Visual and Design Vocabulary
Form: The shape, mass, and volume of things aside from their materials.
Two-Dimensional Form: Forms having 2 dimensions, height and width; the flat surface of a drawing or
painting - the picture plane.
Three-Dimensional Form: Forms having 3 dimensions, height, width, and depth; forms in actual space
and in reference to the illusion of mass and volume on a two-dimensional surface.
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The Visual
Elements:
Line: the fundamental mark used in describing the edges of forms lines
can be straight, curving,
jagged, broken,
or implied.
Value: refers to the degrees of light to dark - white being the lightest
value and black the darkest.
The term, lighting refers to the
degrees of value being created by one or more particular light
source such as the sun
or a lamp.
Color: the phenomenon of light which creates the visible spectrum helping us to distinguish one
form from another. Color has hue, value, saturation, and temperature.
Hue: the characteristic quality of a color that
separates it from others, i.e. red,
blue, etc.
Saturation: the quality or degree of the color content or
chroma from low intensity (neutral) to
high intensity.
Temperature: the apparent degree of warmth or coolness in
a color.
Shape: refers to the flat, 2-dimensional aspects of form.
Space: refers to implied or actual depth.
Positive/ Negative
Space: negative space is the
space surrounding a positive shape or form;
sometimes referred to as ground, empty space,
field, or void.
Positive space refers to the shape of a form
that serves as a subject in a composition. The
relationship
between positive and negative space is sometimes referred to as
figure/ground,
figure/field, foreground/background,
or solid/void.
Ambiguous Space: Space that is neither clearly positive nor
negative but that seems to carry
aspects of both and often depending on the
viewer’s point of view.
Linear Perspective: a technique for conveying an illusion of deep
space on a flat,
two-dimensional
surface. The technique uses precise mathematical concepts and is based
on the illusion that all parallel horizontal edges or lines of forms that are receding from
the viewer's position, seem to converge diagonally toward the same point in space.
Atmospheric
Perspective: a technique for
conveying an illusion of deep space on a flat,
two-dimensional
surface using various value
contrasts where the lowest contrasts
create
the
deepest space and the highest contrasts, the most shallow.
Oblique and
Isometric Perspective: alternative techniques to linear perspective
where parallel
edges
always remain parallel never moving toward or away from each other.
Color Space: refers to the illusion of space created by
color temperature and/or color
saturation
(intensity of hue) level.
Texture: tactile
qualities in a work of art which may be either actual texture
caused by the materials or
the way the artist works the
materials or it can be visual (implied) texture where the
artist uses
materials to mimic or look like
the surface of another material or to create a pattern.
Time/Motion: the depiction of time in art is used in both
actual and implied ways. Time can be
depicted as movement or
as a moment stopped.
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Principles of
Design:
Design
Principles have to do with how the visual elements are organized into
compositions. Composition is the structure of a work of art as separate from
its subject matter and style.
Format: refers to the shape of the outer dimensions of a work of art – in painting, for instance two of the
most common formats are vertical rectangles and horizontal rectangles.
Unity: although
rarely a dominant design principle, unity
is important to how the artist or designer
makes us sense that separate elements belong
together in a unified wholeness.
Variety: refers to the relative variety of form, scale,
value, color, and texture in a work of art or design.
Balance: refers
to the visual 'weight' of a composition that is the result of either a
symmetrical,
asymmetrical, or radial
arrangement of the visual elements.
Repetition/ Rhythm: refers
to the relative repetition and/or variation of visual elements that often
leads to rhythm, visual
interest, and control of the viewer’s eye direction throughout a composition.
Scale/ Proportion: refers
to the relative scale of one form in relationship to another form.
Contrast: refers
to how value (dark vs. light), color saturation (intensity vs. neutral), and
color
temperature (cool vs. warm) are used in
contrasting relationships to create mass or imply space.
Proximity: refers to the relative visual tensions or
release of tension between 2 or more forms in the
negative space between the
forms.
Emphasis/
Subordination: refers to how
some visual elements and forms are arranged in subordinate
ways to help
create an area of emphasis or a specific focal point in a composition.
Directional
Forces: when there is no
specific point of emphasis, the visual elements & forms may be
arranged to control
viewer eye direction in such a way that implies motion.
Simplicity
/Complexity: refers to the relative complexity or
simplicity of a composition.