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Sandy Breckenridge’s career as a maker, designer, and artist span over 40 years.

The 8 Compositional Devices

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Catching the current
One Dominant is primary device, Frame is the secondary device.

The Eight Compositional Devices are the foundation of graphic design. You can train your eye to notice how each one is composed and how one of the eight devices becomes the foundation of the design.

The graphic image above has a primary device of One Dominant which contains the eagles in the sky who are catching the air currents. A One Dominant device does not touch the edges but lies within the image. The artwork also contains other design relationships including a secondary compositional device. The elements in the pattern flowing around the One Dominant device are described in the Graphic Design Element Series.

Identify the Primary Device First

Essentially, each of the devices contains a primary and may also include a secondary. The next several posts in this series will explore all sixty-four device combinations! This is a fun series and explains how designs are composed.

Here is a list of the primary eight devices:

  1. One Dominant
  2. Two Dominant
  3. Pattern
  4. Negative Positive
  5. Structure
  6. Movement
  7. Frame
  8. Perspective

A downloadable image illustrates each of these compositions.

8 Compositional Devices

Here is a slide show of examples of each so you can examine them in greater detail. Take the time to memorize each. They can become your foundation as you create.

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Exercise Ideas:

  1. Look through old magazines that you don’t mind ripping out the pages. Identify at least three examples of each of the eight devices. Start a slush file which is a term used by artists. It’s a folder containing examples of ideas that you categorize of examples. The contents of the file serve as references for stimulating your imagination when you begin a new creative project.
  2. Play with your favorite art medium and illustrate an example of each of the eight. In this creative exercise, remember to keep it simple like the examples in the slide show.

In case you are viewing a post in the middle of a series, click to view > Art & Illustration Series Table of Contents

Introduction: Basic Design Element Series

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Purple Leaves Flowers Herbs Nature

Design: The logical selection and arrangement of visual elements for order and interest.

Everything our eyes rest upon can be described as a design. For example, the veins in a leaf, the lines on a hand, or billowing clouds.

Even when we doodle or scribble, we can call these marks we make with our tools—pencils, sticks, fingers—designs!

It’s quite fascinating how our doodles can be identified within the twenty basic scribbles you see below:

20 basic scribbles

Our doodles can also be seen within these eight basic diagrams:

8 basic diagrams

Beyond, there are combinations and aggregates:

Design aggregates and combinations

I recently had so much fun developing an artistic technique using construction caulking.  I called this new creation Caulk a Doodle Do.

Design is Primarily Redesign

Perhaps by now, you have come to realize you have been a designer all along. Artistic expression doesn’t have to fit into any type of box.

Some of my best students who attend my creative exploratory classes instinctively know how to move beyond boxes and just play. The people who feel most artistically challenged often forget one essential insight: Play!

Usually, the hesitancy to play is rooted in a judgment that art should exactly replicate physical reality. There is nothing wrong with reproducing what we see but it’s such a narrow, often arduous artistic path and can be a bit lonely.

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” — Amy Lowell

I like that quote. Through art, personality is revealed. I bet if you examine some of your favorite art pieces you’ll notice how those artist’s interpretations are reflected within your perceptions. That’s what makes art so personal and so freeing.

Art is discovery, art is playfulness, art is desire manifested into form.

Cosmic Noise

My hope is this Graphic Design Basic Element Series will open the door so you may begin to explore your unique creative eye by tuning up your vision. No matter what medium, choose to express yourself, remember you are a creator by nature waiting for self-validation. Making a mark is the first step.

In a way, an artistic expression is a form of self-love. Today is as good a day as any to begin a practice to free your creative spirit.

In the second tutorial post of this series, I’ll cover the Basic Design Descriptions & Shapes. I hope to meet you there!

Please visit the Art & Design Table of Contents to follow each series in its order.