Week 5: Composition & Design Lecture

The first question that Ms. Lisa asked us was what do we understand about Design. Knowing absolutely nothing, I tried using my 'not so obviously blur' face to not attract attention to myself in the hopes of not being asked to answer the question (I got lucky, THIS TIME). She then continued on with the lecture by explaining visual aesthetics. Which means how an object looks.

Elements Of Design

She also explained the Elements Of Design and how good elements of design can succesfully convey a message and able to grab people's attention visually. So here are 6 elements of design:

Line

Different lines can imply emotions or behaviour of an object through illusion. Horizontal lines implies a calm and serene situation as it is parallel to our horizon (where the sky meets the earth/sea). Diagonal lines implies power and motion and is usually used to show movement. Different thickness of lines can also depict the characteristics of the object.

Texture

Texture is defined as the surface characteristics of a material that can be experienced through the sense of touch or the illusion of touch. Texture is achieved through imagery such as brick, fur, rock and marble. A good texture is able to show a proper contrast.

Positive & Negative Space

Positive space is the space taken by object at focus. While negative space is the leftover space from the object. These spaces are often used to create optical illusion pictures.

Time/Motion

Motion is the utilizing repetition to create movement. Repeated circles that are increasing in size gives the illusion of something is moving towards you.

Colour

Colour is the part of light that is reflected by the object we look at. Colours can be differentiate by its value, hue, and also chroma (intensity of colour).

Typography

Also known as fonts. The types of fonts include serif (fonts with tails), sans-serif(fonts without tails),

script(connecting fonts), square serif(fonts with blocky tails), decorative(fonts with extra decorative details like flowers, machine, and etc), and custom (your own font).

Principles Of Design

After the 4 weeks of self-discovery, we finally get to know Principles Of Design(the core subject here) through its principles of design.

Unity

Unity is the relationship among the elements of a visual that helps all the elements function together. Through aesthetic unification of design elements or consistent colour schemes in a composition, unity is achieved. Other ways to achieve unity is through using similar shapes, common patterns, space, and using a common background. 

Variety

The adding of a contrast towards harmony to avoid the design from becoming mundane. Variety can be achieved by changing sizes, patterns, inputting different elements and point of views to add interest to a visual image.

Balance

The variety of objects in an image through the sense of equilibrium is the definition of balance in design. Balance is needed to arrange parts of a visual in a manner that the aesthetics looks pleasing.

Scale & Proportion

The usage of different sizes to show distance between objects.

Hierarchy/Dominance

The contradiction of colours, size, and texture between the focused object and the background or other objects in higher numbers to make the object visually grab people's attention.

Rhythm & Repetition

The repeating of objects at different size to give a dynamic feel to its visual.

Each of these elements of design provides us the ways to create a great design. Also with the principles that has been listed above applied to our designs, the visual aesthetics of our design would improve significantly and be deemed successful to other people's eyes. The End. Of the lecture part only.