Designing Buildings - The Construction Wiki

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Last edited 20 Feb 2021

Visual elements of design

Design is the process of formulating, creating and planning a functional object such as a building to achieve certain purposes, for example, to create homes, offices, commercial buildings and so on.

Design can be defined as a plan produced to show the look, function or workings of a building or other object before it is made.

The visual elements of design include:

This is a mark between two points. Lines can be straight, squiggly or curved. A line serves to:

Colour can evoke emotions and feelings

Red excites and stimulates but when very deep can be disturbing, heavy, aggressive and alerting.
Orange stimulates and creates attention, warms, is luminous, activating and like red is also motion oriented.
Yellow elevates, but can be irritating particularly when highly saturated.
Green can be relaxing, natural, soft and passive.

Shape is the two-dimensional profile of an object. Shapes are made when lines joining points enclose to form areas.

Shapes are of two types, geometric and free-form or organic shapes:

Geometric shapes can easily be defined using mathematical procedures, they are regular and precise, including squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, pentagons and so on.
Free-form or organic shapes are complex to define using mathematical formulas, they are irregular, uneven and often derive from nature. Examples are puddles, trees, animals, leaves, rocks and so on.

Texture refers to properties relating to the smoothness, softness or coarseness of a surface. In a design, texture helps to create visual interest or focal points, contrast and balance. There are two types of texture, real and implied.

Size refers to degrees of smallness or largeness. Size can be used to describe importance, creating both visual interest and hierarchy among a series of design elements.