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The Language of Art

There are a variety of ways to communicate with someone - you can shout across the street, you can call someone on the telephone, you can write a letter, you can even email an almost instantaneous message. But what do all these forms of communication have in common?

People use all these different forms of communication to share feelings and thoughts.

There are many correlations between learning to read and understand a language and learning to "read" and understand art.
Language and Art

People who create and use graphics do the same thing through their images. They are sharing their thoughts and feelings through their artwork.

Like the words that people use in spoken communications, the language of non-verbal communications has its own special vocabulary.

Elements of Design

These design elements are like individual words in a language - the vocabulary. Artists use these elements as the basic visual symbols of their

Principles of Design

Principles of design are organizers much like the grammar and syntax of a sentence. These principles are the guidelines which serve as the rules artists use to organize the different visual elements of their artwork and provide solutions to compositional problems.

Design Chart showing the interaction of these elements and principles.