Any successful design will have the qualities of fitness and beauty. Fitness to purpose is largely a mechanical factor. An ugly building may protect its occupants from the weather, and an ugly printed page may be entirely legible. Beauty depends upon esthetic qualities; that is, upon the characteristics of the design which will appeal to the eye and mind through the consideration of—
Harmony (of shape, tone, color, and conception).
Balance and proportion (of mass, shape, and color).
Rhythm (of shape, line, tone, and color).
This conception of the elements of design covers all of the many things that mankind makes—buildings, or railroad trains, or sculpture, or paintings, or pottery, or furniture, or the printed page alike. In each, different though they be, the purpose of design is to relate the various surfaces, masses, and structural lines and to decorate or ornament the finished whole. Countless materials may be used and all the varied purposes of the equipment of mankind must be satisfied, but the application of the principles of design will be similar throughout. This point is emphasized so that the student of printing may find a common ground with the workers in all the fine and useful arts.
The Surface
In the printed page, design is concerned with the arrangement of masses and lines on a flat surface—the face of the sheet of paper. Hence design in printing considers two dimensions only, width and length. The third dimension, depth, which must be treated in all but flat surfaces, can only be represented on the printed page and the means of showing depth is really an illusion by which the eye sees various colors and tones which convey a pictorial impression.
It is important to note that design and pictorial representation serve each a different purpose in printing. Yet they are similar mechanically in that each requires a printing surface (type, borders, ornaments, and engravings) which may be prepared by the same mechanical procedures. The picture exists for its own interest or as an illustration for the text. As such it is merely an element in the design of the page. Decoration or ornament may be used to embellish the page, as a pattern on its flat surface, and may be related to the text, but need not serve as an illustration to it.