Design Principles: Exercises

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Design Principles: Exercises

From Week 1 to Week 3, I have watched lecture videos on:

1. Gestalt theory
2. Contrast
3. Emphasis
4. Balance
5. Repetition
6. Movement
7. Harmony & Unity
8. Symbol 
9. Word and Image


Watching and learning from these videos, I have selected 5 design principles and will create a design for each principle. I have chosen these 5 design principles: Contrast
Below are the individual posts for each design.


Brainstorming and Drafting Process



1. Contrast:

- The juxtaposition of strongly dissimilar elements
- Provides visual interest, emphasise a point, express content and prevent a monotonous experience
- Can create the main subject to stand out
- Can be in the form of shapes
- Bright colours against dark colours can provide a strong contrast


                             

Fig 1.1: Contrast Image of Mad Men




Fig 1.2: Contrast Image of an Eye


I have used these images to help me understand what contrast is and think about what I wanted to design. I thought the most obvious contrast would be black and white as they are very opposite of each other. I started to think what objects in our real world that consist of both black and white. Thinking about chess, I got inspired by the series "Queen's Gambit" and decided to draft an idea based on the Queen chess piece and the contrast background like the tiles on the chess board.



Fig. 1.3: Draft drawing of "Queen's Gambit"



2. Balance:

- distribution of visual weight in a design
- has visual equilibrium of the elements that cause the image to look balanced
- symmetrical balance means it has equal weight on equal sides of a centrally placed fulcrum and has an equal arrangement of elements on either side of the central axis



Fig. 1.4: Balance Image



It was quite hard for me to think of a design that represent balance. As I was trying to brainstorm my idea for a design, I was listening to Taylor Swift "Death by a Thousand Cuts" on repeat. I'm not sure why but that song was full of literary devices that I just couldn't stop listening to it. Initially, I wanted my design to be inspired by the lyrics that said "I ask the traffic lights, if it'll be alright, they say "I don't know". It took a long while to figure out how would it work. Then, the next lyric kept screaming to me was "I look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up". I started to picture a window shaped in a 'love' shape, and planks being nailed across them. 




Fig. 1.5: Draft Drawing of "Windows of this love, even though we boarded them up"



Fig. 1.6: Digital Draft of "Windows of this love, even though we boarded them up"



3. Repetition

- can make a design seem active
- it creates rhythm and pattern within the work
- variety is essential to keep rhythms exciting and active to avoid monotony
- pattern increases visual excitement by enriching surface interest
- closed composition where the subjects are all seen within the space



                                             
Fig. 1.7: Repetition Image



Inspired by the shape of triangles and cheese, I decided to make a mouse that has a body of a cheese and have elements that implied that the cheese was actually a mouse. To spice things up, I gave them different colours in a repetitive form. Maybe this drawing could be a small tribute to one of my favourite movies, Ratatouille. 





Fig. 1.8: Draft Drawing of "Mouse made of Cheese"





4. Movement

- design leads the eye in, around and through a composition (the path where the eye follows)
- motion or movement in a visual image occurs when objects seem to be moving in a visual image
- uses different kinds of shapes, forms, lines and curves 



Fig. 1.9: Movement Image


I know this might sound a bit more cringe and cheesy, but my next design will also be inspired by Taylor Swift's song, Dancing With Our Hands Tied. I know this is kinda cliche but her lyrics are just so relateable and it brings this surrealism on how she uses plays on words to help you imagine a scenario that we can find it hard to describe. Personally, this song is so relatable to me when she sings, "I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us". So this is a tribute to a song that brought a reality of mine into a songwritten form.





Fig. 1.10: Draft Drawing of "Dancing with our hands tied"


Fig. 1.11: Draft Design of "Dancing with our hands tied"


5. Symbol

- a sign, shape or object that is used to represent something else
- symbols can provide or convey information equivalent to one or more sentences of text, or even a whole story



Fig. 1.12: Symbol Image


I spent an insane amount of hours playing Minecraft. However, as a noob player, I died 3 times within a span of 10 minutes. I was so frustrated and my friends found it both unfortunate and hilarious. So, I thought of making a short story of my Minecraft story in a cycle form. 



Fig. 1.13: Draft Drawing of "Michelle's Sad Minecraft Story"



Consultation of the drafts


1. Contrast: The Queen's Gambit

Ms. Anis finds the design good and saw the final design. The typeface matches the content as well. She got excited and mentioned how it was a TV series.


2. Balance: Windows of this love even though we boarded them up

Ms. Anis said that the idea is good and I should explore another way of expressing the design. I wanted to do it digitally, and did not really like the outcome. So, I did it on Procreate instead.


3. Repetition: Mouse made of Cheese

The idea is cute and creative. She was looking forward to seeing the final design.


4. Movement: Dancing with our hands tied

I told Ms. Anis it was ribbon during consultation but it was really just coloured strings. She told me the make the colour from purple and blue into pink and blue to bring out the contrast. She also mentioned to make the ribbon to be more bold. I added more depth into the strings.


5. Symbol: Michelle's Sad Minecraft Story

The design is good and a bit hilarious. So I proceeded with the digitalising of the design.


Final Design


1. Contrast: The Queen's Gambit




Fig. 2.1: Final Design of "Queen's Gambit"


2. Balance: Windows of this love even though we boarded them up




Fig. 2.2: Final Design of "Windows of this love even though we boarded them up"




3. Repetition: Mouse made of Cheese



Fig. 2.3: Final Design of "Mouse made of Cheese"


4. Movement: Dancing with our hands tied



Fig. 2.4: Final Design of "Dancing with our hands tied"



5. Symbol: Michelle's Sad Minecraft Story


Fig. 2.5: Final Design of "Michelle's Sad Minecraft Story"

Fig. 2.5: Final Design of "Michelle's Sad Minecraft Story"




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