Design Principles

Design Principles - Exercises and Projects




28.08.18 - 12.05.20 (Week 1- Week 5)
Park hyoung yoon (0325165)
Bachelor in Design (Honors) in Creative Media
Design Principles

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Instruction

MIB

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LECTURE 5 : Symbol, Typography and Imagery

week 5 (12.05.20)

Fig 5.01

Symbol 

Pictorial Symbol can enhance visual language,they helps to tell story and clarify complex messages that are difficult to express with words. They could be informative and may assist with comprehension and helps to convey a clear message. Also Abstract Symbols looks like the objects that they represents, nut they have less details.


Arbitrary Symbol 

A linguistic sign that bears no obvious resemblance to the thing or concept signified. An arbitrary symbol is a sign that seems to be logically unrelated to the object is it supposed to represent. Because the vast majority of words in all languages are considered to fall into this category, arbitrariness is often cited as an important characteristics of human languages.

Fig 5.02

Typography and Imagery

Typography is a fundamental principle of good design. whether designing for print or the web, good typography helps balance the visual structure of your design between the content and the visuals.


Pinterest Link for the Reference  - https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/symbol-and-typo/

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EXERCISES 5 : SYMBOL, TYPOGRAPHY AND IMAGERY 
week 5 (12.05.20)


SYMBOL

Main idea was to make logo or simple artwork of my pets. At first outlines were drawn as simple as possible and removed all small details of shadows or fur. The sketch was drawn using iPad Procreate.

Fig 5.03

Redrawn using Adobe Illustrator. to make it more simple outlines were removed but few white lines were kept to visually allow where the ears and legs are.

Fig 5.04

Broken down the anatomy to make it more adorable and friendly. The Artwork became more simplified as composition of shapes developed the art work.

Fig 5.05

Sketch was used to create new composition using adobe illustrator. Tried to use minimum number of colors for clean and minimal look.

Fig 5.06

Final outcome

Final outcome came out to be very different than the sketches done, however through research and exploration how to create simple and minimal design reached with this final outcome. Mostly hand drawn visual was more favored than artworks done using Adobe Illustrator. 

Fig 5.07

ARBITRARY SYMBOL

Idea was to create arbitrary symbol using my name. The plan was to create Korean name into alphabetical figure. For a student who spent more years leaning English than Korean this design would bring out my characteristic.

Fig 5.08

First initials of my name was to be used for the design.


Progress

Fig 5.09

The strokes of lines were unified and simplified. It was given more appearance of cursive letters. the horizontal line in ㅂㅎ is joined together to form one line and round letters of ㅎㅇ is written and joined. As final design is set, it was re drawn using Adobe illustrator.


Structure of the Design

Fig 5.10

  Outlines drawn with Pen tool

Fig 5.11

Final Outcome

I have became more familiar with English than Hangul ( Korean alphabets ) as I have spent more years abroad. Was really satisfied as final outcome As it resembled well of my character. Design drawn with Illustrator applied more industrial look and clean look.

Fig 5.12

TYPOGRAPHY AND IMAGERY 

For this exercise, previous artworks were used. Typographic elements were added in using Adobe Photoshop. Book covers, Magazine covers movie posters and advertisements were very useful as references for this exercise.

Fig 5.13

Fig 5.14

Fig 5.15

For final outcome main idea was to use some lyrics of the song Modern Loneliness by Lauv.

Fig 5.16

Fig 5.17

Fig 5.18

Final Outcome

Final outcome came out as book cover. Previous artwork was used for this exercise, and  "Love my friends to death but I never call and i never text them" lyrics of Modern Lonliness by Lauv was used. another copy of same artwork was clip masked to Modern Loneliness text to add variety of colors blend in with the art work.

Fig 5.19

WEEK 5 CONCLUSION

Reflection

Large amounts of sketches and exercises were done on this week, lots of different variety of styles were tried and some failed. However it was fun as it felt like a journey to find my own style and character. Arbitrary Symbol exercise was the most challenging task but the final outcome was worth the effort. 


