Design Principles (Week 1)

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24/08/2021 (Week 1)

Liew Li Wei 0338076

Bachelor of Mass Communication (Hons) Digital Media Production
Design Principles (Minor)
Exercise 1 (Gestalt Theory & Contrast)

LECTURE

Elements of Design

  • Point/Dot:
    the simplest element in design.

  • Line:
    a continuous mark made on a surface or the edge created when two shapes meet. May be actual, implied, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and/or contour.

  • Shape/Form:
    a two-dimensional element with area on a plane, while form refers to a three-dimensional element with volume in space. 

  • Texture:
     the tactile qualities of surfaces or to the visual representation of those qualities.
  • Colour:
    the visible spectrum of radiation reflected from an object. Color is also sometimes referred to as hue. 
  • Value
    refers to how light or dark an object, area, or element is, independent of its color.

  • Space:
    the distance or area around or between elements in a work.

    Figure 1.1: Elements of Design

Principles of Design

  • Balance
    The distribution of interest or visual weight in a work. A balanced work will have all the elements arranged such that the work will have a sense of visual equilibrium or stability. Balance can be symmetrical, asymmetrical, or radial. Objects, values, colors, textures, shapes, etc. can be used in creating balance in a composition. 

    Figure 1.2: Balance


  • Contrast
    The juxtaposition of opposing elements (opposite colours, value light / dark, direction horizontal / vertical). The greater the contrast, the more something will stand out and call attention to itself. 

    Figure 1.3: Contrast


  • Emphasis
    Created by visually reinforcing something we want the viewer to pay attention to. This is often used to train the viewer’s eyes on the center of interest, or a focal point – the area of interest the viewer’s eye naturally, instinctively skips to. Some of the strategies employed to create degrees of importance are contrast of values, use of colour, placement, variation, alignment, isolation, convergence, anomaly, proximity, size, and contrast. 

    Figure 1.4: Emphasis


  • Repetition
    Strengthens a design by tying together individual elements and bringing a sense of consistency. It can create rhythm (regular, alternating, flowing, random, progressive) and patterns. Variation introduced to repetition increases the level of interest. 

    Figure 1.5: Repetition


  • Unity
    Created by using harmonious similarity and repetition, continuance, proximity, and alignment. It is the visual linking of various elements of the work. This allows the disparate elements and principles to create a unified whole that can be greater than the sum of its parts.
    Figure 1.6: Unity


  • Scale/Proportion
    the sizing of elements or a standard of measurement. It can be used in combination with other principles like emphasis to draw the viewer into a focal point, and helps us make sense of designs or imagery. If something is drawn to scale, it shows an object with accurate sizing (though it could be reduced or enlarged from its actual size). This creates a way to depict objects as larger than life, or bring a large object down to fit on a piece of paper.
    Figure 1.7: Scale/Proportion


  • Movement
    A visual flow through the composition. In some works, movement is implied by the use of static elements to suggest motion and direct a viewer’s eye along a path through the work. In a still image, aspects such as lines, diagonals, unbalanced elements, placement, and orientation can play the role of active elements. In others, movement can be real, giving some elements the ability to be moved or move on their own. 

    Figure 1.8: Movement


  • Harmony
    Brings together a composition with similar, related elements (adjacent colors, similar shapes, etc.). Harmonious elements have a logical relationship, connection, alignment, or progression. They work together and complement each other. 

    Figure 1.9: Harmony


  • Gestalt Theory
    emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts.

    • Figure-Ground
      The figure/ground principle is similar to the closure principle in that it takes advantage of the way the brain processes negative space.

      Figure 1.10: Figure-Ground


    • Similarity
      It’s human nature to group like things together. In gestalt, similar elements are visually grouped, regardless of their proximity to each other. They can be grouped by color, shape, or size. Similarity can be used to tie together elements that might not be right next to each other in a design.

      Figure 1.11: Similarity


    • Proximity
      Proximity refers to how close elements are to one another. The strongest proximity relationships are those between overlapping subjects, but just grouping objects into a single area can also have a strong proximity effect.

      Figure 1.12: Proximity


    • Closure
      It’s the idea that your brain will fill in the missing parts of a design or image to create a whole.

      Figure 1.13: Closure


    • Continuity
      The law of continuity posits that the human eye will follow the smoothest path when viewing lines, regardless of how the lines were actually drawn.

      Figure 1.14: Continuity


    • Order
      This principle says is that your brain will perceive ambiguous shapes in as simple a manner as possible. For example, a monochrome version of the Olympic logo is seen as a series of overlapping circles rather than a collection of curved lines.

      Figure 1.15: Order


INSTRUCTION



EXERCISES

  • Contrast
    I did some research on contrast and found some examples regarding on contrast.

    Figure 1.16: Contrast 1


    Figure 1.17: Contrast 2


    Figure 1.18: Contrast 3


    Figure 1.19: Contrast 4


    After finding examples from the internet, I found this contrast design on the glass (Figure 1.19) interesting, so I was wondering whether it will work on animal. Then, I chose to try on the deer and add in the rabbit element


    Figure 1.20: Attempt 1 on Contrast


    Figure 1.21: Attempt 2 on Contrast


Figure 1.22: Final Work



  • Gestalt Theory
    For Gestalt Theory, I did quite a lot of research on it in order to gasp a better understanding on it before I start my design.

    Figure 1.23: Gestalt Theory 1 (Figure-Ground)


    Figure 1.24: Gestalt Theory 2 (Figure-Ground)


    Figure 1.25: Gestalt Theory 3 (Closure)



    After doing research on Gestalt Theory, I decided to try designing the ideas that I got in my mind and play with closure. 
    Figure 1.26: Attempt 1 on Closure (Iron Man)


    Figure 1.27: Attempt 2 on Closure (Wolf)



Figure 1.28: Attempt 3 on Closure (Wolf 2)


Figure 1.29: Attempt 4 on Closure (Running Cheetah)


After receiving feedback from Dr. Jinchi, I decided to work on my Attempt 1 (Figure 1.26), which is the Iron Man design.


Figure 1.30: Final Work


FINAL OUTCOME

Contrast

Figure 1.31: Final Work for Contrast




Gestalt Theory (Closure)

Figure 1.32: Final Work for Gestalt Theory (Closure)




FEEDBACK

After receiving feedback from Dr. Jinchi on week 3, my attempt on the Iron Man for Gestalt Theory (Closure) can be kept and work on. Miss suggested that I could play around with the font too. As for the attempt on wolf and leopard for Gestalt Theory, the design ideas is too common, therefore it is better to take it as idea exploration. For contrast, miss said I have good understanding on contrast as she can see through the photo I took but I needed to design on my own instead of taking photos as this is a designing class, therefore I will need to create a new design for it.


REFLECTION

For this module, I realized that tons of research must be done in order to gasp a better understanding of each topic. Although the videos sent by Miss Jinchi is actually sufficient enough for me as the explanation in the video is clear , yet research must still be made for ideas exploration.



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