Design Principles - Exercise 4

Design Principles

31/03/2021 - 23/4/2021 (Week 1 - Week 4 )
Rusydina Fazlin Athirah Binti Fauzi ( 0344000 )
Design Principles / Bachelor of Design ( Hons ) in Creative Multimedia
Task 4 / Exercises / Lectures

---

INSTRUCTIONS

---

Week 4

[Recap on Repetition, Hierarchy, and Movement]

April 21st, 2021

-

Mr. Charles started week 4's class with a little breakdown and demonstrations of what repetition and movement are all about in the principles of design. Later, he went through week 2's exercises along with the class and gave feedback while assigning the class with a new exercise that leads into the 3rd week, which is being the start of the exercise regarding repetition and Movement. 

[Harmony, Unity, and Proportion]

April 23rd, 2021

-

Ms. Jinchi's week 4 recorded lecture focused on two main topics; Harmony and Unity and one additional principle which is 'Proportion'. The importance of learning these principles beforehand is to prepare us to experiment in coming up with ideas that result in both principles that are 'Harmony and Unity' based on the general understanding and a little of our interpretations put into it.

Harmony

The first principle we covered was Harmony, from what I understood about harmony; Harmony has the sense that all our design elements coincide. Through the same theme, style, or even mood if it may fit. So in a sense, the important thing is that every piece seems to be somehow together, even if it is different.

Figure 4.1.1 - Harmony portrayed butterflies

For example, these butterflies portray a sense of harmony towards the piece because of a similar trait they have, which is the elements being butterflies and the colors being the same, except it leans in more towards the principle of unity just as much.

Unity

Next up on the list is; 'Unity' refers to the combined work and creating a sense of wholeness in various elements of art or design. Unity also occurs when the elements in an art piece are composed in a way that they achieve balance and give a sense of oneness, mostly creating a theme. 

Figure 4.1.2 - Shapes and colors in unity

Harmony and Unity work hand in hand though it still has its difference to it.

Figure 4.1.3 - Differentiating between unity and harmony

Proportion

Lastly for the additional principle that Ms. Jinchi covered is the principle in 'proportion', when it comes to proportion it defines the relationship of two or more elements in a design and how they are compared with one another. Other than that, 'proportion' is said to be harmonious when a correct relationship exists between the elements with respect to size or quantity. The effective use of proportion in design often results in harmony and unity. 

Figure 4.1.4 - swirls of circles in a proportionate manner

---

Exercise 4

April 28th, 2021

-

In exercise 4 we were assigned to work on designs just like the previous exercises except this week's theme is to attempt to apply 'Harmony' and Unity onto our designs. 

Harmony Visual Research: 

When I think of harmony the first that comes to my mind are soft colors, not too bright neither too dull. I didn't quite have a specific subject starting off my design for this particular principle, but my mind was leaning towards plants, they had a sense of harmony towards them. From there I just need to figure out the kind of colors that would add more harmonious sense to it. 

Figure 4.2.1 - field of dandelions

Figure 4.2.2 - Harmonious silhouetted sunset landscape 

What I realized when I was looking through photographs of images that had the main subject of plant life in them, are the soft colors and the right amount of them being in the picture. 

Figure 4.2.3 - Close up photo of an orchid plant

What also caught my eyes was that closing into a subject creates a more focus on composition and elements if it were to be turned into an art piece but that is for me to determine whether I'd have that in my final composition or not.

Figure 4.2.4 - Silhouette of a tree 

Also having just the background filled with most colors and the foreground of the main subject be a more toned-down color adds peacefulness to it.

Idea development:

The first plan that came to mind that I wanted to attempt at a close-up sketch idea was the rose plant. 

Figure 4.2.5 - clumped up photograph of roses

With the following image above, in a way, it acts as a reference to achieve the kind of art piece idea I was going for to apply harmony to it.

Figure 4.2.6 - Cactus sunset field

Other than clumped up roses as an idea, I decided to take the silhouetted main subject idea to mind from the visual research with the help of a cactus and the strong vibrant background as a color reference.

Sketch Idea #1

Part A

Figure 4.2.7 - Abstract painted roses,  April 30th, 2021

For the first sketch, I wanted to attempt a more abstract look it and instead of different tones of red to paint the rose, I tried to add some tones of green and blue and the colors as the background forming other roses. 

Part B

Figure 4.2.8 - Abstract painted roses (background),  April 30th, 2021

As you can see in the more refined sketch, I wanted to achieve an illusion where the background would appear as if there were more roses clump together instead of just the two roses in the foreground. 

Although it would seem a little challenging to apply it on a piece of paper and a lot of time put into it when I want to have a more simplistic feel to it.

Sketch Idea #2

Part A

Figure 4.2.9 - Cactus silhouette sketch, April 30th, 2021 

A simple sketch of a cactus with a very harmonious-looking background with resonating colors will be planned to be added. 

Part B

Figure 4.3.1 - Cactus silhouette sketch (color), April 30th, 2021

For the second sketch adding color to it definitely added some harmony to it, and in time it is achievable manually!

Unity Visual Research:

For the principle of unity, I tried indulging in a more geometric part of the topic but still keeping the theme of it regarding plants. 

Figure 4.3.2- Unity in triangular shapes

Figure 4.3.3 - abstract unity

What I realized from doing a few research on Unity is that I find a lot of the art pieces being really abstract with shapes.

Idea Development:

From the research on Unity since it often has shapes in them and leaves can often be shaped into those shapes, but I wanted to try to give the art piece a more interesting composition to it.

Figure 4.3.4 - Palm tree leaf

Figure 4.3.4 - Palm tree leaves

Palm tree leaves were a good way to start with the ideating processes for the sketches and art designs!

Sketch Idea #1

Part A

Figure 4.3.5 - Abstract palm tree leaf sketch, April 30th, 2021

The sketch above portrays the palm leaf in a more simplified look, but with the vertical line operating the mirrored rows of right-angled triangles unite it into one whole palm tree leaf.

Part B

Figure 4.3.6 - Abstract palm tree leaf sketch (colored), April 30th, 2021

-and with the help of color, it adds more unity to the art piece.

Final Outcome: 

Figure 4.3.7 - Harmony Design

Figure 4.3.7 - Unity Design

PDF Version: 

---

Reflection 

April 30th, 2021

-

For this week's exercise, what I got to reflect upon the activity is that color and textures always play an important role in creating harmony and unity but at the same time without other elements implanted into it all together it wouldn't be as harmonious or as united as it is. 

Therefore with these exercises, trains us and assists us in applying these principles with a deeper understanding into our future works to come, in order to get a design out with appeal and meaning to it!

Throughout the exercises that I've been doing, there were its ups and downs and parts where I needed to brush up on, but it was still an interesting journey to take in working out my kind of interpretations as well on how I see these different kinds of principles applied onto my design works.

---