Principles of Design

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

• Compositional means by which artists arrange design elements for effective visual expression.

Chaos

Chaos

Chaos

Chaos

Monotony

Monotony

REPETITION

• Use of any element or object more than once in an artifact in order to structure a viewer’s experience of that work.

VARIETY

• Visual diversity to avoid an unintended monotonous composition and to hold the viewer’s interest.

UNITY

• The feeling that a composition holds together well visually and is designed to be experienced as a whole.

UNITY

• Unity is achieved by balancing variety and repetition.

• Identify the visual elements that repeat or vary.

• Explain how Unity is achieved.

GESTALT

• An aspect of cognitive psychology developed in the early twentieth century by German psychologists and philosophers investigating hw the mind seeks unity and closure. The “gestalt” of an artifact is the general feeling it evokes in viewers-the sense of a whole, complete object.

PROXIMITY

• The relative distance between elements in an artifact.

RHYTHM

• The movement, fluctuation, or variation marked by a regular recurrence of related elements.

PATTERN

• A systematic repetition of an element in a work.

BALANCE

• An equilibrium of weight and force; distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.

VISUAL BALANCE

• The appearance of equilibrium in a work of art.

SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

• Visual or actual equilibrium of visual elements in size, shape, and placement.

Bilateral Symmetry

• Symmetry in which similar anatomical parts are arranged on opposite sides of a median axis so that only one plane can divide the individual into essentially identical halves

RADIAL BALANCE

• Equilibrium achieved by elements emanating from a point, usually the center, in a composition.

ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE

• Visual or actual equilibrium that is almost but not exactly symmetrical.

tension

VISUAL CONTRAST

• Degree of visual difference among elements of art in a composition as a means of emphasis.

DIRECTIONAL FORCE

• Arrangement of elements that can move the viewer’s eye in, around, or through a work of art.

Directional Force

• Vertical Force

• Horizontal Force

• Diagonal Force

• Circular Force

• Triangular Force

• Using Multiple Directional Forces

DIRECTIONAL LINES

• Visual or implied lines that move the viewer’s attention to an artifact’s focal point.

VISUAL HIERARCHY

• Arrangement of design elements in terms of their importance to the expressive purposes of the work. This may be accomplished through the use of hieratic scale.

Hieratic Scale

EMPHASIS/SUBORDINATION

• Arrangement of elements of art to make some areas the primary focus of a viewer’s attention.

FOCAL POINT

• An area of an artifact that grasps and holds a viewer’s attention.

Size, Scale, and Proportion

• Making a Statement with Size

• Playing with Scale

• Searching for Perfection in Proportion– Classical Proportions– The Spiral

SCALE

• The comparative size of a work of art or object in relation to other artworks, or objects and/or normative conventions.

PROPORTION

• The relationship of the sizes of parts to each other and to the whole.

Dalton Ghetti