Unit 1 – Area of Study 2: Design elements and design principles

Outcome 2

Select and apply design elements and design principles to create visual communications that satisfy stated purposes.​

Examples of learning activities

• Design an identity for a client; e.g. café, real estate business, doctor, mechanic, pet shop, architect, nursery, to identify their business and provide information about them. Explore logotype, monogram and motif options, using combinations of the design elements of type, line and/or shape and the design principles figure-ground and balance as starting points. Design options exploring the use of the logo and/or its components (monogram or motif) to be developed and tested for final presentation on collateral material such as: stationery, takeaway packaging, signage, uniforms, website, app or loyalty card.
• Design a range of postcards that collectively explores a theme, topic or focus which may be chosen by the student. After design thinking, mind mapping and visualisation of concepts, the students create a grid nominating design element/s that will be explored with design principle/s, along with one method, one media and one material.
• 
  ​​Create a series of app icons that represent each of the Design Elements and Design Principles.​​​
• ​Create a pre-school children’s picture storybook based on one character (e.g. an elephant). As the story develops, on each page use different design elements and principles to represent the development. Students could explore combining manual methods such as collage with digital media application of vector graphics.
• Conduct an investigation (real world or online) to identify clear use of design elements and design principles in a range of visual communication contexts. From this, students develop language to describe and analyse the function of design elements and principles. Analyse the role of each design element and design principle in contributing to the meaning in the range of examples. Presentation of this investigation can be a visual such as a short movie, wall poster or flip cards. Students would need to fulfil legal obligations when using images belonging to others.
• Create a series of visually graphic wall charts or screen wallpapers that focus on a specific design element or principle but which also incorporate verbs and adjectives that can be used to discuss each design element and design principle featured in the wall chart or screen wallpaper.
• Produce a ‘wayfinding system’ (set of signs) for the zoo, a department store, a hospital or a university. Students place emphasis on the role of design elements and design principles in both creating an individual aesthetic and in creating a unified set of designs. Students create a mock-up representation of the design that considers the intended context, placement and scale of the visual communication designs.
• Design a range of themed patterns in response to a specific need such as wallpaper for a hotel, ceramic tile for a bathroom with an exotic theme, wrapping paper for a child’s birthday, or textile design to make classic furniture more contemporary. Use a vector drawing program to trace the manual drawings; then apply design principles of balance, cropping and contrast, pattern (repetition and alternation) to create multiples of the shape and patterns.
• Using digital photography, conduct a study of the ‘world around us’ to capture images that depict one particular design element or design principle. Compose as a mood board using a page layout program cropping images to further emphasise the featured design element or design principle.

 

​​Detailed example

App icon design

Students are asked by an imaginary client to design icons for a series of apps. Each app links to an online photo blog space documenting real-life examples of each of the eight design elements and eight design principles. The context for the apps is on a smart phone device.

This task can work well as a group task. Students break into teams of four for this task, and each team member will design four icons.

Teacher provides students with the design elements and design principles descriptions (words only) from the Advice for Teachers. Using the definitions, students develop their own unique set of app icons representing each of the eight design elements and eight design principles.

Students identify and define the key design considerations and factors of an app icon in a group discussion using devices to analyse existing icons and the visual language that these visual communications employ. This is a form of unpacking the brief and is the analytical thinking that forms the basis of research for understanding this task.

Students are then asked to assemble a mood board that looks at styles of graphics that their set of icons will reflect. Students should reference the source for each image within the mood board using appropriate referencing (refer to the study design, page 12, and Advice for Teachers for information about ‘Acknowledging sources of inspiration’). This research for inspiration may draw on historical references for iconography either in app design for mobile devices, computer gaming graphics references such as eight-bit design, or other forms of iconography such as the Olympic Games.

Students create visualisation drawings for each icon, commencing with a word list that draws on the descriptions from the Advice for Teachers as a reference point. The design thinking should generate a range of concepts and strategies such as ‘What if …’ or SCAMPER may assist the students’ creative thinking.

The design development and refinement is then produced using digital methods. The stylised nature of the icons lends itself to vector graphics; however, some styles may need more rendered and tonal effects for their designs. In this case raster graphics may be the more preferred media.

Students are encouraged to test their icons on peers to establish their effectiveness in communicating the appropriate message. Students can then respond to feedback and adjust their designs prior to final presentation.

The final presentation of the complete set of 16 newly designed app icons should be presented as a concept illustration demonstrating the set in situ on a device. This may be achieved through digital photography with a hand-held device, followed by photo manipulation software to position the graphics appropriately, with consideration for scale and proportion.​