Labels

Design Principles: Exercises

DESIGN PRINCIPLES GCD60804


9.1.2023-20.1.2023(Week1-Week2)

Janice Marie Eng Chia Hui (0361521)

Design Principles/ Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

Exercises

Exercises

Brief Recap 

During Week 1 we were briefed on the module and assignments by Dr Charles. After the briefing we were given our first assignment, Exercises. The assignment was due in Week 2 so that week was used to brush up my blog and designs.

Instruction of assignment:

Select 2 design principles from the list below and create one design for each chosen principle.

  1.  Gestalt theory 
  2.  Contrast  
  3.  Emphasis 
  4.  Balance 
  5.  Repetition 
  6.  Movement 
  7.  Harmony and Unity 
  8.  Symbol 
  9.  Word and Image 
After watching the related lecture videos the principles I decided to pick are Repetition and Emphasis.

Space travel to:


1. Repetition

Meaning of repetition

Repetition is done to make a work of design seem active and to create rhythm and pattern in a work. Variety is needed to ensure that the work does not seem monotonous. 

Visual reference 

Figure 1.1.1 'Everyone Needing Time' by Tyler Spangler

Figure 1.1.2 'The Grasping Hand' by Stavros Pavlides

Figure 1.1.3 American Sign Language: Number Chart from Lifeprint 


Idea Exploration

I had an idea to use hands in my illustration, but I didn't really know how to incorporate it. So I did some more research and finally decided to make a clock with hands for numbers. After some more research, I decided to use American Sign Language(ASL) for the hands, which gave me a chance to learn a little ASL.

 
Figure 1.2.1 Initial draft

Figure 1.2.3 Colour Variations 

I explored some more variations for the design. I took inspiration from ancient mantle clocks and decided to give the clock a casing.

Figure 1.2.4 Blocking out hands
Figure 1.2.5 Sketch of idea
Figure 1.2.6 Coloured outcome

I thought the image was too zoomed out and the clock had to fight for attention with the hand stand, so I decided to zoom in and change the background colour for more contrast. 

Feedback given by Lecture

Week 2
  • Try to explore more colour variations

Final Design

Figure 1.3.1 Hand clock(Final design for repetition)

This is a decorative mantle clock that uses ASL for the numbers instead of the actual numbers. The clock is held by a hand casing, and the overall motif of the design is hands. I thought that having a clock with ASL would be a nice way to learn a small bit of sign language.



 2. Emphasis

Meaning of  Emphasis

Emphasis is used to create dominance and focus in a design work. Element such as shape, colour or value can be used to create dominance.

Visual Reference 

Figure 2.1.1 Wagner Moura from the movie Puss in Boots: The Last Wish


Figure 2.1.2 Taken from Article called 'What is Emphasis in Photography? Tips to Emphasize your subject'


Figure 2.1.3 Makima from the anime Chainsaw Man

Figure 2.1.4 Augenblick2016 catalogue, 12th edition 

Idea Exploration

My initial idea was to put a singular white object among multiple black object. But I didn't like how it turned out.

I was then inspired by Makima from Chainsaw Man and some other characters. Her eyes were really piercing and I found it unsettling when she stared into the camera. I tried to base this design off the saying "eyes are the windows to the soul" except this time the girl in the drawing would be staring into the viewer soul trough the window.

Figure 2.2.1 Initial concept

I felt like my initial concept couldn't convey what I was try to convey very well. The image was too organic for it to be unsettling so I tried to make the girl with more straight lines and less curves.

Figure 2.2.2 Second concept 
Figure 2.2.3 Final draft

The second concept(Fig2.2.2) still had too much curved lines in my opinion, so I decided to go with the final draft instead(Fig2.2.3).

Feedback given by lecturer

Week 2

  • Cleanup sketch and try to give her more form

Final Design

Figure 2.3.1 Windows to the soul(Final design for emphasis)
When I was drafting the design, I realised that they way her hair falls could be manipulated to form a rectangle or a 'window' as Sir called it. So I tired to limit the white of her body to only the area in which the 'window' was formed to further highlight her eyes. I went for a more abstract design for the girl as I wanted to make it as unsettling as possible. Details like nose and mouth as well as most of her other body parts were omitted to not take the focus away from her eyes.



3. Reflection 
At first glance, the design principles are fairly simple to understand and identify, however when I was actually sitting down and coming up with ideas for this exercise, I found it quite difficult to produce a decent idea. I also realised that many of the design principles  usually exist together instead of singularly, like with contrast and emphasis. So in the end I tried to keep it simple and ended up  with the 2 final designs. 


Comments

Post a Comment