The elements of design are closely intertwined and even dependent on one another to be used effectively in art and graphic design. The elements of shape and form, although closely linked are defined differently, and even have slightly different functionality and direction in art. Shape is essentially just an area of space that can be flat, two-dimensional, or confined by both height and width. Something that has shape is just height and width, even if just one of those elements equals zero. A cardboard box is a shape, a heart drawn on a piece of paper is a shape, and the moon is a shape. Texture and form are what alter shape by changing the appearance of the object into something three-dimensional. Form is just the way a shape occupies space, and forms are three-dimensional. Objects in graphic design and art may have the same physical weight but can have differing visual weights depending on their shape and form. For example, a cardboard box that is a regular shape will appear heavier in visual weight than a cardboard box that is irregularly shaped.
Geometric shapes with distinct lines and sharp edges or corners draw the viewer's focus and help emphasize direction in art. These types of shapes can be considered stronger than round shapes. Freddie Moore's classic drawings of the beloved Mickey Mouse contain round features that convey softness and warmth that more rigid forms do not convey. Straight edges against curves are a powerful contrast, and how lines and curves occupy space and define a shape is essential in understanding mass and visual weight in design.
Piet Mondrian used sharp black lines and defined edges to highlight the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow in his classic composition that has been used on clothing, buildings, and in multiple design industries.
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Color and focus are used in art to convey a certain mood, inspire a certain reaction, and even just to highlight the most important features. A color's visual weight is dependent on its lightness or darkness, also known as its value. The value defines the name of the color, its intensity in brightness, and the darkness and lightness of the tones of color. A depth of intensity in art or mass will draw focus from the eyes of the viewer, which is typically the goal in art and graphic design. Naturally, the heavier a color, the heavier the visual weight of an object. There are dull or muted colors that are less likely to draw focus than highly saturated colors. Combinations of colors can provide a contrast, as can placing objects strategically closer to or further from the main focus of the design. Placing an object further away from the main focus of the design, for example, will make it appear heavier.
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Mass itself, particularly in the general sense of the term, is not what's most important but rather the manipulation of mass. In graphical design, there are a few golden principles of manipulating mass that can be used to achieve specific goals or cause a certain reaction. These principles include:
- How shapes and forms are aligned in a design
- The balance of weight depending on the number of objects and placement
- The use of contrast between objects or colors
- The proximity of objects from the focal point of the design
- Repetition of certain shapes and forms
These are all ways that a graphic designer can manipulate mass. Just like in a physical, three-dimensional space, objects in a graphic design can cause an emotional reaction; one would want to make the graphic more appealing by balancing the mass, not crowding anything too closely together, or ensuring appropriate distance between focal objects and other objects.
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The elements of design are comprised of seven different elements: line, shape, form, value, space, and texture. Objects that occupy a space have mass or visual weight, and if an object has more visual weight, it is more likely to command the attention of the viewer. Mass in art or an object's visual weight plays an important role in the arrangement of a graphic design. This can have to do with the shape, color, proximity, and intensity of the object. For example, red is considered the heaviest color, the one with the most visual weight in a composition. Color and texture can provide direction in art that wouldn't otherwise be as clear. A cardboard box has a mass no matter what because it has some directionality, shape, and form, but if it is a regular shape versus an irregular shape, it will appear heavier to the viewer's eyes. Proximity also serves to draw attention to the main focus of a design; if an object is further away from the main object or focus, it will appear heavier. Another way to clarify direction in art would be to manipulate value and saturation; something with darker value and highly saturated colors will have more of an impact and appear heavier than a muted color.
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Additional Info
Massive Amounts of Mass
Mass is likely a term you learned in science or math class related to the physical amount of an object that can be weighed or measured. In graphic design, however, mass is a much stranger concept that's somewhat related to the first definition. To give you hint, a more common name for mass in design is visual weight.
