Design Elements
Written by Abin Alex and Anu Joseph.
Abstract
The elements of design are the basic parts from which any visual image is built: line, shape, form, texture, pattern, value, space and colour. This guide defines each element and shows how it works in a photograph and in a film frame. It separates shape, which is flat, from form, which is a volume described by light, and treats space as an active part of the picture through the figure and ground relation described by Edgar Rubin in 1915. Each element is tied to practical choices of light, lens and position, and to exercises for students.
Keywords: design elements; line and shape; form and texture; figure and ground; visual literacy
What are the elements of design?
Short answer. The elements of design are the basic parts of any picture: line, shape, form, texture, pattern, value, space and colour.
- Every image is built from a small set of visual parts. Design teaching calls them the elements of design.
- This guide uses eight elements: line, shape, form, texture, pattern, value, space and colour. Table 1 gives a short meaning and a photographic example for each.
- Other writers use other lists. Dondis, in a standard text on visual literacy, lists dot, line, shape, direction, tone, colour, texture, scale, dimension and motion (Dondis, 1973). The names differ but the parts are the same.
- Elements are the material of a picture. Principles such as balance, contrast and emphasis describe how the material is arranged. This guide covers elements. Composition covers one part of arrangement, and you can read it in the Composition guide.
- Learning the elements helps you see. You stop seeing only a person or a tree and start seeing a vertical line, a dark shape and a rough texture.
| Element | Meaning | Example in a photograph |
|---|---|---|
| Line | A mark or edge with length and little width | A railway track running away from you |
| Shape | A flat area with an edge | A window against a wall |
| Form | A shape with volume, shown by light and shade | A face lit from one side |
| Texture | How a surface feels or looks as if it feels | Tree bark, wet cloth, rust |
| Pattern | The repetition of the same part | Rows of tea plants on a hillside |
| Value | How light or dark an area is | A foggy morning compared with a dark doorway |
| Space | The area around and between things | Sky around a bird in flight |
| Colour | The hue, strength and brightness of what we see | A red sari in a green field |
Table 1. The eight elements of design used in this guide.
Walk down one street and name only elements. Count the lines, the shapes and the textures before you take a single photograph.
A cinematographer breaks a scene into elements when planning light and lens. The question is not what the scene is but what it is made of.
Cham tipWhen a picture feels weak, name its elements. Often one element is missing or is fighting another.
Cham taskChoose one photograph you like. List which of the eight elements are strongest in it and which are absent.
Check yourself: Name the eight elements used in this guide.
Line, shape, form, texture, pattern, value, space and colour.
What is line?
Short answer. A line is a mark or an edge that has length and little width. It leads the eye and sets the mood of a frame.
- Lines can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curved or jagged. Each type tends to give a different feeling.
- Vertical lines suggest height, strength and growth. Poles, trees and buildings give vertical lines.
- Horizontal lines suggest rest, width and stability. A horizon, a road and a table edge give horizontal lines.
- Diagonal lines tend to feel active, because they suggest movement across the frame.
- Curved lines tend to feel calm and lead the eye from one part of the frame to another. A C curve bends once and an S curve bends twice.
- Jagged lines zigzag. They are found in mountains, cracked ground and roof edges, and they tend to feel tense.
- A line can be continuous, interrupted by gaps, or implied. An implied line is not drawn. The eye makes it where two tones or textures meet, or where a row of eyes looks in one direction.
- Kandinsky and Klee began teaching design at the Bauhaus with point, line and plane as the basic units (Getty Research Institute, n.d.).
Move your position until a road, wall or railing becomes a diagonal. A small step can turn a flat view into one with movement.
Leading lines such as corridors and rails pull the viewer toward the subject. Camera movement along a line makes the line feel stronger.
Cham tipLook at the edges of the frame first. Lines that touch an edge lead the eye out of the picture.
Cham taskPhotograph one object five times, so that each photograph is dominated by a different type of line.
Check yourself: Which type of line tends to feel the most active?
The diagonal line.
What is shape?
Short answer. A shape is a flat area with an edge. It is made by a line, or by a change of colour or tone.
- A shape has two dimensions, height and width. The edge can be drawn, or it can come from a change of tone or colour.
