Download Episode 24Design Guy here, welcome to the show. This is the program that explores timeless principles of design and explains them simply.Today, we bring to a close our series on the formal elements of two dimensional design. Having surveyed line, shape, value, color, and texture, today we&#39;ll wrap up our discussion with some thoughts on format.And what is format? To lay out a definition, Format refers to the shape and size and dimensions associated with our chosen medium. Specifically, that could be a business card or a book jacket or a label for a can of beans. All these are examples of formats, each with their own possibilities and challenges and constraints. And every one of these formats deserves thoughtful consideration before we set to work.Unfortunately, however, Format is the forgotten element. Or if that&#39;s too dramatic a statement, we might at least agree that it&#39;s frequently the overlooked element. Like the phenomenon of something that&#39;s hidden in plain sight, format isn&#39;t always given the consideration it deserves.This syndrome reminds me of one of those classic monster movie scenes where someone is being told where to look for the creature&#39;s footprint, but they just can&#39;t see it. &quot;Where? Where is it?,&quot; they ask. And it&#39;s not until the camera pulls back, creating a wide reveal, that we, the audience, can see that they&#39;re actually standing in it. The footprint is enormous--the work of Godzilla or King Kong.And this is why we overlook format. It&#39;s our context.  And we tend to miss it or to take it for granted. And what we tend to do, is to default to the tired, conventional uses of certain formats, without giving it a whole lot of thought.Robin Landa, in her book, Graphic Design Solutions, says it this way.&quot;Whether it is a page or a business card, whatever you start out with is the format. The format is a vital element in two dimensional design. Most beginning students take the format for granted, not realizing that it is an active element in design. If you think of an average page as two vertical lines and two horizontal lines joined at right angles, then the first line you draw on a page is actually the fifth line.  Like that fifth line, all of the other formal elements are contained by, and interact with, the original shape of the format.&quot; (end of quotation).So, Landa is emphasizing format as an active element that should be given as much strategic thought as we would give any other element.There are some classic examples of how designers overlook format. Thinking of a business card only in horizontal terms, for example, as if it can&#39;t be turned vertically. Or  assuming there&#39;s only one fold scheme possible for brochures, the tri-fold that everyone else uses. Even formats that offer tremendous flexibility go unexploited. The format of a book, its shape and size, its orientation and thickness, is determined by the choice of trim dimensions and paper, well withi

Design Guy, Episode 24, Elements: Format, The Forgotten Element

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