Design Basics: Chapter 5: Balance, Chapter 8: Shape and Volume, Chapter 11: Illusion of Motion
Chapter 5: Balance
Introduction:
Horizontal and Vertical Placement
Ø Balance- some equal distribution of usual weight- is a universal aim or composition.
o Connotation: same amount of weight distribution within a composition.
o Example: An unbalanced design leaves the viewer with a vague uneasiness.
Symmetrical Balance
Architectural Examples
Ø Symmetrical balance like shapes, are repeated in the same positions on either side of a vertical axis.
o Connotation: Symmetrical balance can be described as shapes, colors, or lines that repeat itself on vertical axis.
Ø Formal balance is used to describe conscious symmetrical repetition, while clearly creating perfect balance.
o Connotation: Formal balance has a sense of symmetrical form but remains with a constant balance.
o Example: The art museum in Portland Maine has rigidly repetitive pattern, and the result is a sedate, calm, and dignified façade.
Examples from Various Art Forms
Ø Symmetrical balance is a rarer in painting than in architecture.
o Example: A dignified, solemn subject such as the Madonna en throned clearly calls for the stable, calm qualities symmetrical balance can impart. In this example, while the architectural setting is completely symmetrical, the saints flanking the Madonna are similar but not identical.
o Example: Todd DeVriese. Roses/ Harmony. (1996). Todd De Vriese’s Roses/ Harmony, exploits a geometric symmetry and the symmetry of natural forms such as ferns. This balanced distribution of shapes and repeating patterns creates the sense of harmony suggested in the title. The arching ferns seem to defer to the power of the central image in a manner similar to the figures on either side of the Madonna and Child.
Asymmetrical Balance
Introduction:
Ø Asymmetrical Balance: Balance is achieved with dissimilar objects that have equal visual weight or equal attraction.
o Connotation: Asymmetrical balance can be described as objects that are not the same, balance each other out within a composition while appealing to the eye.
o Example: Nan Goldin. Siobhan with a cigarette, Berlin. (1994). In Nan Goldin’s photograph the figure gazes art at us from the right side of the picture. But the composition is not off balance. Left of center is the hand and cigarette, which balance the face as a natural point of interest. Balance is maintained as the two sides of the picture each provide a visual emphasis.
Balance by Value and Color
Ø Asymmetrical balance: is based on equal eye attraction- dissimilar objects are equally interesting to the eye. One element that attracts our attention is value difference, a contrast of light and dark.
o Example: Felix Vallotton. The Lie. (1897). The 19th century wood art, Felix Vallotton, the obvious subject is the lovers who are on the left side of the composition. They are visually balanced on the right by the stark white area of the table cloth against a black background.
Balance by Shape and texture
Ø A small, complicated shape is balanced by a larger, more stable shape.
Ø A small, textured shape can balance larger untextured one.
Balance by Position and Eye Direction
Ø Balance by position- in design this means that a large item placed closer to the center can be balanced by a smaller item placed out toward the edge.
o Connotation: Balance by position simply means that a large item within a composition that’s placed in the center can be balanced out by a smaller item that outs to the edge.
o Example: Aubrey Beardsley illustration depicts this concept. The three “garcons” are grouped to the left-hand portion of the composition. Notice how much of these figures are actually the white aprons, which serve to lighten the weight of the figure grouping. The tables, one stacked with plates on the right-hand edge of the picture, provide sufficient balancing lines and shapes to this informal group.
Ø Radical Balance- all the elements radiate or circle out from a common central point.
o Connotation: Things within a design move in a circular motion out from a central point.
o Example: In Navajo sand painting. Radical Balance is the product of a Shaman’s ritual or ceremony. Other cultures employ radical balance as part of their spiritual imagery and designs.
Crystallographic Balance
Allover Pattern
Ø Crystallographic balance- referred to as balance with equal emphasis over an entire two-dimensional surface so that there is always the same visual weight or attraction wherever you may look. This is also called ‘all over pattern’ or ‘allover balance.’
o Connotation: Crystallographic balance can be described as balance that is distributed all throughout a design so there can be equal amount of visual weight and the viewer’s eye can be focused on the whole piece.
o Example: Adeline Harris (Sears). Signature Quilt. (1857-64). In the Signature Quilt, A decline Harris, emphasis is uniform throughout. The many blocks are the same size, with each defined in the same degree of contrast to the black ground. Each signature on each block is accorded the same value whether that of a president or a lesser- known individual. There is no beginning, no end, and no focal point- unless, indeed, the whole quilt is the focal point.