- Geometric shapes can be drawn with a ruler or a compass. The circle, square and triangle are the main ones. They tend to feel ordered and made by people.
- Organic shapes come from nature, such as a leaf, a cloud or a rock face. They are irregular and tend to feel soft and natural.
- Abstract shapes are simplified from real things. A silhouette is an abstract shape, because the detail is gone and only the outline remains.
- Kandinsky treated the circle, square and triangle as the three basic planes in his teaching (Getty Research Institute, n.d.).
- In a photograph a subject becomes a shape when it is against a bright sky or a light wall. Exposure for the background gives a silhouette.
Expose for a bright sky and let a person or a tree turn into a dark shape. The outline tells the story.
Silhouettes are common in film because the shape alone can show who a character is and how they feel, without the face.
Cham tipTo make a clear shape, separate it from the background by tone or colour.
Cham taskPhotograph three silhouettes in one day: a person, a tree and a building. Compare how clearly each shape reads.
Check yourself: What is the difference between a geometric shape and an organic shape?
A geometric shape can be drawn with a ruler or compass. An organic shape comes from nature.
What is form?
Short answer. Form is a shape with volume. Light and shade turn a flat shape into a form.
- A form has three dimensions: height, width and depth. A triangle is a shape. A pyramid is a form.
- A photograph is flat, so form is always shown, not real. We read volume from light and shade.
- Light from the side shows form best. Light from the front makes it look flat.
- A gradual change from light to dark across a surface shows a curve. A sudden change shows an edge.
- A shape and a form can sit in one frame. A face against a sky can be a flat shape in one picture and a rounded form in another, depending on the light.
Place a portrait subject beside a window and turn the face slightly. The shadow side shows the shape of the nose and cheek.
Cinematographers choose the direction of light to give faces and spaces form. Flat light in front gives a flat image. Light from the side gives depth.
Cham tipIf a subject looks flat, move the light to the side or move yourself.
Cham taskPhotograph one round object, such as a fruit, with light from the front, then the side. Compare the form.
Check yourself: How does light change shape into form?
Light and shade show volume.
What is texture?
Short answer. Texture is how a surface feels, or how it looks as if it feels. In a photograph, almost all texture is implied.
- Actual texture can be touched. A printed photograph on rough paper has actual texture.
- Implied texture, also called visual texture, is the look of texture. Bark, cloth and rust look rough or smooth even when the picture is flat.
- On screen, all texture is implied. The viewer sees the texture of the subject, not of the picture.
- Texture can hold attention or reduce it. A strong texture pulls the eye, and a smooth area gives the eye rest.
- Low angle light, such as morning or evening sun, skims across a surface and shows its texture.
Use side light and a close distance. Texture is easiest to see when the shadow in each small bump shows.
Production designers and cinematographers use texture to show age, wealth or hardship. Worn walls and rough cloth tell a story without dialogue.
Cham tipLight at a low angle to the surface shows texture. Light from the camera side hides it.
Cham taskPhotograph one wall at noon and again in the evening. Describe how the texture changes.
Check yourself: What is implied texture?
The look of texture in a flat image.
What is pattern?
Short answer. Pattern is the repetition of the same part, such as a line, a shape or a colour.
- A pattern needs a part that repeats. It can be the same line, shape, colour or texture.
- Patterns are found in nature and made by people: waves, tea plantations, tiled roofs, rows of windows.
- A pattern gives order and rhythm. It tends to feel calm and steady.
- A pattern that is broken by one different part gets attention. The odd part becomes the subject.
- A pattern can be framed so that it fills the whole frame, or it can be one part of a larger scene.
Fill the frame with a pattern, then wait for one person or bird to enter it. The break gives the picture a subject.
A cinematographer may use repeated shapes, such as columns or lamps, to give a scene rhythm. A camera move along the pattern makes that rhythm clear.
Cham tipA pattern is strongest when one thing breaks it.
Cham taskFind a pattern near your home. Photograph it once complete and once with one different object inside it.
Check yourself: Why does a broken pattern attract the eye?
The different part stands out from the repetition.
What is value?
Short answer. Value is how light or dark an area is. It is the element that gives a picture contrast and depth.
