VISUAL INFORMATION AND MEDIA

• Visual design elements the building blocks or basic units in the construction of a visual image
• Line – describes a shape or outline. It can create texture and can be thick or thin.
• Shape – usually a geometric area that stands out from the space next to or around it, or because of differences in value, color, or texture.
• Value – the degree of light and dark in a design. It is the contrast between black and white and all the tones in between. Value can be used with color as well as black and white. Contrast is the extreme changes between values.
• Texture – the way a surface feels or is perceived to feel. Texture can be added to attract or repel interest to a visual element.
• Color – determined by its hue (name of color), intensity (purity of the hue), and value (lightness or darkness of hue).
• Form – a figure having volume and thickness. An illusion of a 3-dimensional object can be implied with the use of light and shading. Form can be viewed from many angles.
• Visual Design Principles

  • Consistency
  • Center of Interest
  • Balance
  • Harmony
  • Contrast
  • Directional Movement
  • Rhythm
  • Perspective
• Consistency of margins, typeface, typestyle, and colors is necessary, especially in slide presentations or documents that are more than one page.
• Center of interest – an area that first attracts attention in a composition. This area is more important when compared to the other objects or elements in a composition. This can be by contrast of values, more colors, and placement in the format
• Balance – a feeling of visual equality in shape, form, value, color, etc. Can be symmetrical and evenly balanced, or asymmetrical and un-

  evenly balanced.
• Harmony – brings together a composition with similar units. If for example your composition was using wavy lines and organic shapes, you would stay with those types of lines and not put in just one geometric shape.
• Contrast – offers some change in value creating a visual discord in a composition. Shows the difference between shapes and can be used as a background to bring objects out and forward in a design. It can also be used to create an area of emphasis.
• Directional Movement – a visual flow through the composition. It can be the suggestion of motion in a design as you move from object to object by way of placement and position.
• Rhythm – a movement in which some elements recur regularly. Like a dance, it will have a flow of objects that will seem to be like the beat of music.
• Perspective – created through the arrangement of objects in two- dimensional space to look like they appear in real life. Perspective is a learned meaning of the relationship between different objects seen in space.