Feedback

Reuse of the artworks were fine. For symbols and imagery it was suggested to create meanings or story line which could help to come up with better design or ideas. For final outcome more simplified version of the sketches were expected. For Arbitrary Symbols, the alphabet and language is kind of arbitrary symbol as we learnt to know its meaning, the final outwork was well suited for the topic. On Typography exercises, Joker was nice the color composition and the typography worked well together. On the other hand modern loneliness work was more looked forward as the final outcome. Fig 5.13 was suggested to use other color than black as it stands out too much and did not go well together with the artwork and background. 


Final Feedback

Traditional calligraphy, the alphabet and language is a kind of arvitrart symbol because weve ti learn it to know its meaning. You have got it right this time, I like how you show the design came about. AS for typography and image exercise, fig 5.12 and 5.14 are well done - suitable font, the selected image matches the quote.

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LECTURE 4 : Harmony and Unity
week 4 (05.05.20)

Sketches

Fig 4.1

Harmony

Harmony can be described as sameness, the belonging of one thing with another. The repetition of design elements like color, texture, shape, and form is one of the easiest ways to achieve harmony to create a composition.

Fig 4.2

Unity

Unity is when the elements in a space combine to make a balanced, harmonious complete whole. The space feels right and everything works together, The result is a pleasing feeling. that everything is right with the space.


Pinterest link of reference images - https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/harmony-and-unity/



EXERCISES 4 : HARMONY AND UNITY 
week 4 (05.05.20)

On this exercise, more focus was put on to harmonious colors. The theme was set as dreamy.

Rough Sketches

A single rose under a sunset. Blue and purple wall and pink and orange color blend in together well.

Fig 4.4

Ocean waves with dark blue and light bright blue and white colors mixing in randomly but forms good harmony. 

Fig 4.5

Dogs from dog cafe in Korea arranged together. They are placed in crop field and the sky was painted in multiple colors of pink,orange, purple and blue to express sunset with some misty clouds.

Fig 4.6

Early night sky and clouds with harmony of pink orange and purple colors.

Fig 4.7

Flowers in lake background, was planned to form unity to bring elements to bring good harmony.

Fig 4.8

Progress for Final outcomes.

Used Flower drawing with cloud background and blurred out to add more focus to the flowers.

Fig 4.9

Final Outcome

In the end for the final outcome, lower parts of the clouds was blurred to add focus on the flower and to keep the details for the clouds and and the stars.

Fig 4.10

Progress for Final outcomes.

Idea was to place relaxing Jaguars on clouds. Experimented on colors for clouds and Jaguars and sky. In the end night sky with pink clouds with purple Jaguars to blend in with the clouds.

Fig 4.11

Final Outcome

For the final removed the Jaguar on the right end to form more structural placement for the Jaguars. Added bright colors and stars to the sky.

Fig 4.12

WEEK 4 CONCLUSION

Reflection

On this exercise the idea for the finals were not set, as so many attempts and lots of researches were done. It was fun to work with pastel tone colors. Mostly it was fun for the Jaguar on clouds as most of my works were not fantasy based. 


Feedback

For rose sketch, it was suggested to add more flowers on the background and proceed to work with it for final outcome but made another artwork with better composition, for Jaguars it was recommended to move them closer to have more structural value. 

Final Feedback
The various design and idea explorations you made had paid off. Fig 4.10 and 4.12 successfully reflect the principles of harmony and unity.

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LECTURE 3 : Movement and Repetition
week 3 (28.04.20)


Movement

Movement is the principle of good design which gives the artist control over what the viewers sees next. Using this principle, the artist can create the path our eyes will travel as we look at a work of art. For example. our attention is first captured by the main focal point and then it p[proceeds to move around the compositions as one element after another catches our attention.

Fig 3.1

Movement through repetition and rhythm
Movement also contributes to the overall unity in a piece by creating a relationship between the various components of a work. there are various ways to create this relationship. it can be done by using repetition and rhythm. 

Fig 3.2

Movement through action
Movement can also be created by action. in two dimensional works of art, action must be implied. implied action in a painting creates life and activity. this is best illustrated by the direction the eye takes along an invisible path created by an arrow, a gaze , or a pointing finger. Action can also be indicated by the 'freeze frame' effect of an object in motion, such as bouncing ball suspended in mid air, a jogger about to take that next step, or a swimmer taking a dive, etc.


