Visual Elements of Design

During this first lesson on graphic design you will be introduced to the visual elements of design theory and have a go at practicing them.

This lesson is in three parts:

Part 1: Elements of design theory
Part 2: Describing the elements of design
Part 3: Practice using the elements of design

Part 1: Elements of Design Theory

Below is a really good short YouTube video that explains some of the elements of design which are; line, shape, form, texture and balance. After you have watched the video, try and recall at least 3 things that it taught you.

Part 2 Describing the Elements of Design

Now look for the elements of design in real products created by professional designers. Go to this website and have a look at how it has been designed.
Go back to Google classroom and open the doc called 'Part 2 Describing the Elements of Design'. You will see the five elements listed. Simply describe how this website is using them. Below is a WAGOLL example of this task completed for our school's website.

WAGOLL:

Have a look at how I have described the elements of design for our school's webpage below. This is how I want you to complete this task.

Line - A thin line has been used at the top under the contact information.
Shape - Rectangles have been used for the buttons. Another rectangle has been used for the title 'Little Lever Way'.
Form - The swish on the logo looks slightly 3D and raised off the page by the darker shade of blue.
Texture - A photograph has been used of actual physical textures of the school blazer and tie.
Balance - All the elements at the top of the page are evenly spaced across the top of the page. The two buttons top right are balanced by the three social media icons over to the left. The navigation bar is evenly spaced and balanced by the school logo. The title at the bottom is centered.

Part 3: Practice using the Elements of Design

Imagine you have been asked by The Jolly Carter (in Little Lever) to present the following information to customers:

The Jolly Carter
Restaurant and Bar
Fresh Food
All our food is made from scratch by our professional chefs using locally sourced ingredients.
Sporting Events
All major sporting events through Sky and BT on our 120" screen!

Go back to Google classroom and format this information on the attached Slides called 'Part 3 Design Elements'. Watch this YouTube video to see how to do this:

WAGOLL:

Below is one example of how this information can be displayed using the five elements of design. See if you can think of a better way to present this information.

Ms Farrimond's attempt

Line - separates the two pieces of information.

Shape - rounded rectangle used behind the title.

Form - a shadow has been applied to the rounded rectangle and a gradient used to fill it.

Texture - a textured image has been used for the background.

Balance - the title and subtitle have been centered. The two pieces of information balanced on either side of the line.

Year 10

Part 4 - Peer Critique

Task 1: Saving your design as an image

Use the ‘Snip and Sketch’ or 'Snipping tool' to screenshot your design and save as a JPEG to your device.

Go back to the Google classroom assignment and open up 'Part 4: Peer Critique' doc. Insert - Image - Upload from computer. Place your image in the first column.

Task 2: Critique

In the second column choose a few of the images to critique:

Describe what elements of design (line, form, balance, texture and shape) you can see in their design.
State which of the elements in your opinion they have used most effectively.
State any element they have not used/or not used effectively. How could they have used it better?

Want to learn more? Watch these Youtube Video which explain visual elements of line, colour, shape, texture, space, form and typography.

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