity
(also described as chroma or saturation.)
A colour is at full intensity when not mixed with
black, white or grey. Colour theory can be used
by designers to develop colour schemes,
psychological and physical effects.

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Colour theory

“For experimental purpose, the wall

painting workshop of the Bauhaus in
Weimar request responses to the
following questions. 1. Each of the
3 shapes should be entirely filled in
with one of the 3 colours, yellow,
red and blue. 2. If possible, provide
a rationale for this colour choice.”
Colour Questionnaire, 1923,
Wassily Kandinsky

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 Colour in
architecture
& design
Parc De La Villette, 1987,
Bernard Tschumi

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 Folies, Parc De La Villette, 1987,
Bernard Tschumi

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Colour and movement in design
Renault Centre, 1982, Norman Foster
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Texture is the characteristic of the
surface of an object or area. It may be only
two-dimensional and be called a pattern
or visual texture. It may be the actual structure
of the surface which one experiences when
one touches it.

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 Visual texture
in patterns
Tile QR Code, 2013,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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 Visual texture
in patterns
Current, 1964,
Bridget Riley

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 Visual-tactile
textures
Slinky, 1943,
Richard T. James

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 Natural &
manufactured
textures
Sardine can
with key

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 Material textures
9091 Kettle, 1982,
Richard Sapper
for Alessi
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 Tactile textures
Desk Set for Blind
People, xxxx,
Designer name?

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Next:
Principles of Design
● balance ● emphasis
● movement ● contrast
● repetition ● unity
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Visual references
Slide 4: Purist Still Life, 1975, Roy Lichtenstein
Oil and magna on canvas, 70 x 80 x 1 inches
The Eli and Edyth Broad Collection, Retrieved May 30, 2019.
https://www.imageduplicator.com/main.php?decade=70&year=75&work_id=644#

Slide 5: A News Kiosk, 1924, Herbert Bayer, Weimar, Retrieved May

30, 2019.
http://www.mgz.hr/en/exhibitions/ivana-tomljenovic-meller---a-zagreb-girl-at-the-bauhaus,218.html

Slide 6: The Parthenon, 438 BC, Classical Greece, Retrieved June 14,
2019.By Steve Swayne, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon.png

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Slide 7: Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), 1912, Marcel Duchamp
(French, 1887–1968), Retrieved May 30, 2019.
https://www.clevelandart.org/centennial/centennial-loans/marcel-duchamp-nude-descending-a-staircase-no.-2

Slide 9: Barbed Wire, Retrieved May 31, 2019. Photo by Kat Jayne from Pexels

Slide 9: Aqua Blue Clean Water, (converted to B & W) Free to Use,

Retrieved May 31, 2019. Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

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Slide 10: Serac Bench, 2013, Zaha Hadid for Lab23, resin and quartz
composite, urban furniture. Photography by Jacopo Spilimbergo.
Retrieved May 31,
2019. https://www.dezeen.com/2013/04/11/serac-bench-by-zaha-hadid-for-lab23/

Slide 11: Carlton Room Divider, 1981, Ettore Sottsass, Memphis group.
Photography by Lauren Schwartzberg. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
https://www.thecut.com/2017/05/the-memphis-design-movement-is-having-a-moment.html

Slide 13: The Sydney Opera House, 1973, Jorn Utzon. Retrieved June
14, 2019. Photo by Simon Clayton from Pexels and Photo by Rijan Hamidovic from Pexels

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Slide 14: Table Lamp, 1923-24, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Carl Jakob Junker.
Photograph By I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, Retrieved June 14, 2019.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44239137

Slide 15: Boulder brain coral colony. Photograph By Nhobgood Nick

Hobgood - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Retrieved June 14, 2019.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11684233

Slide 16: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997, Frank Gehry. CC BY-SA

3.0, Retrieved June 14, 2019.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33413

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Slide xx: Kandinsky’s Colour Questionnaire, 1923, Wassily Kandinsky,
Bauhaus Archive Berlin. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
https://www.design-is-fine.org/post/49778969243/wassily-kandinsky-bauhaus-questionnaire-1923

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Slide xx: Slinky, 1943, Richard T. James, Wikimedia. Retrieved July 18,
2019. Image by Roger McLassus - Picture taken and uploaded by Roger McLassus., CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=554020

Sardine can. https://purpleclover.littlethings.com/relationships/5978-sardine-syndrome/ Retrieved July 18, 2019. Photo

by Volker Moehrke https://images.app.goo.gl/f6eZpDyjqzHKddj36

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