Pinterest link of reference images -  https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/movement-and-repetition/




EXERCISES 3 : MOVEMENT AND REPETITION 
week 3 (28.04.20)

For this exercise, movies and animations contains good dynamic scenes and actions to be used as good reference. Creating two dimensional animations requires each frames to be drawn to create movements and flow. to apply this technique, multiple sketches are drawn and added together with low  opacity to imply movement


Rough sketches 01

This scene is from John Wick 3 Parabellum where John wick is under attack, he takes cover and reloads his gun.

Fig 3.3

 

Rough sketches 02

A scene from 'lovely night' in the movie LaLa Land.

Fig 3.4

Works for the Final


For the final outcome, a scene from the movie Joker where Joker dances and walks down the stairs after murdering people who were mean to him.

Fig 3.5

Four poses were chose and drown, and merged together by first to third image with lower opacity.

Fig 3.6

To add more dynamics to the Joker background were drawn. GIF below is the working progress for drawing the background.

Fig 3.7

Fig 3.8

Final outcome for Movement

For the final Gaussian Blur was added to bring more emphasis to the Joker

Fig 3.9

Sketches for repetition Exercise


Sketch 01


A scene from a Disney movie Zootopia where hamsters in suits are coming down from colorful pipes and going to work. Initially this sketch was for movement but repetition of the tunnels and hamsters suited to repetition topic.

Fig 3.10

Sketch 02


Another scene from Zootopia where Nick the fox sells Popsicle to the hamsters and the hamsters form in line buying and munching on the Popsicle in a row which shows good repetition.

Fig 3.11

Sketch 03

A scene from Minions from Illumination movie where minions plays with snow. Minions looks alike and they wear same clothes to one another which showed good repetitions with different characteristics.

Fig 3.12

Final Outcome

For the final outcome sketch 02 was chosen to work with. New composition were made to enhance the repetition of the hamsters.






After giving in more details of the hamsters background  and lighting were added to finalize the work.  







WEEK 3 CONCLUSION

Reflection

Due to making sketches for rough ideas, it really improved on sketching skills and picking out colors. Through this exercise good repetitions and movements in illustrations creates a good dynamics and creates the artworks more interesting and attracts more visually.


Feedback

For Joker the background was too strong, it was suggested to remove the background.


Final feedback

not only do your designs reflect the principles of repetition and movement, your effort to combine tour interest in illustration/painting and applying interesting subject matters into the design does not go unnoticed.

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LECTURE 2 : Emphasis and Balance
week 2 (21.04.20)


Emphasis

Emphasis is the art of making a specific element stand out or draw attention to the eye. it can be achieved in graphic design by placing elements on the page in position where the eye is naturally drawn, and by using other principles such as contrast, repetition or movement.

Fig 2.1

Link for reference - https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/emphasis-an-balance/


EXERCISES 2 : EMPHASIS
Week 2 (21.04.20)

For this exercise main theme was set as my pets. Kami, brown poodle and Nyang Goon Black and white Persian cat.


Rough Sketches

Sketch 01

Idea of the first sketch was to add a part with colors in grey and black sketch to create focus and enhance emphasis.

Fig 2.2

Sketch 02

Placed Nyang goon at the center, and hands streching Nyag goons face draws attention towards the center to draw more focus to the center.

Fig 2.3

Sketch 03

Added strong contrast on the eyes and tongue to create focus and enhance emphasis.

Fig 2.4

Final outcome

Stroke of paint which creates focus, inside the paint stroke Kami is painted in color

Fig 2.5

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Balance

Refers to the way visual elements in the design, and the composition gives an appearance of properly distributed elements. there are three types of balance : symmetrical, asymmetrical and radial.

Fig 2.6

Link for reference - https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/emphasis-an-balance/



EXERCISES 2 : BALANCE
Week 2 (20.04.20)

Sketch 01

Kami lying on the floor, with reflection on her to create symmetrical balance.

Fig 2.7

Sketch 02

Planned to create both combination of symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. Two boxes placed next to each other to create symmetrical balance and Kami and Nyang Goon placed inside the box to add asymmetrical balance.

Fig 2.8

Sketch 03


My idea was to place my pets, Nyang goon, and Kami side to side in asymmetrical balance.

