Balance
Areas of light tone can be balanced by areas of darker tone
and small shapes near the edge by larger central ones.
Colour (hue)
The colour wheel has twelve parts and can be used as a guide
to contrasting and complementary hues. The wheel uses the
primary colours (red, blue and yellow), secondary (green,
violet and orange), compounds which are a mixture of the primaries
and tertiaries which are between the primary and secondary.
Saturated colours contain no white, black or
complementaries.
Contrast
The opposing elements of a design are contrasting. Examples
include the hues appearing on opposite sides of the colour
wheel and light and dark tones. Contrast disrupts unity in
a piece of work and should be used with consideration to the
amount of discord required.
Dominance
The elements in a work of art or design that you chose to
emphasize are called dominant.
Gradation
The illusion of perspective can be created using gradations
of tone from light to dark and colour from cool to warm.
Harmony
The use of similar elements, such as shape and hue, can be
used to produce harmony.
Unity
The use of related elements which reinforce the theme of a
piece of work can help to create a sense of unity.