Design Principles: Exercises

4th January - 20th January 2022 / Week 1 - 3

Alana Sofia Othman / 0353451 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Principles
Exercises

LECTURES

Week 1

Topic 1: Elements and principles of design, Gestalt Theory and Contrast

Elements of design

- Point / Line / Shape / Form / Texture / Space / Colour

- Used to create anything we want

Principles of Design

- Contrast / Balance / Emphasis / Rule of Thirds / Repetition / Pattern / Rhythm / Movement Hierarchy / Alignment / Harmony / Unity / Proportion

- Used to help organise the elements and make a design worth looking at

Gestalt Theory

- Similarity / Continuation / Closure / Proximity / Figure Ground / Symmetry & Order

- Perceiving something combined as a whole instead of its individual parts

Contrast

- Placing different things together to create visual interest and emphasize a point

Topic 2: Balance and Emphasis

Balance

- Visual distribution of weight, equally or not. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical

Emphasis

- An important focal point that viewers eyes are naturally dragged to

Topic 3: Repetition and Movement

Repetition

- Repeating similar objects to create pattern and/or rhythm

- Adding a variety of similarities in a repeating order allows excitement

Movement

- Leading viewers eyes through the design or to a focal point

- The illusion of movement within a design through the use of repetition, contrasting colours overlapped, hierarchy, etc.

Topic 4: Harmony and Unity

Harmony

- Placing similar themed objects that strongly complement each other

- Things that naturally work well together

- Created through relationship of colour schemes, styles, subjects, texture, etc.

Unity

- When different components in design complement each other instead of competing, in other words, when everything looks balanced and as one

- Things that create a strong sense of grouping and togetherness

- Created through colour, shape, repetition, proximity, size, etc.

- Harmony can create unity, but unity does not necessarily equal harmony

INSTRUCTIONS

Exercises

Figure Ground

Backstory

This past year, I went through a really hard and confusing time. I had to make tough decisions that would alter and pave my life.

As I am actually a transfer student, I was in my second year of degree in a different university. I was finding it hard to cope with online classes, pressure of the lecturers and a toxic work environment. I spent everyday for 2-3 months crying, got clinically diagnosed with depression and struggled with handing in assignments. Eventually I made the decision to drop out. It was a really difficult decision to make as there were so many things to consider as one cant just make this decision on a whim.

I felt that figure and ground of the Gestalt Principles would be perfect to tell this story as it plays with foreground and background, which translates to how many people, even my closest friends who I talked to everyday, did not realise how badly I was struggling.

References / Ideas / Sketches

Figure 1.1. Reference for Set 1 of Figure Ground

Figure 1.2. Reference for Set 1 of Figure Ground

Figure 1.3. Reference for Set 1 of Figure Ground

Figure 2.1. Sketch 1.1 for Figure Ground

Figure 2.2. Sketch 1.2 for Figure Ground

Figure 2.3. Sketch 1.3 for Figure Ground

In Sketch 1.1 and 1.2, I was trying to incorporate an exclamation mark within the design. I wanted to incorporate the different emotions I was going through at the time. Tear drop for the emotion of sadness, exclamation mark for anger and the skull to represent how I felt dead inside, how my dreams and hopes of graduating was dead. In Sketch 1.3, I was trying to focus on a teardrop and a skull.

Figure 3.1. Reference for Set 2 of Figure Ground

Figure 4.1. Sketch 2.1 & 2.2 for Figure Ground

Figure 4.2. Sketch 2.3 for Figure Ground

In set 2 of sketches for figure ground, I thought of doing a collage of torn paper, cut up tin or anything that can be broken or taken apart as the foreground revealing a symbol. I felt this would fit my story as I was broken and damaged from trying to get my degree, thus the university icons of higher education and a motarboard.

After feedback, I realised that I was too focused in the past and that my hopes of graduating is not dead. I was merely thinking of my emotions in the past, how I was confused and lost, forgetting that I am back on the path to getting a degree. Realising this, I came up with a whole new design with the same concept. A representation of life contrasting death / the present and the past. The leaves in foreground show growth and how I am back on life's journey. While the skull in the background is my past, how I felt the dream was dead.

