Design Principles - Exercises

Ng Jia Jin (0331589)
Design Principles
Exercises

Exercises

Exercise 1 

Theme: Contrast Colors

5/4/2018 (Week 2)

On our first week of class, our main focus for our first Design Principles exercise is about contrast colors. So what is contrast colors? Contrast color is the difference of luminance or color that makes an object distinguishable. 

I planned for a while to know how am I suppose to make a contrast color themed artwork. I decided to use black & white as my contrast color as I think that it contrasts a lot compare to other color combinations. For my object wise, I decided to trace out the figure of a rapper call Kendrick Lamar.
The reason behind it is because I always liked this style of artwork and always wanted to make one myself. I used Adobe Photoshop for this exercise. 

Reference image of Kendrick Lamar that I used:

Fig 1.1: Kendrick Lamar

My final product of Kendrick Lamar in contrast:

Fig 1.2: Final Artwork of Kendrick Lamar

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Exercise 2 

Theme: Gestalt Principles

12/4/2018 (Week 3)

For our second lesson, we are focused on Gestalt Principles. Gestalt Principles is actually quite similar to contrast color that I learned for our last lesson. But for this time, instead of contrasting the color, we are going to use some shapes or some other elements to represent out object. Here are some sample photos that are related to Gestalt Principles. 

Fig 2.1: Examples of Gestalt Principles

Fig 2.2: Examples of Gestalt Principles

For this exercise, I decided to go with the black & white color choice again since I think it bring out the Gestalt Principles more. I traced out the  outline of an artist named The Weeknd. 

This is the image I used for my Gestalt Exercise:

Fig 2.3: Reference image of The Weeknd

I used Adobe Photoshop for this exercise. I traced out the outline of him and for the color choices, I only used black & white tone. 

Here is my final artwork for this exercise: 

Fig 2.4: Final Artwork of The Weeknd 

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Exercise 3

Theme: Balanced/Emphasis/Symmetry/Asymmetry

18/4/2018 (Week 4)

Our third exercise is about balanced/emphasis/symmetry and asymmetry. 

Balance 
The design or arrangement of parts in a whole grouping that creates a feeling of equilibrium or equality.

Symmetry (Passive)
Form of a part on the opposite of a shape or an object as two equal parts are divided by guidelines creating an effect of reflection.

Asymmetry (Active)
To create an equal balance among visual elements that do not mirror each other on either side of axis. This creates interesting visuals to the piece.

Emphasis
This refers to a particular area of a design that stands out, making it the centre of interest which most strongly draws the viewer's attention.


After understanding the meaning of these 4 design principles, I decided to apply the emphasis design principle for my exercise. I used Khalid, another well known artist for this exercise. The reason I chose him because I found a portrait of his that is interesting to apply this design principle on.

Here is the portrait of Khalid that I used to edit:

Fig 3.1: Khalid

In order to emphasize the main object in this picture, Khalid, I was going to make everything black & white except his clothes & pants but then it was too blend. After some thinking, I went on and made his whole human figure with color except the background. It was a better way of emphasizing it because it made the whole artwork stands out. 

Final Artwork: 

Fig 3.2: Final Artwork of Khalid

Initially, I was going to use a photo of a building that I took in Kuala Lumpur which applied one of the design principles which is symmetry but it's too blend for me.

Fig 3.3: Initial final product

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Exercise 4

Theme: Texture/Pattern/Surface/Repetition

26/4/2018 (Week 5)

For our fourth lesson for Design Principles studies, we learned about textures, patterns, surface and repetition. 

Textures
It is the perceived surface quality of a work of art. It is an element of two-dimensional and three-dimensional designs and is distinguished by its perceived visual and physical properties.

Patterns
An underlying structure that organizes surfaces or sturctures in a consistent, regular manner. Pattern can be described as a repeating unit of shape or form, but it can also be thought of as the 'skeleton' that organizes the parts of a composition.

Surface
In the context of art, the surface determines how a color is reflected, absorbed or scattered, depending upon its texture.

Repetition
Refers to one object or shape repeated; pattern is a combination of elements or shapes repeated in recurring and regualr arrangement.


