AFTER IMAGE – a common optical effect in which an additional color seems to appear at the edge of an observed color.

ANALOGOUS COLORS – Colors that are closely related in hue(s). They are adjacent on a color wheel, such as red, orange and yellow.

ASYMETRIC – Having unlike, or non-corresponding, appearances – ‘without symmetry’.

ATMOSPHERIC (AERIAL) PERSPECTIVE – The illusion of deep space produced in graphic works by lightening values, softening details and textures, reducing value contrasts, and neutralizing colors in objects as they recede. 

BALANCE – A sense of equilibrium achieved by manipulating the visual elements 

CHAOS - a state of things in which chance is supreme; the confused unorganized state of primordial matter before the creation of distinct forms.

CHROMATIC GRAYS – Subtle colors that result from considerably lowering the saturation level of prismatic colors (pure hues). Chromatic grays weakly exhibit the distinguishing quality of the hue family to which they belong. (Not to be confused with achromatic grays that are created by mixing black and white).

COLLAGE – A pictorial technique whereby the artist creates the image, or a portion of it, by adhering real materials, initially designed for another purpose to the picture plane surface, often combining them with painted or drawn passages.

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS – Colors that lie directly opposite each other on the color wheel. When juxtaposed, complementary colors create contrast, when mixed, complementary colors neutralize each other, creating a variety of browns.

CONTENT – The emotional and/or intellectual meaning or message of an artwork.

CONTINUANCE – A movement contained within a shape…or created by its outline…is picked up somewhere in the field (in proximity) and carries on the same flow. As a result, your eye keeps moving smoothly in one “flow” even though the objects that are carrying the “flow” change.

CONTRAST – The degree of difference between compositional parts or between one image and another. High contrast tends to be eye-catching and is often used by graphic designer to create dynamic, highly readable images.

COOL COLORS – blues, greens and purples.

CRITIQUE – Any means by which the strengths and weaknesses of designs are analyzed. Common strategies include comparisons, description, formal analysis and inventing alternatives.

CURVILINEAR – A shape which is dominated by curves and flowing lines.

DECORATIVE SPACE – Stressing the two-dimensional nature of an artwork or any of its elements. Decorative space emphasizes the essential flatness of a surface. 

DEFINITION – The degree of resolution or focus of an entire image. Sharply focused shapes tend to advance while blurred shapes tend to recede.

DIAGONAL – A line or movement traveling from one corner of the picture plane to the opposite corner of the picture plane (in a slanted direction).

DISSONANCE – The absence of harmony in a composition.

DYNAMIC – Energetic, vigorous, forceful; creating or suggesting change or motion.
FIGURE/GROUND VALUE REVERSAL – The “ground” is the background and “figure” is a shape in it. When the value within a figure changes from light to dark, the area of the figure that is darker is surrounded by a lighter value in the ground and the area of the figure which is lighter is surrounded by a darker value in the ground.

FORM – The physical manifestation of a design as opposed to the content, or the idea behind a design.

FULL VALUE RANGE – Containing dark darks and light lights and all shades of gray in between.

GEOMETRIC SHAPE – A shape that appears related to geometry; such as a triangle, rectangle, square or circle.

GRADATION – Any gradual or slow transition from one color or value to another or from one shape or volume to another.

HARD AND SOFT EDGES – If an edge surrounding a shape is clean and clear with definite edges, it is said to be “hard”. If the edge is blurred, it is said to be “soft”. Edge change can add interest to the shapes in a composition.

HARMONY – The pleasing combination of parts the make up a whole composition.

HIGH KEY – when the colors are predominantly in a light value range.

HIGH SATURATION – A very pure or intense color.

HORIZONTAL – A line or movement traveling from one side of the picture plane to the other side of the picture plane (parallel to the plane of the horizon).

HUE – the name given to a color

HUE RANGE – Referring to the full spectrum of color.

INFINITE SPACE – A concept in which the picture frame acts as a window through which objects can be seen receding endlessly.

INTERPENETRATION – The movement of planes, objects, or shapes through each other, locking them together within a specific area of space.

INTUITIVE SPACE – The illusion of space that the artist creates by manipulating certain space-producing devices, including overlapping and transparency.

LAYERS OF SPACE – Separating compositional space into foreground, middle ground, and background to intensify expressive possibilities and spatial complexity

LIMITED PALETTE – using a small range of colors.

LINEAR PERSPECTIVE – A system used to develop three-dimensional images on a two-dimensional surface; it develops the optical phenomenon of diminishing size by treating edges as converging parallel lines. They extend to a vanishing point or points on the horizon (eye-level) and recede from the viewer.

LOW KEY – when the colors are predominantly in a dark value range.

LOW SATURATION – A muted version of a pure color.

MIDDLE KEY – when the colors are predominantly in a middle value range.

MONOCHROMATIC – A color system based on variations in a single hue. For example, a light pastel blue, a medium navy blue, and a dark blue-black.

