Elements of GD..Alyssa

 1. Grid

Summary

    A grid is a network of lines, and the lines typically run horizontally and vertically in evenly spaced increments. Grids are used very often in the design world. Guidelines help the designer align elements in relation to each other. In addition to organizing the active content of the page (text and images), the grid lends structure to the white spaces, which cease to be merely blank and passive voids but participate in the rhythm of the overall system. The grid offers a rationale and a starting point for each composition, converting a blank area into a structured field.

    The grid is culturally associated with modern urbanism, architecture, and technology. Grids help designers create active, asymmetrical compositions in place of static, centered ones. Grids also encourage designers to leave some areas open rather than filling up the whole page. The grid has a long history within modern art and design as a means of generating form. Designers explore the grid as a tool for organizing content and generating form. A skilled designer uses a grid actively, not passively, allowing the modules to suggest intriguing shapes and surprising placements for elements.

2. Pattern

Summary

    The creative evolution of ornament spans all of human history. Shared ways to generate pattern are found in cultures all over the world. Universal principles underlie diverse icons that speak to particular times and traditions. Dots, stripes, and grids provide the architecture behind an infinite range of designs. By composing a single element in different schemes, the designer can create endless variations, building complexity around a logical core. The structural analysis of pattern is central to modern design theory. By understanding how to produce patterns, designers learn how to weave complexity out of elementary structures, participating in the world's most ancient and prevalent artistic practice. 

    In the 19th century, designers found that nearly any pattern arises from three basic forms: isolated elements, linear elements, and crisscrossing or interaction of the two. Whether rendered by hand, machine, or code, a pattern results from repetition. In every instance, patterns follow some repetitive principle, whether dictated by a mechanical grid, a digital algorithm, or the physical rhythm of a crafts-person's tool as it works along a surface. Altering the color contrast between elements or changing the overall scale of the pattern transforms its visual impact. Color shifts can be uniform across the surface, or they can take place in gradients or steps. Turning elements on an angle or changing their scale also creates a sense of depth and motion. Every pattern follows a rule. Defining rules with computer code allows the designer to create variations by changing the input to the system. The designer creates the rule, but the end result may be unexpected.

3. Point, Line, & Plane

Summary

    Point, line, and plane are the building blocks of design. From these elements, designers create images, icons, textures, patterns, diagrams, animations, and typographic systems. Diagrams build relationships among elements using points, lines, and planes to map and connect data. Textures and patterns are constructed from large groups of points and lines that repeat, rotate, and otherwise interact to form distinctive and engaging surfaces. There are numerous ways to experiment with these basic elements of two-dimensional design: observing the environment around you, making marks with physical and digital tools, using software to create and manipulate images, or writing code to generate form with rules and variables.

Point: A point marks a position in space. Graphically, however, a point takes form as a dot, a visible mark. A series of points form a line. A mass of points become texture, shape, or plane. In typography, the point is a period - the definitive end of a line. Each character in a field of text is a singular element, and thus a kind of point, a finite element in a series.

Line: A line is an infinite series of points. A line can be a positive mark or a negative gap. Lines exist in many weights; the thickness and texture as well as the path of the mark determine its visual presence. They can be straight or curved, continuous or broken. When a line reaches a certain thickness, it becomes a plane. Lines multiply to describe volumes, planes, and textures. In typographic layouts, lines are implied as well as literally drawn.

Plane: A plane is a flat surface extending in height and width. A line closes to become a shape, a bounded plane. A plane can be parallel to the picture surface, or it can skew and recede into space. A plane can be solid or perforated, opaque or transparent, textured or smooth. A field of text is a plane built from points and lines of type. A typographic plane can be dense or open, hard or soft. Designers experiment with line spacing, font size, and alignment to create different typographic shapes. 

4. Rhythm and Balance

Summary

    In design, balance acts as a catalyst for form, it anchors and activates elements in space. Relationships among elements on the page reminds us of physical relationships. Visual balance occurs when the weight of one or more things is distributed evenly or proportionately in space. A symmetrical design, which has the same elements on at least two sides along a common axis, is inherently stable. Designers employ contrasting size, texture, value, color, and shape to offset or emphasize the weight of an object and achieve a sense of balance. Rhythm is a strong, regular, repeated pattern. Graphic designers use rhythm in the construction of static images as well as in books, magazines, and motion graphics that have duration and sequences. Most forms of graphic design seek rhythms that are punctuated with change and variation. Book design, for example, seeks out a variety of scales and tonal values across its pages, while also preserving an underlying structural unity. Balance and rhythm work together to create works of design that pulse with life, achieving both stability and surprise.

    Symmetry is not the only way to achieve balance, however. Asymmetrical designs are generally more active than symmetrical ones, and designers achieve balance by placing contrasting elements in counterpoint to each other, yielding compositions that allow the eye to wander while achieving an overall stability. 

    Graphic designers employ similar structures visually. The repetition of elements such as circles, lines, and grids create rhythm, while varying their size or intensity generates surprise. In animation, designers must orchestrate both audio and visual rhythms simultaneously. 

5. Hierarchy

Summary

    Hierarchy is the order of importance within a social group or in a body of text. Hierarchical order exists in nearly everything we know, including the family unit, the workplace, politics, and religion. Hierarchy is conveyed through variations in scale, value, color, spacing, placement, and other signals. Expressing order is a central task of the graphic designer. Visual hierarchy controls the delivery and impact of a message. Without hierarchy, graphic communication is dull and difficult to navigate. Graphic design cycles through periods of structure and chaos, ornament and austerity. Hierarchy can be simple or complex, rigorous or loose, flat or highly articulated. Hierarchy employs clear marks of separation to signal a change from one level to another. 

6. Modularity

Summary

    Every design problem is completed within a set of constraints or limitations. These limits can be as broad as "design a logo", as generic as "print on standard letter paper", or as narrow as "arrange six circles in a square space". Working within the constraints of a problem is part of the fun and challenge of design. Modularity is a special kind of constraint. A module is a fixed element used within a larger system or structure. For example, a pixel is a module that builds a digital image. A pixel is so small, we rarely stop to notice it, but when designers create pixel-based typefaces, they use a grid of pixels to invent letterforms that are consistent from one to the next while also giving each one a distinctive shape.