After understanding the meanings and the concept of all the design principles above, I then did some plannings for my artwork for this week. For this week, I decided to choose pattern and work on it. The reason behind it is because I'm more familiar with pattern artworks and I like it better out of the 4 design principles given. I also did an artwork which is also related to patterns so I decided to do another artwork again.

For my plans of the artwork, I used plants as my references. I took some pattern references from the internet because I ran out of ideas for patterns.

Fig 4.1: Patterns reference

Fig 4.2: Patterns reference

After looking at some pattern references, I did a rough sketch of what my outcome will be. I sketched out some leaves and added patterns to it to see what is going to to look like afterward.

Fig 4.3: Rough sketch

I like my idea of it to put patterns at my leaves but instead of using all the same leaves outline, I decided to change a bit and include different types of leaves into my artwork. After drawing out my final outcome, I added different patterns for every leaves. I colored some of the patterns with color pencils because I felt it was too blend if my whole artwork is black & white.

Final Outcome: 

Fig 4.4: Final Pattern Outcome

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Exercise 5 

Theme: Direction/Alignment/Hierarchy/Placement

2/5/2018 (Week 6)

We learned about directions, alignment, hierarchy and placement in design principles.

Directions
Three common directions are vertical, horizontal and diagonal. Each direction gives off a different feelings.

Alignment
The placement of visual elements so they line up in a composition. When the principles of alignment aren't used properly, it makes marketing collateral look disorganized.

Hierarchy
Where does the eyes look at first and second. Visual information arranged in order of importance.

Placement
A consciousness to arrange individual or groups of components (on a page). It also dictates a visual order of magnitude, not just to fill white space.


After brainstorming 4 of the design principles above, I decided to go with allignment and directions. I decided to to use one of the design principles from my previous exercise which is pattern for this week's exercise because I figured it would be more interesting that way.

Fig 5.1: Notes about the topic

After getting a rough idea of what I'm going to do, I went on and got some reference photos related to my ideas before doing a rough sketch of it.

Fig 5.2: Reference photo for alignment 

Fig 5.3: Reference photo for various design design principles

After having a clearer image of it, I finally managed to come out with some ideas for what I'm going to do for this week's artwork.

Fig 5.4 Sketch for my artwork

At last, I decided to go with this idea because the sun is aligned with the sea level and the sea waves also give out a sense of direction leading towards the sun. I applied alignment and direction at this artwork. 

Fig 5.5 Artwork developments

After drawing out the sketch for my artwork, I figured it would be better if I add some patterns at the sun flares instead of applying colors to it.

Fig 5.6: Pattern references

I added different patterns at the sun flares so that it would be more interesting that way. After finishing up my artwork, I felt that the whole artwork is quite blend since it's only in black & white. I decided to add color to the sun to complete my artwork.

Fig 5.7 Final Outcome

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Exercise 6 

Theme: dots, lines, points

3/5/2018 

Today, we learned about dots, lines and points, the basic fundamentals in the design industry.

Dots/Points

• The starting point for most artistic creation whether one is starting a fine drawing or painting or even sketching ideas for a sculpture
• The smallest unit in art

Lines

• Used to separate objects
• Every lines have different weigh & thickness
• Lines show rhythm

I did some research for some images about what can dots & lines bring to art because its too common and i barely notice what can both of them affect and artwork.

Fig 6.1: Examples of lines artwork

Fig 6.2: Continuous Line Drawing

Fig 6.3: Dots Artwork

Fig 6.4: Dots Artwork

After some research from the internet, I realise that we actually apply dots & lines at basically everywhere in design, from interior designs to abstract designs. I decided to play around with dots & lines so that I can understand it better that way. 

Fig 6.5: Explorations of Irregular Lines

I decided to play with irregular lines because I don't really like to draw out perfect lines. I played with some poster colors and blew it around the paper with a straw. I liked this artwork but I felt that I added to much brown to it and it kind of ruined the overall artwork.


After that I decided to do another artwork with a totally different idea to try it out. I'm also using the line design principles but this time the lines are straight lines and some completed ones only.

