Seven Design Components

7 Design Components Week 5, MM1B03, McMaster University From A. White, Elements of Graphic Design

7Design Components Hierarchy Unity Balance Gestalt Colour Space Dominance

Unity • Unity in design exists when all elements are in agreement. • Unity requires that the whole design be more important than any subgroup or individual part. • Unity is the most important aspect of design.

Unity Without unity a design becomes chaotic and unreadable BUT without variety, a design becomes inert and lifeless. A BALANCE needs to be found between the two.

Unity Formal relationships must be created so that unity among the parts is achieved. • Proximity • Similarity • Repetition • Theme with Variations

Unity Proximity • Also called “Grouping or “Relative Nearness.” • This is the simplest way to achieve unity. • Elements that are physically close together are seen as related.

YAY BRANDON! Last Week’s Kickass Tip #13 “Be Decisive, Do it on purpose or not at all.” (A great deal of the process of understanding visual material is the ability to distinguish the dierence between things.) This week it is an example of “Proxemics in Unity.” “The further apart an element, the more is seems separated.”

Unity Similarity • Also called “Correspondence.” • Elements that share a similarity of colour, shape, position, or texture seem alike. • Alignment is an especially signiﬁcant aspect -- elements that line up with one another seem related.

YAY SAMANTHA! Here is an example of “Similarity in Unity” in photographic choices/interior design. “ Elements that are physically close together are seen as related.”

Unity Repetition • Related to similarity. • An idea that is repeated provides unity. • Repeated idea may be positioning, size, colour, or use of rules. RHYTHM!! • Repetition produces

Unity Rhythm • Rhythm is a pattern created by repeating or varying elements. • Think music where there is a sense of movement from one sound to another.

Unity Theme with Variations • Simple repetitions without variety can become boring in sameness. • Alteration of a basic theme retains connectedness while providing interest.

Yeah MIKE! Last Week’s Kickass Tip #13 “Symmetry is the Ultimate Evil.” This week it is an example of “Variations on a Theme.” “Alteration of a basic theme retains connectedness while providing interest.”

Gestalt • Coined at the Bauhaus, Weimar in 1920s. • Describes a design’s “wholeness” or the way each part of a design is aected by what surrounds it. • The observer receives the total images as the result of the interactive among the components.

Gestalt “We see the various components, the shapes and colours and the relationship between them .... The observer receives the total image as the result of the interaction.” Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking

Gestalt The techniques for facilitating a complete perception include the four Unity factors plus: • Figure/ground • Closure (completion) • Continuation

Gestalt Figure/Ground • The relationship between the subject and its surrounding space. • Confusing the foreground and background is a visually stimulating technique.

YAY MEAGAN Last Week’s Kickass Tip #8 “Negative Space is Magical.” This week it is an example of “Figure/ground Gestalt.” “ Confusing the foreground and background is a visually stimulating technique.”

YAY THOMAS Also an example of “Figure/ground Gestalt.” “ Confusing the foreground and background is a visually stimulating technique.”

Gestalt Closure • Also known as completion • The viewer’s natural tendency is to try to close gaps and complete unﬁnished forms. • Encourages active participation in the creation of the message.

YAY ANDREW. Last Week’s Kickass Tip #6 “Treat type as an image.” This week it is an example of “Closure in Gestalt.” “ The viewer’s natural tendency is to try to close gaps and complete unﬁnished forms.”

Gestalt Closure • Also known as completion • The viewer’s natural tendency is to try to close gaps and complete unﬁnished forms. • Encourages active participation in the creation of the message.

Gestalt Continuation • Also known as completion • The viewer’s natural tendency is to try to close gaps and complete unﬁnished forms. • Encourages active participation in the creation of the message.

YAY PAUL Last Week’s Kickass Tip #19 “Look to History, don’t repeat.” This week it is an example of “Continuation Gestalt.” “ The eye follows a path, whether real or implied.”