- Value is the scale from white through grey to black. Every area of a picture has a value, even a colourful one.
- A picture with mostly light values is called high key. One with mostly dark values is called low key.
- High contrast has strong differences between light and dark. Low contrast has soft differences.
- Value shows form and separates a subject from its background.
- Value is also an exposure matter. The histogram shows how the values in a photograph are spread.
- A black and white picture is made only of value, so it is a good way to study it. See the Black and White guide.
Switch your camera to a monochrome view while you shoot. Colour disappears and only value is left.
Cinematographers plan value across a shot. A subject usually stands out when it is lighter or darker than what is behind it.
Cham tipIf two things merge, they probably have the same value. Change the light or the background.
Cham taskConvert three of your colour photographs to black and white. Note which subjects disappear.
Check yourself: What is value?
How light or dark an area is.
What is space, and what is figure and ground?
Short answer. Space is the area around and between things. The subject is the figure and the space behind it is the ground.
- Positive space holds the subject. Negative space is the empty area around it. Both are part of the picture.
- Edgar Rubin first described the difference between figure and ground in 1915. A smaller enclosed area tends to be seen as figure, and the surrounding area as ground (Pind, 2012).
- Rubin noted that the figure tends to look closer, to have a clear shape, and to be remembered more. The ground looks like it extends behind (Pind, 2012).
- Negative space gives a subject room. A bird in a large sky tends to feel free or small. The same bird tightly cropped tends to feel close and strong.
- Size is relative. A person looks large beside a dog and small beside a mountain. Scale tells the viewer how big something is.
Leave empty sky around a subject to give it room, or crop in to remove the space. Both are choices.
Headroom and look room are negative space decisions. Leaving space in front of a character who looks to the side lets the character breathe.
Cham tipCheck the empty parts of the frame. They are as much a part of the picture as the subject.
Cham taskPhotograph one subject three times with a small, medium and large amount of negative space. Which feels best?
Check yourself: What is negative space?
The empty area around the subject.
How does colour fit among the elements?
Short answer. Colour is the element that carries mood and meaning. It has its own guides in this Library.
- Colour has three qualities: hue, which is the name of the colour, strength, and lightness. The lightness of a colour is its value.
- Primary, secondary and tertiary colours are the basic groups used to build a palette.
- Colour works with every other element. A red line, a green shape and a dark blue ground all give different results.
- The Colour Theory guide and the Colour Schemes guide cover this element in full.
- Treat colour last when you analyse a picture. Look at line, shape, value and space first and then ask what colour adds.
After you compose, look at the colour. Remove any bright colour that is not part of the subject.
A colour plan, set through production design, light and grade, gives a film a consistent mood from the first scene.
Cham tipA small area of strong colour pulls the eye as strongly as a large area of weak colour.
Cham taskPhotograph one scene with a single strong colour. Say what the colour adds that the other elements do not.
Check yourself: Which quality of colour is the same as value?
Lightness.
Questions beginners ask
What are the elements of design?
They are the basic parts of any image: line, shape, form, texture, pattern, value, space and colour.
What is the difference between shape and form?
A shape is flat and has two dimensions. A form has volume and three dimensions, and in a photograph light and shade show it.
What is negative space?
It is the empty area around the subject. It gives the subject room and is part of the picture.
What is implied texture?
It is the look of texture in a flat image, such as the roughness of bark in a photograph.
Are elements and principles of design the same?
No. Elements are the parts of a picture. Principles such as balance and contrast describe how the parts are arranged.
What is value in photography?
It is how light or dark an area is, from white through grey to black.
References
- Dondis, D.A. (1973) A primer of visual literacy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Getty Research Institute (n.d.) Primary forms. Available at: https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artist/form_color/form/ (Accessed: 31 October 2026).
- Pind, J.L. (2012) 'Looking back: figure and ground at 100', The Psychologist, 13 January. Available at: https://bps.org.uk/psychologist/looking-back-figure-and-ground-100 (Accessed: 31 October 2026).
How to cite this guide. Alex, A., & Joseph, A. (2026). Design elements: A guide for photographers and cinematographers. Creative Hut Academy. https://creativehut.org/library/design-elements/
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