What are design elements? Design elements are what we see, sense, visually select, and perceive as we look at graphic designs, paintings, cartoons, photography, television, typography, and computers. Examples of design elements are: line, shape, form, space, value, texture, and color. Here is a list of them with a brief explanation for each:

Line: Lines are thick and thin, straight and curvy, jagged and smooth. In drawings, lines create movement, structure, and meaning.

Shape: Shape is best illustrated in simple, 2D drawings. Shapes of people and animals are biomorphic, and shapes of cars are geometric. In drawings, these shapes stand out against the space next to it.

Form: 3-D forms look much more true to life than 2-D forms. Most often, the style of forms appear to be more sophisticated than the style of shapes. Forms are best seen in photographs, not drawings.

Space: Space tends to be in the background of images and focal points tend to be in the foreground. Negative space can simplify the look of art, photographs, and advertisements. Negative space is usually the area of the picture that has nothing going on. Space is the distance between points or images.

Value: Value has to do with the brightness and the assortment of tones from dark to light throughout a picture. In photography, if the exposure is good, and if the correct paper is used for printing, and if the lab work is executed properly, the end result will produce a range of clean, beautiful colors.

Texture: Texture is just an illusion in all printed artwork and on all computer screens. The observable texture has the illusion of touch.

Color: Colors can harmonize or juxtapose. Colors have chroma or hue (meaning the name of the colors); value or saturation (the amount of color concentration); and brightness (the amount of light emitted from a color object).

The above explanations are how the design elements are defined for designers. Design language is used to intellectually describe and critique artwork of all forms.