The building blocks
The elements are the fundamental parts of visual language. Artists and designers use them to build images, objects, spaces, interfaces, and ideas.
Nine elements. Countless possibilities.
About this framework. Introductory art curricula often teach seven core elements. This site expands the framework with Point and Typography to address visual communication and design more directly.
The smallest visual event. A position, a mark, a beginning.
A point in motion. Direction, edge, path, gesture, connection.
An enclosed area defined by boundary, contrast, or change.
The perception or construction of three-dimensional volume.
The relative lightness and darkness that creates contrast and depth.
How a surface feels, or how it appears that it might feel.
Hue, value, and intensity working through perception and relationship.
The intervals, depth, and positive and negative areas around forms.
Language made visual through the shape, scale, and arrangement of type.