1. At a computer system including one or more processors and system memory, a method for rendering different types of graphical content using instances of a single primitive type, the method comprising: receiving a definition of a template shape comprising a single primitive type, wherein the same single primitive type is usable to render each of a plurality of different types of graphical elements; receiving a request to render a plurality of graphical elements, including at least two graphical elements having different content types; and rendering each of the graphical elements in the plurality of graphical elements by modifying, for each of the graphical elements including the at least two graphical elements having different content types, an instance of the template shape and the same single primitive type and, for each of the graphical elements: modifying an instance of the template shape according to one or more of transformation data, clip data, or width and height data corresponding to the graphical element; and filling the modified instance of the template shape according to one or more of a shape of said graphical element or a brush representing filled content of the graphical element.