The spectrum of the arts places the different forms of art into one of three categories based on how tangible they are to an audience.

The Performance Arts are showing ideas to an audience in real time, examples of this include live theatre, music, or dance.

The Representational Arts share information to an audience through tangible objects, examples include paintings, graphic novels and drawings.

The Recording Arts communicate to an audience after a delay due to production or editing, examples include films, produced music, and most television shows.