Design Principle - Exercises
Chan Qian Hui
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Design Principle
Exercises
EXERCISES
Week 8 : Rhythm, movement and Harmony
For this week, we learnt that :
When you repeat elements, the intervals between those repetitions can create a sense of rhythm in the viewer and a sense of movement.
Since we were required to create a collage for this exercise, I first started by getting the resources which I can find near me. I found a comic book and a black & white book which I can use.
The colour scheme for my materials are in black in white. So in order to make use of the colours, I thought of ink panting which is very popular in Asia. I decided to create a fish swimming in water because fishes are commonly found in ink paintings in order to showcase the smooth movement and swiftness of ink brush strokes.
Work Progress
I first started by creating the background for the artwork. I drew the shape of the fish on the empty paper and added torn papers according to the curves of the fish. I only added vertical lines for the water so it creates a movement for the water which moves according to the fish.
After I'm done with the background, I started creating the fish for the artwork.
For this week, we learnt that :
When you repeat elements, the intervals between those repetitions can create a sense of rhythm in the viewer and a sense of movement.
- Random rhythm : Repeating elements with no specific regular interval creates random rhythms.
- Regular rhythm – Like the beating of a heart, the regular rhythm follows the same intervals over and over again
- Alternating rhythm – You can repeat more than one element in a design. In an alternating design, you use a 1-2-1-2-1-2 pattern.
- Flowing rhythm – A flowing rhythm shows the repeated elements following bends, curves, and undulations.
- Progressive rhythm – We can make a progressive rhythm simply by changing one characteristic of a motif as we repeat it.
Movement shows action and creates a feeling of motion within a composition. It also serves as a guide to direct the eye from one element to the next.
Harmony can be described as sameness, the belonging of one thing with another. The repetition of design elements like colour, texture, shape, and form is one of the easiest ways to achieve harmony to create a composition.
Research
Since we were required to create a collage for this exercise, I first started by getting the resources which I can find near me. I found a comic book and a black & white book which I can use.
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| Fig 8.0 Materials for collage |
The colour scheme for my materials are in black in white. So in order to make use of the colours, I thought of ink panting which is very popular in Asia. I decided to create a fish swimming in water because fishes are commonly found in ink paintings in order to showcase the smooth movement and swiftness of ink brush strokes.
Work Progress
I first started by creating the background for the artwork. I drew the shape of the fish on the empty paper and added torn papers according to the curves of the fish. I only added vertical lines for the water so it creates a movement for the water which moves according to the fish.
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| Fig 8.1 first progress of adding background |
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| Fig 8.2 Progress of adding background |
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| Fig 8.3 darker papers at the bottom of the background to create gradient |
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| Fig 8.4 Cutting of shape of fish |
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| Fig 8.5 adding individual scales to fish |
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| Fig 8.6 scales create texture and follows direction of fish as well |
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| Fig 8.7 Final Artwork |
Week 7 : No Lecture
Week 6 : Dots,Lines, Scale & Size
For this week, we learn that :
Dot is considered the beginning of the elements. A dot marks the beginning and the end of a line. A line is a series of dots. There are many different types of lines: thick, thin, straight, curved, zig-zag etc. Scale is the size of something in comparison to something else. Size is defined as the physical dimensions or extent of an object.
Research
Work Progress
When I first started working on the artwork, I didn't really knew how to draw the lines and dots. So I decided to include the design principle Movement, to give a direction for my dots and lines so it doesn't mean randomly placed.
I took inspiration from a few famous paintings such as starry night for my artwork. I used water colour because I wanted to include colours in my artwork to show the timeline and elements in my artwork. Besides that, the usage of fluids also increase the movement of the colours in the artwork.
Sketches :
The story behind this artwork is showing how the pollution, the black dust is being mixed into the nature. The nature elements of this artwork is drawn using lines ( waves and sky ).
The orange colours of the sky shows sunset hour. The short and swirling lines show the movement of the wind in the sky.
The human elements are drawn using dots ( boat and pollution dusts ).
The brown colour of the boat gives a hint that it is made from wood. The stippling method of dots forms the shape of the boat and gives shadow to the boat.
The black colour of the dusts disturbs the colourful artwork. I added small white dots on black using a white pen to give it a dirt and dusty look.
The dots move from smaller on the left to larger on the right to guide the eyes to move from left to right. This gives a sense of movement of the dots in the artwork.
Week 5 : Alignment, Hierarchy, Direction, Perspective
For this week, we learn that :
Dot is considered the beginning of the elements. A dot marks the beginning and the end of a line. A line is a series of dots. There are many different types of lines: thick, thin, straight, curved, zig-zag etc. Scale is the size of something in comparison to something else. Size is defined as the physical dimensions or extent of an object.
Research
Work Progress
When I first started working on the artwork, I didn't really knew how to draw the lines and dots. So I decided to include the design principle Movement, to give a direction for my dots and lines so it doesn't mean randomly placed.
I took inspiration from a few famous paintings such as starry night for my artwork. I used water colour because I wanted to include colours in my artwork to show the timeline and elements in my artwork. Besides that, the usage of fluids also increase the movement of the colours in the artwork.
