Is there a magic touch that only some of us have in designing a cool layout for that flyer or brochure? Do you either have an artistic bent or are you simply creatively challenged? Did you know that there are actually a set of design principles that can be followed to improve the look of your layout and can help make your collateral look professional, clean, and stylish? In order to understand the fundamentals of design we first need to look at the graphic designer's tool kit.

Day in and day out a graphic designer works with very basic set of elements that we all are familiar with. This post focuses on the elements graphic designers work with to create beautiful layouts. My next post will describe how a designer uses these elements effectively.

Design elements used to build an effective layout:

Line:

As simple as a line is, it has great potential to make a stunning work of art. Line type, line direction and line quality all play into how it looks on a page. Line types run curvy, straight, or on an angle. Line direction describes how the line runs across the page: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Line quality refers to the line being bold, thin, dotted, etc.

Shape:

Shapes are closed forms that can be open or filled with elements like color or texture. A shape’s quality is determined by how it is formed with curving or angular lines, shaded volume or flat.

Value:

Value is how light or dark an element is. When the value of an element is compared with each another it is called value contrast.

Color:

Color can be described with three terms: hue, value and saturation. The hue is the name of the color like blue, green, black. Value is how light or dark a color is. Saturation is how intense the color appears, whether it is bright or dull.

Texture:

Surface quality is what texture describes. The surface can have a tactile texture where it can be felt or a visual texture that gives the illusion of a texture.

Format:

Format is the media that a design will be viewed in. For example brochure size shape and folds will be taken into consideration while designing the look of it. Designers also need to take into account how their designs will be viewed: up close or far away, skimmed briefly or read in full.

Reference:

Landa, Robin. Graphic Design Solutions. 3rd ed. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning, 2006.