The Elements of Design

As promised in yesterday's post on pairing elements, I share with you a wonderful book filled with beautiful photos called The Elements of Design: Rediscovering Colors, Textures, Forms and Shapes by Loan Oei and Cicle De Kegel.

Thames & Hudson describe the book as, "Colours, textures, forms and shapes are the basis of this unique source book that reveals the elements common to all design and teaches us how to see afresh. Hauntingly beautiful and profoundly instructive, it surveys our whole environment, natural and man-made , and shows how it can be defined in terms of basic elements which take us to the heart of the creative process."

The Elements of Design illustrates the small things in the world and brings you on an inspirational journey . This book is pure eye candy with full page photographs and little text. The chapters in the book include colors, textures, dots, lines, and more. Below are some examples of the pages to expect in this book.
Scaffolding in Belgium compared to a mosaic wall in Spain. Notice the color similarity?

The textures of this rocky landscape near Ghana and detail of tricot top from France mesh so well together.

Drain covers in Belgium and detail of blouse by Reiko Sudo.

This is one of my favorite examples in the book - study of a weave by Ria Vercammen in relation to a graffiti wall in France and printed jean fabric. See the text in all the examples? Amazing.

It's interesting how the mind makes connections with photographs and objects when they are put beside each other, like we need them to relate in some way. The Elements of Design does an amazing job of bringing worldwide elements together and demonstrating that inspiration can be found everywhere. To learn more please see this book in our Please Sir Picks.