Sketches :
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| Fig 6.0 Sketches for lines and dots |
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| Fig 6.1 Final Artwork |
The story behind this artwork is showing how the pollution, the black dust is being mixed into the nature. The nature elements of this artwork is drawn using lines ( waves and sky ).
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| Fig 6.2 Waves of artwork (focused) |
The blue shows the colour of the sea and the continous curved lines show movement of a wave.
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| Fig 6.3 Sky of artwork (focused) |
The orange colours of the sky shows sunset hour. The short and swirling lines show the movement of the wind in the sky.
The human elements are drawn using dots ( boat and pollution dusts ).
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| Fig 6.4 Boat of artwork (focused) |
The brown colour of the boat gives a hint that it is made from wood. The stippling method of dots forms the shape of the boat and gives shadow to the boat.
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| Fig 6.5 Dust of artwork (focused) |
The black colour of the dusts disturbs the colourful artwork. I added small white dots on black using a white pen to give it a dirt and dusty look.
The dots move from smaller on the left to larger on the right to guide the eyes to move from left to right. This gives a sense of movement of the dots in the artwork.
Week 5 : Alignment, Hierarchy, Direction, Perspective
Hierarchy refers to the arrangement or presentation of elements in a way that implies importance.
Alignment creates a sharper, more ordered design. Aligning elements allows them to create a visual connection with each other. It tightens the design and eliminates the haphazard, messy effect which comes when items are placed randomly.
Types of alignment : edge alignment, centre alignment, horizontal alignment and vertical alignment.
Visual direction is the perceived direction of visual forces. Visual direction serves a similar function to visual weight in that it’s trying to get you to notice certain parts of the composition.
In direction, there are 3 types of direction: horizontal, vertical and diagonal. Horizontal gives a calm feeling, vertical give a balance and stable feeling and diagonal gives a exciting and dynamic feeling to the composition.
Perspective indicates depth in 2D which can observe the arrangement of design element clearly.
Research
Work Progress
For this exercise, we were required to take our own photograph and photoshop them to show Alignment, Hierarchy, Direction, Perspective. I made two artworks for this exercise, one for Hierarchy and one for Perspective.
Hierarchy artwork :
For this artwork, I wanted to focus on one person as the center of attention and having tiny smaller people below it.
I took a photo of my lego as the character of my photo.
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| Fig 5.0 Lego subject (with cake) |
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| Fig 5.1 Lego subject (without cake) |
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| Fig 5.2 Lego Subject (without cake) |
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| Fig 5.3 Lego subject (without cake) |
I took a few different photos of my lego, one with cake and one without it to give it a sense of status, showing that the higher status lego has a cake, while the other don't.
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| Fig 5.4 Final Photograph For Hierarchy |
This creates a huge status difference between the lego with cake and the other lego because the lego without cake is smaller and repeated. The giant lego with cake is given priority compared to the other lego thus showing hierarchy.
Feedback which I got from Ms Sherry was that the hierarchy can be seen clearly and there's a good repetition going on. But she would like me to do something about the background.
Perspective artwork :
For the perspective artwork, I wanted to show something that was viewed from worm perspective which from the bottom looking up.
I took a few photos of buildings around Taylor's Lakeside Campus.
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| Fig 5.5 Photo of Taylor's Lakeside building from worm perspective |
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| Fig 5.6 Photo of me and my friend looking down |
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| Fig 5.7 Final Photograph for Perspective |
The feedback I gotten was that Ms Sherry can see that it's like a big monster looking down and good thing I kept the nose. Ms Sherry was quite confused with the grey-ish part on top which is actually part of the ceiling of the building.
Week 4 : Pattern, Repetition, Texture
For this week, we have learn about pattern, repetition and texture.
Pattern is the repetition of design element.
It could be seamless (never ending) or finite (with end)
Repetition is reusing the same elements or similar elements in an artwork.
It brings a clear sense of unity and cohesiveness.
Texture is something which we can see and touch. There are 2 types of texture, Physical and Visual.
Physical texture is when we can feel it through touch while visual texture is creating an illusion of physical texture.
Pattern is the repetition of design element.
Research
Artwork A :
I really like Japanese traditional kimono patterns, so getting inspiration from their patterns, I've decided to take a few of the elements from their patterns and put it in my artwork.
First, in order to replicate the waves, i used a brush and made a wave by turning the brush 180 degrees. I repeated the technique and filled the whole page using blue and green.
Then, using leftover parts of styrofoam which I gotten from my friend, I painted it with red and started to form a fish by dapping it onto the paper.
I also coloured the ridges of the cover of my brush to paint it on the fish as their scales.
I repeated the techniques and filled the whole page with fishes.
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| Fig 4.0 Artwork A for Pattern |
Artwork B :
Since I still found a few leftover pieces of styrofoam, I've decided to mix the leftover red and blue and paint on the styrofoam. I swiped the styrofoam on the paper and it create a really interesting pattern. I repeated the technique irregularly across the paper and filled until the edges to create a seemless pattern.
The pattern came out to be really interesting and the colours matched well together as well.
