Steven Mitchell: March 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

Critiquing Tools - Elements and Principles

Elements of Design

The elements of design play an important role in the creation and success of a piece of art, whether it's for outdoor, indoor, digital or print medium. These elements include:

Line

Line is the basic element that refers to the continuous movement of a point along a surface, such as by a pencil or brush. Every line has length, thickness, and direction. There are curve, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zigzag, wavy, parallel, dash, and dotted lines.

Color

Color occurs when light hits the surface of an object and is reflected back to the eye and is used to create illusion of depth. Color and particularly contrasting color is also used to draw the attention to a particular part of the image. In some cases of interior design, color can be added to increase visual appeal. There are primary colors, secondary colors, and tertiary colors. Complimentary colors are colors that are opposite to each other on the color wheel. Complimentary colors are used to create contrast. Analogous colors are colors that are found side by side on the color wheel. These can be used to create color harmony. Monochromatic colors are tints and shades of one color. Tint of one color is to add white to the color and shade is to add black to the color. Warm colors are a group of colors that consist of reds, yellows, and oranges. Cool colors are group of colors that consist of purples, greens, and blues.

Shape

Shape is an area enclosed by lines. Shapes are two dimensional or in other words flat. They can be geometric or organic.

Texture

Texture is the way the surface of an object feels. In art, there are two types of texture: tactile and implied. Tactile texture (real texture) is the way the surface of an object actual feels. Implied texture is the way the surface on an object looks like it feels. The texture may look rough, fizzy, gritty, but cannot actual be felt. This type of texture is used by artist when drawing or painting.

Form

Form is any three dimensional object. Form can be measured, from top to bottom (height), side to side (width), and from back to front (depth). There are two types of form, geometric (man-made) and natural (organic form).

Principles of Design

Scale
Scale involves the relationship of size between objects, comparing one object to another.

Rhythm
The recurrence of elements within a piece: colors, lines, shapes, values, etc. Any element that occurs is generally echoed, often with some variation to maintain interest. Rhythm in interior design also may be used to reduce randomness.

Dynamics
The arrangement of visual elements in a composition to suggest the illusion of movement or direction. The effective use of dynamics in a design can add an emotive characteristic to your design making it appear restful and calming or active and energetic.

Stability
To be solid and balanced in terms of design, with each element set using a grid structure either horizontally or vertically.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Melbourne Sports Museum Critiques

Olympic Logo, Mexico City 1968
Designed by Lance Wyman

(Logo & Application)

The logo for the 1968 Mexico Olympics, designed by Lance Wyman shows strong use of interchanging lines to create an extremely dynamic layout, similar to that of an optical illusion. The lines create a continual sense of movement around the page, drawing your eye back to the centre. While the line work is simple, Wyman’s use of repetition creates complexity within the design. The straight lines of the X and I break the circular motion of the design, however the X in particular acts as an arrow to lure the viewer’s attention back to the centre. His use of white space creates a focal point, as does his minimal use of colour. The repetition of the black lines creates a jarring effect, making it hard for the eye to focus on the design. This effect draws inspiration from ‘Op Art’ (Optical Art), a style that manipulates the eye to see “movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, swelling or warping.”* The design also shows a strong Mesoamerican influence, inspired by the symbols of such ancient South American cultures as the Aztecs and Mayans and traditional Mexican Huichol art.

Personally I believe the logo is extremely effective. While in some respects the word ‘Mexico’ is slightly hard to read, this forces the viewer to look more closely at the design. The way in which Wyman has chosen to use colour sparingly to draw attention to the Olympic Rings promotes the fact that the logo not only represents Mexico but the games themselves. The circular motion created by the lines ensures the viewers attention is retained as they are continually drawn back to the word ‘Mexico’. As the focal point of the design, Wyman ensures that the logo communicates to its audience, the main objective of any successful logo.

The success of this logo can also be seen through its application to a wide variety of mediums, from postage stamps to wall murals. The striking line work serves as an excellent point of interest when applied to promotional material such as clothing and balloons. The flexibility of the lines can be seen through their ability to appear at postage stamp size, or on a much larger scale such as the stadium roof. The way in which these lines radiate outwards was used to portray the idea that Mexico is “an emitting or expanding centre”^, while also creating an extremely modern and dynamic style.

Wyman’s logo was a triumph in terms of its ability to become the face of Mexico during the Olympics. Not only does it represent the culture but it arrests the viewer through its ‘Op Art’ style and dynamic use of line. Its minimal use of colour also acts as an advertisement for the Olympics themselves, while Wyman’s use of white space ensures that ‘Mexico” is the focal point.

*quote - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_art
^quote - http://olympic-museum.de/design/lancewyman/wyman.htm

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2007/june/2012-logo-lance-wyman-says-give-it-a-chance
http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/top-10-olympics-logos
http://olympic-museum.de/design/lancewyman/wyman.htm
http://art.webesteem.pl/9/wyman_en.php
www.lancewyman.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_art

Monday, March 15, 2010

Critiquing Tools

Art Vocabulary List:

Proportion

Proportion in art is the comparative harmonious relationship between two or more elements in a composition with respect to size, color, quantity, degree, setting, etc.; i.e. ratio.
http://www.bluemoonwebdesign.com/art-lessons-7.asp

Proportion refers to the relative size and scale of the various elements in a design. The issue is the relationship between objects, or parts, of a whole.
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/principl/principl.htm

Opaque

a. Impenetrable by light; neither transparent nor translucent.
b. Not reflecting light; having no luster: an opaque finish.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/opaque

Negative Space

Negative space is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space

Demographic

A portion of a population, especially considered as consumers.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/demographic

Characteristics used to classify people such as age, race, or gender.
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/demographic

Mood

The feeling, or atmosphere, that a designer creates for the viewer. The designers use of the elements and principles develops the mood of a design.

Adjective List:

Monochromatic

Monochromatic colors are all the colors (tints, tones and shades) of a single hue.

Collage

A paste-up made by sticking together pieces of paper, photographs or other materials to form an artistic image.
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

A collage may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs, or other found objects glued to a piece of paper or canvas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collage

Matte

Dull paper finish without gloss or luster.
www.originpressny.com/glossary.php

Flat (not glossy) finish on photographic paper or coated printing paper.
www.trumbullprinting.com/index.php/support/glossary

A non-reflective, flat surface.
www.gomakesomething.com/ht/thebasics/glossary

Tint

In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tint

A hue produced by the addition of white.
http://www.worqx.com/color/color_basics.htm

Ambiguous

Equivocal: open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead.

Having more than one possible meaning.

Having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns.
www.wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn