Principles of Design Principles of Design The Principles

Principles of Design

Principles of Design The Principles of Design are a set of guidelines artist’s use for two main reasons… To help them create artwork that is both pleasing to the eye and that communicate what the artist wants. To help the artist create more variation on a theme, additional ways to change the composition of the design.

Balance • Balance is the principle or concept that keeps your design units evenly distributed throughout the picture plane. • You do not want all your images crowded into one area and other areas empty looking. • Design units are your subject matter, the images that make up your design. • The picture plane is the design area, the piece of paper or the computer screen or whatever else you are working on. The edges of this work surface define the size and shape of picture plane.

There are three main types of Balance. . . • Reflective Symmetry • Symmetrical balance is an image that is exactly the same on each side. It has the same elements. • Symmetrical balance is visually more rigid and formal.

Think of Balance as a scale… if you have five on one side you need five on the other side. Symmetrical balance is exactly the same on each side.

Balance ?

Reflective symmetry

There are three main types of Balance. . . • Rotational symmetry is balance that is symmetrical, but instead of being “reflective” (or the same from side to side) the image is rotated around a central point. • Radial symmetry is a bit more interesting.

Balance ?

rotational symmetry

There are three main types of Balance. . . • Asymmetrical balance is an image that is equally weighted on each side, but with different elements. • Asymmetrical balance is more active visually.

Think of Balance as a scale… if you have five on one side you need five on the other side. Asymmetrical still needs five on each side, but it no longer has to identical.

Asymmetrical design can have different design units as long as they have the same visual weight (or impact).

asymmetrical Balance

asymmetrical Balance

Balance ?

asymmetrical

Balanced ? • To much “stuff” on the right hand side, creating an uncomfortable feel. • Could this image become Balanced?

symmetry vertical reflective and horizontal reflective

symmetrical radial

The “Rule of Thirds”

symbolism • Communicating through images

What is a sign? • A sign is an image or a symbol specifically created to express a known meaning without words. • Signs are designed to convey complex information or concepts in simple or fast ways.

What is an icon? • An icon is an image that actually looks like the objects they are supposed to represent.

What is a symbol? • Something that on the surface is its literal self but which also has another meaning or even several meanings. For example, a sword may be a sword and also symbolize justice. • A symbol may be said to embody an idea. • There are two general types of symbols: – Universal symbols that embody universally recognizable meanings wherever used, such as light to symbolize knowledge, a skull to symbolize death, etc. – Constructed symbols that are given symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work, as the white whale becomes a symbol of evil in Moby Dick.

What is a symbol?

What is symbolism? • The creation of meaning or the expression of ideas (telling a story) through the use of symbols, signs or icons instead of words (or by using words for their symbolic value)

What is symbolism? • The creation of meaning or the expression of ideas (telling a story) through the use of symbols, signs or icons instead of words (or by using words for their symbolic value)

Is symbolism universal? Do the symbols at left seem universal in their meanings? Could anyone understand them? Symbols and their interpretation can vary from region to region, culture to culture and especially from time/era to time/era.

• Most people (we assume) would recognize these symbols, and what they stand for. • However… – Would people in non-industrialized countries recognize these symbols? – Will people in a thousand years, digging up the remains of Usa, recognize what these symbols mean?

POP QUIZ • What are the following – sign, symbol or icon?

Images of Peace • A exercise in symbolism/combination.

The life and death problem • A exercise in symbolism. • You will be creating a design that symbolizes the idea of life and death on the truck worksheet provided. – What is the symbolism of the truck?

The design can be conceptual or more and less representational.

The best of the sketches will be reproduced in the large size truck.

ILLUSTRATION What is it? How is it different from “design” or “fine art”?

ILLUSTRATION Illustration is a pictorial representation that has a specific purpose… 1 - To decorate or embellish. With text or without text. 2 - To communicate… To clarify text. To supplement text.

ILLUSTRATION Illustration is a pictorial representation that has a specific purpose… 1 - To decorate or embellish. With text or without text. 2 - To communicate… To clarify text. To supplement text.

Illustration has been with humans ALWAYS

Since early man first began using language, imagery has been of huge importance. The most important people in early civilizations were those that could create images and move peoples emotions – the shamans, the high priests. Those that could – in today’s terminology… “control information”.

Mans first written languages were languages of pictures.

With the growth of technology, the printing press and mass production of books, imagery took a back seat to text.

Books went from this…

…to this.

UNTIL…

With the birth of advertising, computers, the internet, and the “information age”… …imagery in the form of still images, moving images and sound has become as important as it once was.

Most people today access information through what Dr. Jason Ohler calls the “multi-media collage”…

Civilization has done a 360 degree turn. Today’s designers, illustrators and artists have become the “digital high priests” of the 21 st century.

A brief history of Illustration 1… • During the 15 th century, books illustrated with woodcut illustrations became available. • The main processes used for reproduction of illustrations during the 16 th and 17 th centuries were engraving and etching. • At the end of the 18 th century, lithography allowed even better illustrations to be reproduced. – The most notable illustrator of this time period was William Blake who rendered his illustrations in the medium of relief etching.

A brief history of Illustration 2… • The British humorous magazine Punch was one of the magazines responsible for brining illustration as an applied art form to the masses. • Punch employed an uninterrupted run of high-quality comic illustrators, including Sir John Tenniel, the Dalziel Brothers, and Georges du Maurier, into the 20 th century. – It chronicles the gradual shift in popular illustration from reliance on caricature to sophisticated topical observations.

LIFE and DEATH A study of the pictorial representations or the personification of the concepts of Life and Death.

Life and Death. Two opposite sides of the same coin – without one, you cannot have the other – both are necessary. Since the beginning of time, when man realized he was mortal, people have been obsessed with life and death. Artists as well, have been obsessed with creating pictorial representations of these concepts.

Virtually every culture has some sort of representation of “death”. Usually this is a religious figure, sometimes a god, others just a character. Most (but not all) also have a pictorial representation of “life”. Anubis – Egyptian god of death

Shiva Yama

Aztec god of death

Western culture has what is known as the Grim Reaper (usually shown as a hooded figure bearing a scythe) – an attempt at a pictorial representation of the angel of death.

However, since everyone has a different belief or idea – there are different versions and many resemble the traditional winged angel (of Christian and Muslim tradition).

There also many less traditional expressions of the concept…

Sadly, there are fewer pictorial representation of the concept of life. (Is this an insight into mans outlook on the world or an insight into his creativity? ) However – the bright point is that while there are notably fewer, they tend to be much more original and wide ranging.

Brahama – Hindu god of life

The dove is the traditional Christian representation of the concept of life.

Notice the immediate change in the color palette – or in the way the colors are used?

Quetzalcoatl – Aztec god of life

What sorts of nonrepresentational imagery can be used to show the concept of life and death?