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| Fig 4.1 Artwork B for Pattern |
Week 3 : Balance
For week 3, my friends and I presented about Balance, symmetry and asymmetry.
Balance is about the distribution of the visual weight of
- objects
- colors
- texture
- space
If the design was a scale, these elements should be balanced to make a design feel stable.
Symmetry balance is when elements on both sides of the screen are the same format. It's like a reflection in an artwork.
Designs are asymmetrical if the arrangement of elements are different on both sides of an axis. However, the elements are arranged so that there is a sense of balance so the visual weight should be the same.
Research
Work Progress :
The work that I came up with focuses on asymmetry balance.
In order to balance the visual weight on both sides, I used a darker colour tone for the rough textured spikes on top against the lighter colour tone dragon which has smoother strokes.
I kept the background light coloured so it wouldn't increase the visual weight for the spikes which will cause unbalance.
Artwork A :
Work Progress :
Artwork A :
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| Fig 3.0 Artwork A for Balance |
The feedback I gotten from this artwork is that, from afar the dragon looks like a tree. This is maybe because the eye wasn't coloured and the direction and shape of the dragon looked too much like a tree.
Besides that, I also made another artwork for Balance.
Artwork B :
For this artwork, I focused on asymmetry balance as well.
In order to balance the dragon and the boy, I gave white space around the boy to increase the brightness of the boy which contrast the huge dragon. I also added a large gold torchlight for the boy which balances the gold used for the dragon's eye which is smaller.
The outlines for both of the boy and dragon are using smooth strokes which is inspired by Japanese brush art. This creates minimum details on both of the subjects so I won't accidentally add too much elements which will increase the visual weight.
Week 2 : Gestalt
For week 2, we have learn about the design principle Gestalt.
Gestalt is a psychology term mean "unified whole".
It allows viewers to organize visual elements into certain groups when certain principle are applied such as :
- Similarity
- Continuation
- Closure
- Proximity
- Figure and Ground
For week 2, we have learn about the design principle Gestalt.
Gestalt is a psychology term mean "unified whole".
It allows viewers to organize visual elements into certain groups when certain principle are applied such as :
- Similarity
- Continuation
- Closure
- Proximity
- Figure and Ground
Research
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Work Progress
When I first started Gestalt, I was too quite confused as I did not really knew how to make different use of negative and positive space.
I was quite confused on whether how the two different spaces should be utilized.
After doing some research and sketches, I slowly got the concept of Gestalt and I started working further with my artwork.
The concept for my design is an angry person speaking and the mouth which looked like a gun symbolizes the words he said. So the positive space shows the person talking and the negative space shows a gun with bullets coming out.
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| Fig 2.0 First Gestalt Artwork |
After showing the work during the critique session, the feedback which I gotten from this artwork is that the bullet on the head which was supposed to serve as an angry eyebrow was too distracting and felt unnecessary. So I removed it.
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| Fig 2.1 Gestalt Artwork after fixing |
I wasn't really satisfied with my work cause I realized that Gestalt should not be too obvious and it should be 2 things that happened to be seen together in a group. I wanted to make my negative space more hidden and not as obvious as my current one.
Week 1: Contrast
For week 1, we have learnt about the design principle Contrast.
Contrast occurs when when opposite visual elements in a composition are different to create visual interest, excitement and drama.
Contrast occurs when when opposite visual elements in a composition are different to create visual interest, excitement and drama.
Opposite elements such as
- straight and curved lines
- light and dark colors
- rough and smooth textures
- large and small shapes.
Research
Fig 1.0 ,Fig 1.1 ,Fig 1.2 All pictures were sourced from Google Images
Work Progress
During the first week, we were required to bring black paper, glue and white paper. We were required to create a collage based one the design principle contrast, with the materials which we prepared.
Initially I sketched a design of a man who's drowning and using the different negative and positive spaces, proportion distribution, and word size to show contrast.
I also made another sketch which is a zombie hand popping out of the ground to contrast between the arm and the hand and also altering the texture to create contrast.
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| Fig 1.4 Sketches for contrast |
The feedback I gotten from Ms Sherry is that the visual contrast isn't very clear and I should remove the letters from the design as it is hard to be cut out.
After doing some research online, I've decided to use a few contrast artworks I found online as inspiration and guidance for my new artwork.
After doing some research online, I've decided to use a few contrast artworks I found online as inspiration and guidance for my new artwork.
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| Fig 1.5 second sketch of new ideas |
My final design has a few factors that portrays the design principle of contrast.
First, the picture is mainly filled with black thick lines and white thin lines which are straight and in a similar repeating angle.
I then added a curved line which intersects with the straight lines to create a contrast between curved and straight line.
In order to strengthen the visual contrast, I also swapped the colours of the lines which the curved line intersects.
Lastly, to make the artwork more interesting, I added a plain white line that is slightly thicker than the other lines and it is slightly tilted compared the the repeating lines to create an interesting contrast.
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| Fig 1.6 Final Contrast Artwork |
Ms Sherry commented that my artwork had a strong visual contrast and there is contrast on top of contrast. But she also emphasized that I should improve on my craftmanship so that the artwork is more neat and tidy. One of my classmates commented that the artwork was too complicated.
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