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Both terms mean the same thing: the amount of attention an object in a composition commands from the viewer. If you're looking at a painting and can't tear your eyes away from a part of the composition, that part can be said to have a lot of mass or visual weight.
Balancing Mass
Mass becomes extremely important when we are working with balancing our design. Balance, one of the principles of graphic design, refers to how you place different objects so that their visual weight balances along a central line or around a central point. Balanced compositions feel complete, even if the viewer has no idea why. Without balance, a composition can feel unfinished, arbitrarily assembled, amateurish, or even immature. However, some skilled artists will intentionally create an imbalance to convey feelings of emptiness and loss. Do not attempt an intentional imbalance until you are more skilled and experienced in composition designs.
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Creating Mass
So now that you know what mass, or visual weight, is and why it is important, how do we create it? Well, that can be pretty easy, but we must be conscious of how we apply it.
Size
Stemming from our experience with objects in the real world, larger objects will always seem heavier than smaller objects. They also draw our attention much more than smaller objects in a composition would.
Color
The relationship between color and mass can be a bit complicated. First, let's talk about value, how light or dark a color appears. Darker values have more visual weight than lighter values.
When we look at hue, the actual colors like red, green, blue, and such, we get an interesting mix of masses. Warmer colors, like red, orange, and yellow, appear a little closer to the viewer than cool colors like blue, green, and violet. The warmer colors thus tend to have more visual weight as a whole. However, yellow is often perceived as the lightest color regarding mass while the bold, strong red is perceived as the heaviest.
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Finally, we have the saturation of the color, which is the intensity of the color ranging from eye-popping, bright tones to dull, grayish, and muted tones. As you might guess, intense colors have more visual weight than muted colors.
Shape
Understanding the weight of shapes is vital when you begin designing your composition. Let's contrast geometric shapes and organic shapes. Geometric shapes are defined by having mathematically precise measurements, lines, curves, and angles. Basically, these are the shapes we learned in grade school and other shapes made from combining these in interesting ways. Organic shapes have no regularity or rules defining whether their lines are straight, the arc of their curves, or even the direction of their curves. Think about the shape of a rock in nature and you have a pretty good idea of an organic shape. We tend to focus our attention more on the geometric shapes. Something about those proportions and sense of control gives them much more weight.
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Texture
We always want to look to the most visually stimulating options in a composition. When it comes to texture, the rougher it appears, the heavier it will be regarding compositional mass. This is because that texture requires us to add a variety of shadows and highlights or different colors in that space. A smooth texture usually offers little variation to attract the eye.
Position
We'll finish our discussion of how to create mass in composition with the position of objects in our design, though there are many other methods out there. We find that the same object will present different visual weights in different places in the design.
First, an object gains weight as it moves away from the main focus of the composition. If that is the center, then objects closer to the edge will weigh more. If the main focus is in the lower right corner, the maximum weight an object can have will be found by placing it in the upper left corner.
We also find that objects placed higher in a composition will have more weight than those found below them. Likewise, foreground images in a composition will weigh more than background images. As you can see, there are many factors to consider when working with mass in graphic design.
Lesson Summary
While the objects in a two-dimensional composition have no significant mass in real life, their ability to command our attention creates a visual weight we also call mass. Understanding how to create and manipulate mass is vital to creating balance, the placement of elements in a composition so that their visual weight is equal across a center line or at a distance from a center point. We can create mass in a number of ways in graphic design. Larger objects weigh more than smaller ones and rougher objects weigh more than smoother ones. With color, warm hues generally weigh more than cool hues. However, the value of the hue can change that tendency, making darker colors weigh more than lighter colors. Additionally, the greater the intensity of the color, known as its saturation, the more it will weigh. Geometric shapes, with their mathematical precision, will weigh more than organic shapes, which are those that feature the kind of irregularities found in nature. Finally, we have position. Objects further from the focal area of a composition tend to weigh more than those close to it, and objects positioned higher will have more weight than those lower down.
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