8 Design Elements Essential for Visual Design

These are the 8 design principles of visual design, and I will highlight how I have used them this past two weeks in my visual designs to blend two images or three images together on Photoshop. Did you know you can create psychological effects with your visuals using these design elements? Here is what I learned. The mnemonic I am using to remember these is Pink Lions Paint Colorful Shapes, Texturing Spaces Fully. (Sounds like a mouthful, huh!!)

• Point - I used points to create a focal point in my images. The psychological effect I wanted to achieve when blending images was to draw attention to an object in my images.

• Line - Lines can be used to connect things, and in my images, I opted for curved lines to soften the look of these images. The psychological effect I was going for here with lines was to imply shape and guide the eye around my chosen images.

• Plane - A plane can be used to hold content, and in my images, I used a plane to create the background through which I would place my additional images. I also used them to separate the background and foreground in the images.

• Color - This is my favorite one. I used color to create contrasts and communicate energy and blend my images. When designing my images, I thought, what do these colors communicate?

• Shape - I found this element to be especially interesting. I used geometric and organic shapes to group related images together and create a visual language. The psychological effect I was trying to achieve with this element is to show the relationship between images and repetition by grouping similar images.

• Texture - Helps to prevent flatness in the images, and when used well, adds depth and realism. I am still a novice at using textures, but I have used them to blend my images with my background to create a realistic effect.

• Space - Still new at this, too. I made use of negative space, which is basically creating empty sections in my images to avoid crowding the images with too many things.

• Form - I used light to convey form. In my images, I am learning how to use the drop shadow function to create realism as well as play with the light direction.