COMPOSITION AND THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

COMPOSITION AND THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

You will apply principles of design and visual organisation to your

designs using a combination of balance, scale, unity and proportion,

rhythm, symmetry and positive and negative space. By utilising the

elements of line, tone, texture, shape, and emphasis, you will achieve

visual harmony in your composition and layout. As you develop a

working knowledge of the properties of colour, you will apply

appropriate colour schemes that reflect the emotions of various

consumer markets.

PRINCIPLES

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Balance-an equal distribution of weight. When a design is balanced we

tend to feel that it holds together, looks unified and feels

harmonious. Understanding balance involves the study of several visual

factors-weight, position and arrangement. Weight can be defined as

creating the illusion of physical weight on a page and can appear

heavy or light.

Focal point and visual hierarchy- what do you look at first when you

look at a design? You probably look at the point of emphasis, the

focal point (part of the design which most stands out). A focal point

is chosen by the designer to attract the viewer to look at important

points within the design. A main focal point can be established along

with supporting secondary focal points, called accents which are not

so strongly emphasised. How can you create emphasis? Make it brighter,

make it larger, make it go in different direction, position it

differently, arrange all the elements to lead to it, isolate it,

reverse it, make it a different colour, make it a different shape than

other elements, make it clear and the other elements hazy.

Rhythm-In music most people think of rhythm as the ‘beat’ a sense of

movement from one chord to another, a flow. In design, you can also

think of rhythm as the beat, but a beat established by visual elements

such as shape, line, colour, texture, than by sound. Rhythm is a

pattern that is created by repeating elements and creating a sense of

movement from one element to another. When you draw evenly spaced

vertical lines on a page you establish a steady rhythm.

Movement-Elements should be arranged so that the viewers eye flows

from one element to another through the design. Movement and rhythm

often go together.

Unity-relies on a basic knowledge of the formal elements(line, tone,

shape, space, textur...

... middle of paper ...

...ucting the underlying structure of a piece is a

bit more complicated — but essential for most designs. Most balanced

designs (and even unbalanced ones) rely on a grid. This invisible

structure (visible while working in your page layout program) helps

ensure that you place all the elements in the right location to

achieve balance as well as to help with continuity and consistency of

design. Grids can be simple or complex depending on the needs of the

design and the designer. Sometimes the use of a grid is obvious. Below:

This asymmetrically balanced design uses a simple three column grid to

ensure that each text column is the same width and that it is balanced

by the nearly empty column on the left. The grid also dictates the

margins and ensures that the page number and header appear in the same

place on each page.

An example of a design with asymmetrical balance and the use of 3-column grid

A 5x5 grid keeps this design in line. The grid is obvious along the

bottom (each square equals one grid square in this layout) but it is

invisibly keeping all those random letters in order in the middle.

An example of a design with all over balance with underlying 5x5 grid