MOVEMENT – Eye travel directed by deliberate visual pathways in a work of art.

MUTED COLOR – Rich but softened colors that reside on our color wheel between prismatic color and chromatic gray.

NEGATIVE SHAPE – 1. The unoccupied or empty space left after the positive elements have been created by the artist. 2. A shape created through the absence of an object rather than through the presence of an object.

NONOBJECTIVE/NONREPRESENTATIONAL – A type of art that is entirely imaginative and not derived from anything visually perceived by the artist. The elements, their organization, and their treatment by the artist are entirely personalized and, consequently, not associated by the observer with any previously experienced natural objects.

OPEN AND CLOSED SHAPES – If you create two shapes that overlap and that have similar value and colors at the point that they overlap, then the two shapes will appear to “open” to each other. Or if a shape has a value near its edge that is similar to the value or color of the background, the shape “opens” to the background. If a shape has a hard edge and is distinctly different in value or color to the background or surrounding area, the shape is “closed” to the background.

OPTICAL MIXING – This occurs when small color fragments are organized in a tight pattern, appear to fuse, and, from a distance, appear as a single mixed color.

ORGANIC SHAPE - A shape based on forms from the natural world or suggestive or living organisms.

ORIENTATION – the horizontal, vertical, or diagonal position of a composition or design element.

PERSONAL SHAPE – A nonobjective (see above description) shape. A shape that is not a recognizable object.

PERSPECTIVE – Any graphic system used in creating the illusion of three-dimensional images and/or spatial relationships on a two-dimensional surface. There are several types of perspective – atmospheric, linear, and projection systems.

PICTURE PLANE – The flat surface on which an artist creates a pictorial image.

PLASTIC SPACE – The use of the elements to create the illusion of the third dimension on a two-dimensional surface. 

POSITIVE SHAPE – The principal or foreground shape in a design, often the subject; the dominant shape or figure in a figure-ground relationship.

PRISMATIC COLORS – Pure hues that represent the colors of the color spectrum at their highest saturation level. 

RECTILINEAR – A shape whose edges are created by straight lines and angular corners.

SATURATION – (also called intensity) refers to the relative purity of the hue present in a color.

SECONDARY COLORS – PURPLE / GREEN / ORANGE. Colors mixed from adjacent primaries.

SHADING – The darker value on the surface of an object that gives the illusion that a portion of it is turned away from or obscured by the source of light.

SHALLOW SPACE – The illusion of limited depth. With shallow space, the imagery appears to move only a slight distance back from the picture plane. 

SHAPE – A flat enclosed area created when 1. A line connects to enclose an area. 2. An area of color or texture is defined by a clear boundary. 3. An area is surrounded by other shapes.

SHAPED VALUE GRADATION – Value gradation that takes on a curve or sharp bend or other interesting line which echoes an important shape in the art work. The result is that the shaped value gradation not only does its primary job of blending from dark to light but it also does a secondary job of echoing a shape.

SPACIAL DEPTH – the illusion of 3 dimensional space in a 2 dimensional art.

SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY – A complementary color plus the two colors on either side of its complement on the color wheel.

STATIC – A composition that is at rest or an object that appears stationary.

SUBJECT MATTER – The person, object, event, or idea on which an artwork is based.

SYMMETRIC – a form of balance that is created when shapes are mirrored on either side of a central axis, as in a composition that is vertically divided down the center.

TEMPERATURE – Refers to the temperature quality of a color. Warm colors; reds, yellows, and oranges. Cool colors; blues, greens, and purples

TENSION – The distortion of an object through stretching or bending.

TEXTURE – The surface quality of a two-dimensional shape or a three-dimensional volume.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE – Possessing, or creating the illusion of possessing, the dimension of depth, as well as the dimensions of height and width.

TINT – The result of mixing a color with white.

TRANSPARENCY – a visual illusion created allowing you to see through an image, enabling to see what lies behind it.

TRANSITION – The process of changing from one state or form to another. A visual bridge, it is the opposite of an abrupt change. 

TRIADIC – A color scheme based on three colors that are equally distant from each other on a color wheel.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPACE – Possessing the dimensions of height and width only. 

UNITY – The oneness, or wholeness, in a design that occurs when all parts work together to create a cohesive whole.

VALUE – The relative degree of lightness or darkness of a color or surface.

VALUE PATTERN – The arrangement or organization of values that control compositional movement and create a unifying effect throughout a work or art.

VALUE SCALE – A range or grays that are presented in a consistent sequence.

VERTICAL – A line or movement traveling from the top of the picture plane to the bottom of the picture plane (at a right angle to the horizon line).

VOLUME – A measurable area of defined or occupied space created through the illusion of space; example: Basic volumes such as cubes, cones, and spheres are created through the illusion of space.

WARM COLORS – Reds, oranges, yellows.