Arts
PART 1:
Take a look at the magazine advertisement below. It incorporates several if not all of the seven principles
of design covered in our last lesson. For part one of your midterm, select from the list below which of the
seven you think are being utilized by the designer to attract and keep your attention and ultimately
persuade you to buy their product. Hint: most if not all of the principles are being used.
Unity and Variety
Balance: Symmetrical or
Asymmetrical
Emphasis and Subordination
Directional Forces
Contrast
Repetition and Rhythm
Scale and/or Proportion
PART 2:
Now, using your choices from above, create a thorough list of your chosen Principles of Design used to
create the ad and a detailed description of how each is used and why. This does not have to be in the
form of a formal paper. You can simply list which principles were used and give an in-depth description of
how and why the designer used them.
To add emphasis, use bold type each time a design principle is used and be as detailed and
descriptive as needed to explain your point.
Example: (not from the image above) Directional Forces- To emphasize the focal point of the
ad, the designer uses the glaring eyes of the surrounding crowd as directional forces, pointing to the
boys shoes.
In that sentence, the writer has noted that the designer utilizes certain elements (the crowds eyes) to bring
attention to the ads focal point (the boys shoes).
Also: Identify the ad’s target audience – this will help you identify and explain your list. Write as many
sentences as needed to emphasize your point.
(Top score 50 points) NOTE: scoring for Part 2 will be based on the execution of directions, the detail
and thoroughness of your response, and how well you describe the use of each principle.
Remember: Your grade will be determined by the number of principles you recognize in the ad and how
well you describe their use. Lesson 2
WHAT DOES ART LOOK LIKE?
Summary Assignment Lecture
Principles of Design
Art Appreciation
Joe Clark
Principles of Design
Unity and Variety
Unity and variety are complementary concerns.
Unity is the appearance or condition of oneness.
Variety provides diversity.
In design, unity is used to describe the feeling
that all elements in the work belong together
and make a coherent and harmonious whole.
When a work has unity, both the artist and the
viewer feel that any change to the composition
would damage overall quality. Therefore, unity is
safe, but can be very boring.
Variety acts as a counterbalance to extreme
unity. The balance between the boredom of too
much sameness and the chaos of uncontrolled
variety creates visual harmony and interest in
both art and life.
Unity and Variety are most effective when used
together. What are the unifying elements in the
image to the right? What provides diversity?
Andy Warhol
Green Coca-Cola Bottles
Acrylic, screenprint, and graphite
pencil on canvas, 1962
Principles of Design
Unity and Variety
A real-life example of Unity and Variety
Unity is like eating pizza everyday for every meal for the rest of your life.
Could you survive on only pizza? Sure. But how boring would that be? Not to mention
youre probably going to get sick of eating pizza after a while. At some point youre gonna
want a cheese burger or a taco. Variety lets me experience other things and keeps the
menu interesting. But…
Too much variety can be even more problematic. What if you were told you have to eat
something different for every meal and you could never repeat? What if you wanted
another slice of pizza? Sorry.
Variety on its own creates an equally
unpleasent situation. It needs the
structure and repetition that
unity provides.
In art, the best
compositions use both
unity and variety.
Principles of Design
Unity and Variety
This painting has one
major unifying element.
Can you guess what it is?
Art note:
This painting is at the
Museum of Fine Arts here
in Houston.
You should go see it.
Frantiek Kupka
The Yellow Scale
Oil On Canvas
c. 1907
What about here? Certainly a bit more variety here. But not too much.
What are the unifying elements? Color, shape, texture.
Bathers at Asnires
Georges Seurat
Oil on canvas, 1884
Principles of Design
Principles of Design
Balance
This painting by Diego Rivera uses what
we call approximate symmetry.
The focal point of the image, the flower
seller, is directly in the center of the
composition. The left and right sides are
not identical but are so close in scale and
have enough unity in shape and color
that balance is maintained.
Flower Day (Da de Flores)
Diego Rivera
Oil on canvas, 1925
Principles of Design
Balance
Asymmetrical balance uses compositional elements that are offset from each other,
creating a visually unstable balance. Note: Its important to remember that even though
this not symmetry, balance is still maintained. Asymmetrical visual balance is the most
dynamic because it creates a more complex design construction. It achieves visual balance
even when both sides are not the same.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai. Woodblock print, 1832
This iconic image by the great
Japanese printmaker Hokusai,
achieves balance in an
asymmetrical composition.
The dynamic focal point of the
big wave, rises and curls from
the left back to the center of
the image. The water rises up
on the right side of the print,
framing Mount Fuji in the
background, and keeping our
eyes in the picture.
Principles of Design
Balance
Avant de Ballet
Edgar Degas
Oil on canvas, 1890-1892
This painting is assymmeticaly balanced and may even be a bit off-balanced.