Chapter 8: Shape and Value
Introduction:
Ø Shape: is a visually perceived area created by either an enclosing line, or color or value changes defining the outer edge.
o Connotation: Shape can be described as closing angles with the emphasis of color and value to the outer lines.
Ø Form- used in a broad sense to describe the total visual organization of a work, including color, texture and composition.
o Connotation: Form can be described as organization of a design through color, texture, and composition.
o Example: Sydney Licht. Still Life with Two Oranges and Two Rose Cones. 1996. This still life is an arrangement of oval shapes in various sizes and combinations. Of course the color, texture, and value of these shapes are important, but the basic element is shape, including the shapes defines by the spaces between objects, and the more complex shapes created through overlap. At times the name of the object may be uncertain, but the shapes are always certain.
Ø Volume/ Mass- are applied to the three-dimensional equivalent. Sculptures have mass, where as paintings have shapes.
o Connotation: Volume or mass is given only to three- dimensional items such as sculptures
Ø Installation- describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of space.
Connotation: Installation can be described as artwork placed within a space.
Naturalism and Distortion
Ø Naturalism- is what people call “realism,” meaning visual realism. Naturalism is concerned with appearance. It gives the true-to- life honest visual appearance of shapes in the world around us.
o Connotation: Naturalism can be described as giving artwork a “real-life” essence.
Ø Distortion- the artist purposely changes or exaggerates the forms of nature.
o Connotation: Distortion can be described as the artist exaggerating the natural form of an item.
Ø Idealism- reproduces the world not as it is but as it should be.
o Connotation: Idealism can be described as giving a new vision to the world, implying that this is what it should be instead of what it is now.
o Examples:
§ The self- portrait by Gregory Gillespie is naturalistic. (Gregory Gillespie. Myself Painting a Self Portrait. 1980-81)
§ The fifth-century B.C. statue illustrates the opposite approach- idealism. (Polyclitus, Doryphorus (Spear Bearer). Roman copy after Greek original of c. 450-440 BC. )
Abstraction
Ø Abstraction- implies a simplification of natural shapes to their essential, basic character. Details are ignored as the shapes are reduced to their simplest terms.
o Connotation: Abstraction can be described as giving a shape or something relatable an outward appearance and ignoring their regular representation.
o Example: Press Photographer. (1991) is abstraction. All of the elements have been abstracted to some extent. Many details have been omitted in reducing the camera and figure to basic geometric shapes (primarily circles and squares). Still, the subject matter is immediately recognizable, even though we are several steps removed from a naturalistic image. This form of abstraction, where elements are simplified to simple building blocks, is sometimes called “reductive.”
Non Objective Shapes
Ø Non Objective- shapes with no object reference and no subject matter suggestion.
o Connotation: Non objective can be described as shapes that don’t really have a reference.
o Example: painting or collages represent purely non objective, geometric shapes that are, as Plato said, “free from the sting of desire.”
Rectilinear and Curvilinear
Ø Rectilinear- is the term to describe visual effect.
o Connotation: Rectilinear can be described as giving something a visual effect.
Ø Curvilinear- forming or moving in a curved line.
o Connotation: Curvilinear can be described as lines moving in a curved form.
Positive/ Negative Shapes
Ø Positive and negative shapes- the location of shapes in space organizes the space into positive and negative areas.
o Connotation: positive and negative shapes can be described as shapes that are detailed or not so detailed shapes.
Ø Figure and ground- are other terms used to describe the same idea- the black shape being the figure.
o Connotation: Figure and ground can be described as a black shape being the figure.
Ø Integration- Design themes and purposes vary, but some integration between positive and negative shapes is generally thought desirable.
o Connotation: Integration can be described as a combination of positive and negative shapes in a good aspect that eventually is made to attract the viewer’s eye.
o Example: Georges Seurat, The Black Bow. C. (1882). The relationship is positive and negative is more complex. The left side of the figure is dark against a lighter ground, and the right side of the figure is light against a darker ground.
