The Principles of Design
Design is both a verb and a noun, a process and a product.
Design is the qualities of balance, emphasis, proportion & scale, rhythm & repetition, and unity & variety.
Balance:
Symmetrical Balance:
-Absolute symmetry: each side is
exactly the same
-Bilateral symmetry: each side is
almost the same (e.g. human face & body)
Asymmetrical Balance: not the same on
either side of an axis (but not necessarily
out of balance)
Radical Balance: a balance in which everything radiates outward from a central point.
Emphasis and Focal Point:
Focal point: the area in a pictorial composition which artists can employ emphasis to draw attention.
Afocal: no focal point which deletes a specific point of emphasis, but provides no place for our eyes to rest.
Scale and Proportion:
Scale: a word we use to describe the dimensions of an art object in relation to the original object (that it depicts or in relation to the objects around it).
Proportion: the relationship between the parts of an object and the whole, or to the relationship between an object and its surroundings.
Cannon: an ideal proportion of the various parts of the body (human and animal).
Golden Section: a traditional proportion which is supposed to express the secret of visual harmony. (a rectangle whose sides measure 1 to 1.618, or roughly 5 by 8: the height vs. the width)
Repetition (Pattern) and
Rhythm:
Pattern: a repetitive motif or design
Rhythm: an effect achieved when shapes, colors, or a regular pattern of any kind is repeated over and over again.
Unity (coherence) and
Variety
The sense of disjunction, the sense that the parts can never form a unified whole, is what we have come to identity as Postmodernism