Fig 6.6: Exploration of  Regular Lines

After finishing it, I didn't like it because it was too common and it was not centered. So, I decided to go back to my first idea and develop more at it. I decided to add more colors to my first idea because I realize that there wasn't a lot of colors at my first artwork. Besides, I decided to not put any borders so that I have more freedom in my final artwork. 

Fig 6.7: Final Artwork

I decided to further develop my first idea is because I like the style of irregular lines. I also like the style of this artwork because the lines look as if they are connecting from the two ends. For this artwork, I used poster color to get the job done. I blew the lines around with a straw so that it looks more natural.

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Exercise 7

Theme: Harmony, Movement, Lines, Diagonals, Tilted Elements, Blurred, Placement, Rhythm, Progression

Harmony

• Harmony is achieved when unity and varoety are effectively combined
• It's a design principle that holds all elements together
• Compositions with harmony are mainly focused on unity and not contrast

There's two types of harmony:

• Visual Harmony 
• Conceptual Harmony

Movement

• It's the path our eyes follow when we look at work of art
• Artwork becomes stagnant without movement
• Give a sense of movement by using: lines, diagonals, tilted elements, blurring, placement, motion lines and afterimages

Lines & Diagonals

• Pointing at a direction & spirals can create movement

Tilted Elements

• Tilted elements & things out of balance or unsupported will anticipate movement

Blurred

• Fast-moving objects can be made to appear blurred, because that is how our eyes perceive 
• The subject may be relatively frozen in place while the background around it is blurred

Placement

• The 4th type of movement found in artworks deal with the way a viewer's eye moves through the artwork
• It is dictated by the placement of objects inside of the artwork
• Placement of the objects will lead & guide a viewer's eye

Rhythm

• A design principle that unifies & shows consistency
• Imbues a sense of order into the design
• Allows the viewer to relax & better comprehend the rest of your design

Progression

• Changing one characteristic of the motif as you repeat

I find that today's lesson is a little bit harder than usual because for this lesson, there's a lot of topics for it. Most of the topics are related to each other and that makes it hard because you have a lot more to think of when you're applying the design principles to your artwork.


After some research, I decided to narrow down to some principles only such as rhythm, random rhythm and movement. I decided to focus on these 3 design principles because I don't really have any idea for the rest of it.

Fig 7.1: Rhythm References

Fig 7.2: References

Fig 7.3: Movement References

Fig 7.4: Random Rhythm & Movement References

Fig 7.5: Movement Reference

After looking at some references, I decided to go with the random rhythm principles.

Fig 7.6: Some sketches of my final product

I drew out some random stuffs in life that comes to my mind first such as the limbs, pizza, tumbler, and tea cup. The reason behind it is because I wanted my artwork to be as random as possible. Besides, I also doodled the elements instead of drawing it perfectly because I don't like perfect stuff and doodling looks so much better in this artwork.

After sketching out all the ideas I have. I transferred it to Adobe Iluustrator and trace it out before adding colors to it. For the color choices, I added mostly vibrarnt colors to it because I want the elements to stand out despite the bright background color. I played around with the background colors because I wanted to know which suits it better.

Fig 7.7: Final Product (Red)

Fig 7.8: Final Product (Black)

Fig 7.9: Final Product (Pink)

Finally, I decided to use the pink background as my final product because the colors of the elements blend with the background so well.

Fig 7.10: Final Product

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Exercise 8 

Theme: Shape & Form, Figure & Ground

Shape

• the external boudary, putline or external surface of an object in two dimensional (2D)
• Different shapes convey different mood and emotion
• create focal points with different visual weight
• lead the eye from one design element to the next using hierachy
• organize information through connection and seperation
• create movements, texture and depth

Form

• shape with volume by the additional of tone or color transitions within the shape
• objects that are three dimensional (3D)
• a form has: weight, width and depth
• form is used to define space, create contrast & visually add volume to a composition

Figure & Ground

• the relationship between shape and visual perception
• known as positive space (foreground figure) and negative space (background)
• in gestalt psychology, it is the act of identifying a figure from the background

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Overall Feedbacks

25/4/2018 (Week 5): Ms Sherry asked me to push my limit, do more explorations. She said that it's alright to the the artworks that I like but always push the creativity. She said that if I like what I'm doing, do it but improve everytime.