Space Consider negative (white) space in relation to the other design components.

Space To avoid a stale approach, look at a blank area and think of displacing the emptiness with graphic elements.

Space Stay conscious of the remaining empty areas and use it to guide attract, and arouse the viewer to become engaged.

Last Week’s Kickass Tip #1 “Have a Concept.” This week it is an example of “Displacing Emptiness.”

YAY ROSANTH. Last Week’s Kickass Tip #18 “MOVE IT.” This week it is an example of “Displacing Emptiness.”

Dominance • Created by contrasting size (scale), positioning, colour, style, or shape. • Every design should have a single primary visual element called a focal point. • Scale can be used to attract attention by making the focal point life size or even more dramatically, larger than lifesize.

Last Week’s Kickass Tip #18 “Use a 1-2 Punch.” This week it is an example of “Dominance.” Focus the viewer’s attention on one important thing first and then lead them through the rest.

Last Week’s Kickass Tip #19 “Look to History, Don’t Repeat.” This week it is an example of “Dominance.” Scale can be used to attract attention

Balance • Balance or equilibrium is the state of equalized tension. • Three types of Balance are. • Symmetrical • Asymetrical • Overall or Mosaic Balance

Balance Symmetrical • Also known as “formal” balance • Vertically centred and visually equivalent on both sides. • Symmetrical designs are static and evoke feelings of classicism, formality.

YAY MEAGAN Last Week’s Kickass Tip #8 “Negative Space is Magical.” This week it is an example of “Symmetrical Balance.” “ Formality, classicism, constancy.”

Balance Asymetrical • Also known as “informal” balance • Requires a variety of element sizes and careful distribution of negative (white) space. • Attracts attention and is more dynamic. • Evoke feelings of modernism, forcefulness, vitality.

Here we go again MIKE! Last Week’s Kickass Tip #13 “Symmetry is the Ultimate Evil.” This week it is an example of the same thing! “Asymmetry evokes feelings of modernism, forcefulness, vitality.”

Balance Mosaic Balance • Often used by retailers who want to pack maximum information into their advertising space. • It is easy for this type of organization to look “noisy.”

YAY SAMANTHA! Here is an example of “Overall or Mosaic Balance” in retail advertising. Many things being focussed on the same page.

Here is another example of “Overall or Mosaic Balance” in magazine cover art. Many things being focussed on the same page.

Colour • Partly artistry but mostly science and common sense. • Good colour is a raw material to be used strategically for a clear purpose. • Colour contrast has the same potential for communicating heirarchy as typeface, type weight and size or placement contrasts.

Colour Helps organize • Establishes character through consistency. • Plan colour use from the start. • Use colour consistently. A unique colour scheme can be an identifying characteristic.

Last Week’s Kickass Tip #6 “Pick Colours on Purpose.” This week it is an example of “Organizing through Colour.” “ A unique colour scheme can be an identifying characteristic.”

Colour Gives emphasis • Ranks elements in order of importance. • Every element has a perceptual emphasis that must be considered. • People gravitate to whatever looks dierent on a page.

Colour Ink Holdout • Printed colour is aected by ink holdout or “dot gain” which is the absorbancy factor of paper stocks. • Coated papers have ink holdout, newsprint has extreme dot gain. • Software provides colour speciﬁcations to adjust dot gain depending on the paper stock chosen for a print job.

Using the 7 design components Unity, gestalt, space, dominance, hierarchy, balance, and colour are sliding switches that help achieve visible, eective design.

Using the 7 design components Think of shapes Subconscious operatives We read from left to right. • We start at the top and work down the page. • Pages in a publication are related to each other. • Closeness connects, distance separates. • Big/dark is important, small/light not. • Fullness should be balanced with emptiness. • Everything has a shape, including emptiness. •

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Seven Design Components

by Lorene Shyba on Feb 16, 2009

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Seven Design Components — Presentation Transcript