Design Principles - Exercise 1

 28/3/2022 - 10/4/2022 (Week 1 - Week 2)

Anna Chin Siaw Fong / 0354370 
Design Principles / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Exercise 1

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LECTURES

Week 1 - Elements and Principles of Design, Contrast and Gestalt Theory

Elements of Design

1. Point
   
2. Line
3. Shape
4. Form
5. Texture
6. Space
7. Colour

Fig 1.0 7 Elements of Design

Principles of Design

1. Contrast 
2. Balance
3. Emphasis
4. Rules of Third
5. Repetition / Pattern / Rhythm
6. Movement
7. Hierarchy
8. Alignment
9. Harmony
10. Unity
11. Proportion

Fig 1.1 11 Principles of Design

Contrast

• The juxtaposition of strongly disimilar elements
• Visual experience may be monitonous if there is no contrast
• Provide visual interest
• Emphasize a point
• Express content

Gestalt Theory

• "Gestalt" is known as "shape" or "form" in German
• Rules that describe how human eyes perceive visual elements
• Aim to show how complex scenes can be reduced to more simple shapes
• Aim to explain how the eyes perceive the shapes as a single, united form rather than the separate simpler elements involved

Fig 1.2 Gestalt Theory

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INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lH0Q5HXkWOAzgeFrF-zgeNUsEDLN_RJz/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

EXERCISE 1

Visual Research

Contrast

Fig 3.0 Chess Piece

Fig 3.1 People

Fig 3.2 Bubbles

Fig 3.3 Tree

Gestalt Theory

Fig 4.0 Piano and City

Fig 4.1 Cats

Fig 4.2 Book cover of "The Little Prince"

Fig 4.3 A scene from the movie "The Little Prince"

Idea Exploration

Contrast

Ideas inspired by spring and winter, where the trees would be full of leaves during spring and leafless during winter.

Fig 5.0 Contrast Sketch 1

- 1/4/2022 -

Fig 5.1 Contrast Sketch 2

- 1/4/2022 -

Gestalt Theory 

Idea inspired by the book and movie "The Little Prince".

Fig 6.0 Gestalt Theory Sketch 1

- 1/4/2022 -

Fig 6.1 Gestalt Theory Sketch 2

- 1/4/2022 -

After Dr. Jinchi's feedback, improvements were made for the first sketch for gestalt theory.

Fig 6.2 Improved Gestalt Theory Sketch 1

- 8/4/2022 -

Final Outcome

Contrast

The use of contrast in the design shows that during spring (the left), the tree will be full of leaves and during winter (the right), it will be leafless.

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PgN-lRAEUo7Wnn0YkqKgWlX-Z1BLK2b2/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

Gestalt Theory

The design uses the gestalt principles of figure-ground, similarity and closure. 

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r_eP-WFFl3ZVEsAINqesxVKTo6yFteHD/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

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FEEDBACK

• Design for contrast is fine. 
• Add a description to the final work.
• Design for gestalt theory is a bit too similar to the movie scene. 
• Improvements can be made by adding more elements to it. For example, extending the grass and adding stars. 

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REFLECTION

This exercise helped me better understand contrast and gestalt theory. I struggled a bit to come up with ideas at first, but I managed to come up with ideas for contrast and gestalt theory as I did my visual research. Though my design for contrast is rather simple, I really love it as it has some form of meaning to it. I also really like my design for gestalt theory as it was inspired from one of my favourite movies. The improvements made to the original design made me love it even more. Overall, I really enjoyed doing this exercise.