Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

About 15 years ago, I was an architecture student at a prominent design school in the United States. In our first year studio courses, we focused on elements of design that, at the time, I thought were too abstract for the career I was trying to prepare for. The focus seemed to be more like what you would teach a graphic designer or an art student. Looking back now years later, I appreciate what the professors were trying to teach us. These fundamentals of graphic design translate to other design professions, and they are essential to creating in a modern world.

Beginning Graphic Design: Fundamentals | GCFLearnFree.org

The video above from the Goodwill Community Foundation does a good job of making a lot of these concepts digestible through visual animations.

1. Lines, Connection, and Movement

As a designer, you always have a sketch book with you. And the first thing they teach you in design school is how to draw. I remember one of the first exercises we did was to simply draw a line. You’d think drawing a line would be an easy and mindless action, but if you are intentional about your work, then a line is never just a line.

Every line has its own characteristics. Some lines can be static and others can create movement and guide the viewer’s eye. Lines have a thickness and weight. There are relationships with materiality of the ink and the paper or even the screen when you are using a computer. Lines also can have significance associated with important design decisions.

2. Shape and Form

Shapes and forms have the ability to organize designs. They can also assign meaning to different spaces and create boundaries between spaces. Shapes and forms can also make designs more real, particularly in the realm of user experience.

3. Color, Material, and Texture

Color has the unique ability to define the mood of a design. Material and texture have the ability to enhance the defined mood and other characteristics of the design. Color, material, and texture can also add to the experience associated with a design. Imagine the difference between a dark and light screen on your phone. Consider the difference between cold tile and warm carpet in a home.

4. Balance or Imbalance

Balance and imbalance can both be used to enhance designs and guide the a viewer or user experience. Balance and imbalance can also create focus in a design. If you want to prioritize a lot of information, then creating some intentional imbalances in your designs can draw extra attention to information that you want to highlight.

5. Sun, Wind, and Light

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Everything has context, whether we choose to identify it or not. Sometimes designs are as simple as a couple colors on a screen, but other times designs can benefit from environmental details. Consider designing an image of a building. Where does that building exist? Where is the sun in the image? How does air move through the building? How does light enter the building? These are all questions that can enhance the design and the viewer’s experience of the design.