Figure 5.1. Outcome for Figure Ground

Figure 5.2. Final Outcome for Figure Ground

Past and Present

The past, dead and gone, yet I cling to it. I am not the only one who clings to the past, it's something many people tend to do. Someone once told me "Depression is thinking too much about the past, anxiety is thinking too much about the future, we need to focus on the present". This piece is about how the present and the future is filled with oppurtunities and growth despite having a haunting past.

Contrast

Backstory

Ever since the pandemic hit and borders have been off and on closed, I haven’t been to a beach, or traveled anywhere really, in a really long time. I miss relaxing at the beach, so I figured I’d draw that. I thought of the most common thing, sunset at the beach.

References / Ideas / Sketches

Figure 6.1. Reference for Contrast

Figure 6.2. Reference for Contrast

Figure 7.1. Sketch 3.1 for Contrast

Figure 7.2. Sketch 3.2 for Contrast

Figure 7.3. Sketch 3.3 for Contrast

A painting, digital or physical. In Figure 7.1. & 7.2. / Sketches 2.1 & 3.2, I thought I’d make the sunset contrast a little more interesting by making it a dream or a thought using the typical thought/dream bubbles from comics.

I got the idea for Sketch 3.3,while walking into my room and realising how dark my room is and how bright it was outside. I thought “now that's some good contrast”. So, I figured I could try capture my room window contrast, as for a very long time I, and everyone else, has been stuck in our rooms having to watch the sun and moon pass by.

Figure 8.1. Outcome for Contrast

Figure 8.2. Final Outcome for Contrast

Yearn

The deep ocean deep in my thoughts. Not being able to see, feel or smell it. It's just a far away memory, shoved away to the bottom of my thoughts. I crave it.

FEEDBACK

Week 2

Figure Ground

Sketch 1.1 (Figure 2.1.)

- Too many elements

Sketch 1.2 (Figure 2.2.)

- Everything seems to be in the foreground

Sketch 1.1 (Figure 2.1.)

- Droplet could be defined better

Sketch 2.1 - 2.3 (Figure 4.1. & 4.2.)

- Center alignment is boring. I can make it overlap or show half a skull

- The icon of a skull does not fit. My dream was merely broken or put on hold, not dead (as I am continuing my degree, only in a different university). I could add leaves growing on the skull to signify growth or a skull being mended to show whats broken is being repaired

Contrast

Sketch 3.1 (Figure 7.1.)

- Asymmetrical balanced

- It looks like a contrast of optimism and sadness, the bright happy idea and sunset while also a teardrop of sadness.

- A little bit of a gestalt principle

Sketch 3.2 (Figure 7.2.)

- Boring compared to Sketch 2.1 because of the dream/thought bubble

Sketch 3.3 (Figure 7.3.)

- Contrast with lighting

- Symmetrically balanced

- I should consider how and where I want to light it. What colours too?

REFLECTION

Experience

Although these lectures and this assignment are mostly refreshers to me, as I have done and learnt them before, it was not at all boring. It felt good to be learning about it all again. I learnt a lot more from the classes and pre-recorded lectures as they were really informative and descriptive. It was also a good reminder of the importance of these design fundamentals. Despite having a similar assignment before, I still was learning more about how to use and apply these design fundamentals creatively. Dr. Charles' lessons and feedback really gave me more clarity and confidence about certain confusions or uncertainties that I had.

Observation

I realised that I can be quite close minded and insipid when I first start out. At times when I am so focused on an idea or emotion, I dwell in/on it too much and forget to look at it from other perspectives. When I get so caught up in trying to force an idea to fit into a design, for example my figure ground, I get stuck and lost and can miss out on the oppurtunity of achieving something better. It was only due to structured, hopeful and helpful feedback that I realised there was another perspective to view it from.

Findings

I realised I felt more sure in my work compared to when I was doing a similar assignment in my previous university. This is because I had a better understanding of the design principles than I did before, a better grasp on how to use and apply the design elements and more structured feedback that allowed me to explore more of what I could achieve.

Alana Sofia Othman (0353451)

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