Edgar Degas loved to play with fragile balance in his compositions, pushing them to the
extreme. Take the image above for example: you get the feeling if just one of the girls
on the left was removed, the girls on the right would tumble off the picture.
Principles of Design
Emphasis and Subordination
Emphasis is used to draw attention to a
particular area of the composition. This
specific spot or figure is called a focal
point.
Through subordination, an artist creates
neutral areas that are important to the
narrative but not as important as the
focal point.
The image to the right is a painting by
Rembrandt van Rijn. As a Baroque
painter, he was a master at using light to
draw the viewers eyes to the focal point
in this case, the glowing baby Jesus.
Through his use of shadow, Rembrandt is
able to effectively include important
participants in the scene without them
competing with the focal point.
Adoration of the Shepherds, Rembrandt
Oil on canvas, 1646
Principles of Design
Principles of Design
Directional Forces
Notice all of the design principles Goya uses to get you to look at the focal point in
his famous painting, The Third of May, 1808.
Directional forces:
The guns with bayonets of the
firing squad pointing at the
men to be executed.
Emphasis and subordination:
The focal point, the man with
outstretched arms, is brighter
than anything else in the
image.
Balance:
This painting is asymmetrically
balanced through use of the
golden ratio.
Repetition and rhythm:
The rhythmic repetition of
elements the color red, and
the soldiers in line.
Principles of Design
High contrast
The color of this tree
frogs feet and eyes are
opposite the leaf its
sitting on.
Watch out for birds.
Low contrast
Can you find the frog
in this picture?
An artists use of contrast isnt always limited to just the formal elements of a work of art.
Sometimes the contrast is in the content – the idea or concept behind the artwork.
For example: What are the dissimilar formal elements in the image above?
Would you expect to see a pink cement truck at a construction site? Probably not.
The idea behind painting a work truck a contrasting color is fun and makes the photo more
enjoyable. Playing with contrast in the content of a work engages the viewer in an interesting way.
Principles of Design
Contrast
The repetition of visual elements gives the
composition unity, continuity, flow and
emphasis. Rhythm is created through the
regular recurrence of those visual
elements with related variations.
A good composition will always have a
rhythmic order to its repeated elements.
Example: I once purchased my five year old
son a small drum kit. He had been banging
on everything so I thought he was a natural
drummer. Nope. There was a lot of repetition
but it was definitely not good music.
What he lacked at such a young age was
rhythm. Rhythm places all the repeating
elements in a cohesive and orderly system.
In this painting, what repeated elements do
you see? Wheres the rhythm?
De Hooch uses geometric shapes in rhythmic
patterns to unify the composition. Diversity
breaks up the geometry with organic human
forms. Theres unity, variety, rhythmic
repetition and contrast.
Principles of Design
Repetition and Rhythm
A Woman Drinking with Two Men
Pieter de Hooch, oil on canvas, 1658
Give this one a try. Heres another image by M. C. Escher entitled Day and Night.
What are the repeated and rhythmic elements? Shapes, value, texture, patterns.
Which of the other design principles do you see? Unity, variety, balance, contrast
Principles of Design
Repetition and Rhythm
Principles of Design
Scale and Proportion
Scale is the size relationship of one
thing to another.
This little dude has his hands
full with a really BIG job.
According to the definition of
scale, he and the hand do not
share the same scale.
Looking at the image on the left, you cant
help but think that pop artist Claes Oldenburg
had a lot of fun playing with the scale of his
oversized sculptures of everyday objects.
Principles of Design
Scale and Proportion
Like Claes Oldenburg, artist Robert Therrien makes something recognizable from an
everyday experience and enlarges it to a monumental scale.
Robert Therrien, No title (Folding table and chairs, beige), 2008
Painted metal and fabric. Table: 96 x 120 x 120 inches.
4 chairs: 104 x 64 x 72 inches each.
Principles of Design
Scale and Proportion
Robert Therrien with two of his oversize creations in his studio in Los Angeles.
Principles of Design
Scale and Proportion
Ron Mueck also engages the viewer
through his use of scale. His sculptures
look extremely life-like, but he also
exposes the artificial nature of his work by
giving his figures abnormal proportions.
See more of Muecks work: HERE
Right: Standing Woman, 2007
Below: Boy, 1999
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/10/the-hyperrealistic-sculptures-of-ron-mueck/100606/
Principles of Design
Scale and Proportion
Proportion is the size relationship of parts
to a whole.
An artist will sometimes alter the proportions
of a figure for emphasis. Notice in this painting
how the artist Parmigianino has elongated the
neck, torso, hands and legs of Mary. The babys
proportions are also very odd.
The painting is from the Renaissance but we
call the style mannerism. Parmigianino
abstracted these features of the central figures
to add visual interest.
Madonna with the long neck
Parmigianino Mazzola
Oil on panel, 1534 – 1540
