Design Principles & Elements

If the elements of visual design are the ingredients of good visual design, then the principles of visual design guide how you mix those ingredients together. 

In other words, the elements of visual design describe components of a product’s aesthetics. The principles of design, on the other hand, inform how these elements can and should go together to achieve desired results. Many of the principles of visual design complement one another. The slides below describe seven principles of visual design. 

The elements of visual design can be thought of as the ingredients of an aesthetically pleasing design. The physical appearance of any product can be broken down into the fundamental elements of visual design. The slides below describe the seven elements of visual design, provides examples of their use, and explains how a viewer may perceive each element.