Ø Confusion- sometimes positive and negative shapes are integrated to such an extent that there is truly no visual distinction.
o Connotation: Confusion within a work of art can be described as positive and negative shapes put together that have no organization and may be confusing to its viewer because things are scattered.
o Example: Franz Kline. White Forms. (1955). When you look at the painting you automatically see some black shapes on a background. But when we read the artist’s title, “White Forms”, suddenly the new changes, and we begin to focus on the white shapes, with the black areas now perceived as negative space.
Chapter 11: Illusion of Motion
Introduction:
Ø Kinetic- art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect.
o Connotation: Kinetic can be described as art work that needs movement in order for it to have an effect.
Anticipated Motion
Ø Kinesthetic empathy- the process of recreating unconsciously in our own bodies the actions we observe. We actually “feel” in our muscles the exertions of the athlete or dancer; we simultaneously stretch, push, or lean, though we are only watching. This involuntary reaction also applies to static images in art, where it can enhance the feeling of movement.
o Connotation: Kinesthetic empathy can be described as the viewer looking at a piece of artwork that suggests some form of movement and it allows the viewer to actually feel the movements within the art work.
o Example: Nicolas Possun. The Rape of the Sabine Women. C. 1635-1637. The figures seem to have more activity, more potential for movement, in their mobile positions because of the contrast with the large, solid building that appears so immobile.
Ways to Suggest Motion
Figure Repeated
Ø Repeating a figure- over the century’s artist have devised various conventions to present on illusion of motion art.
o Example: David Slays Goliath and Cuts Off His Head. Manuscript illumination (M638 f 28v) from Old Testament Miniatures, Paris. C.1245-1250. The figure of David from the Bible appears in different positions and situations. Architectural elements divide the format into four areas. In the upper left area David with his slingshot meets the giant Goliath and prepares for battle. To the upper right David cuts off the slain giant’s head as the Philistine soldiers leave. David presents the head to the King of Israel in the lower left vignette, and in the final scene David receives the gift of a cloak from an admirer.
Blurred Outlines
Ø Blurred Outlines- details and edges of the form are lost in the rapidity of the movement.
o Connotation: Blurred outlines can be described as rushed details of lines or forms.
o Example: Anonymous (Italian). Dancing Figure. 16th century. The figure in the drawing suggests movement in this way. The dancer is drawn with sketchy, incomplete, and overlapping lines to define her form.
Multiple Image
Ø Multiple Image- one figure in an overlapping sequence of poses, the slight change in each successive pattern suggests movement taking place.
o Connotation: Multiple image can be described as a replica of the same figure within an image, seen forming another pose that suggest movement.
o Example: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Female Nude. C.1826-1834. While Ingres motive was probably just to try two different positions for the figure. We get a clear suggestion of the figure moving in a dance like gestures.
Reproduction of Artwork
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/23704/cloud-made-from-6000-light-bulbs-by-caitlind-brown.html
Who designed it?: Caitlind Brown.
How was it constructed?: A cloud made from 6,000 light bulbs.
When was it designed/ or publicly announced?: 9/19/2012
Fun Fact: Conceived by calgary-based artist Caitlind Brown, her project 'cloud', a life-sized interactive light installation engages the public to participate by standing beneath the structure and pulling lights on and off, creating the flickering aesthetic of an electrical cloud. Developed using steel, metal pull-strings, and over six-thousand illuminated and burnt light bulbs, the project reimagines waste and implements the excess in an interactive art exbition.
Isn't this fascinating. The things people create nowadays are so cool and unique. Can you believe that these are little lights! This particular design embodies formal balance and balance because it has a sense of symmetrical form but is consistent at the same time. Notice how the lights are curving but the balance is the same throughout. Also, this piece has a shape to it. It curves constantly from the use of the lights. And don't forget that there's volume/ mass. There are tons of lights put together to form one big idea and the amount of so many lights helps the designer to accomplish the idea of a cloud. This piece also has form. The form is organized into a nice big concept not wanting to confuse the viewer!
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