Fig 2.9

Reference photo was Photoshop together as experiment

Fig 2.10

Progress

Done by procreate app in iPad

Fig 2.11

Final outcome

Fig 2.12

Colored

In the background, more elements are added which resembles asymmetry balance. Book shelf on the left and picture frames on the right. On the background there's also asymmetrical balance by white book shelf on the left and black art frames placed at the right side.

fig 2.13

WEEK 2 CONCLUSION

Reflection

Really enjoyed drawing my pets. For emphasis creating focus and using high contrast to create emphasis developed further understanding of the topic. There were many ways of creating balance, and illustration with good balance brings out more characteristics and visual of the elements.

Feedback
Only had one final artworks for each exercise commented to make several sketches to make more research and play around with the elements. the descriptions were too brief need to have more explanations for readers to have better understanding.

Final Feedback

There is originality in your choice of subject matter for balance. The idea is interesting and does reflect balance but there is potential for more compositions. As for the emphasis, more idea exploration was expected instead of only one idea as the final outcome.

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LECTURE 1 : Elements and Principals of Design, Gestalt and Contrast
week 1 (14.04.20)



On the first lecture we were introduced to elements and principles of design.

Fig 1.1

SHAPE is a self-contained defined area, either geometric or organic. Shape refers to a two-dimensional element with area on a plane, while form refers to a three-dimensional element with volume in space.


COLOR is the visible spectrum of radiation reflected from an object. Color is also sometimes referred to as hue.


VALUE refers to how light or dark an object, area, or element is, independent of its color. Value is also sometimes referred to as tone.


SPACE is the distance or area around or between elements in a work.


SIZE refers to the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.


TEXTURE is the surface quality of a shape, or how it appears to feel: rough, smooth, spiky, soft, hard, and glossy, etc. Texture can be real or implied.

Fig 1.2

REPETITION of elements in regular or cyclic fashion creates interest. Repetition strengthens a design by tying together individual elements and bringing a sense of consistency. It can create rhythm (regular, alternating, flowing, random, progressive) and patterns. Variation introduced to repetition increases the level of interest.

BALANCE is the distribution of interest or visual weight in a work. A balanced work will have all the elements arranged such that the work will have a sense of visual equilibrium or stability. Balance can be symmetrical, asymmetrical, or radial. Objects, values, colors, textures, shapes, etc. can be used in creating balance in a composition.

UNITY is created by using harmonious similarity and repetition, continuance, proximity, and alignment. It is the visual linking of various elements of the work. This allows the disparate elements and principles to create a unified whole that can be greater than the sum of its parts.

MOVEMENT is a visual flow through the composition. In some works, movement is implied by the use of static elements to suggest motion and direct a viewer’s eye along a path through the work. In a still image, aspects such as lines, diagonals, unbalanced elements, placement, and orientation can play the role of active elements. In others, movement can be real, giving some elements the ability to be moved or move on their own.

CONTRAST is the juxtaposition of opposing elements (opposite colors, value light / dark, direction horizontal / vertical). The greater the contrast, the more something will stand out and call attention to itself.

EMPHASIS is created by visually reinforcing something we want the viewer to pay attention to. This is often used to train the viewer’s eyes on the center of interest, or a focal point – the area of interest the viewer’s eye naturally, instinctively skips to. Some of the strategies employed to create degrees of importance are contrast of values, use of color, placement, variation, alignment, isolation, convergence, anomaly, proximity, size, and contrast.

HARMONY brings together a composition with similar, related elements (adjacent colors, similar shapes, etc.). Harmonious elements have a logical relationship, connection, alignment, or progression. They work together and complement each other.

Fig 1.3

PROXIMITY :  group elements if they form a meaningful or personally relevant image.

SIMILARITY : we seek differences and similarities in an image and link similar elements.

CONTINUANCE : we follow and "flow with" lines.

CLOSURE : Preferring complete shapes, we automatically fill in gaps between elements to perceive a complete image so we see the whole first.

FIGURE / GROUND : Disliking uncertainty we look for soled stable items. unless and image is truly ambiguous, its foreground catches the eye first.

Fig 1.4

Main features of the Contrast :

- they attracts the eye

- aids organizations and information

- creates focus

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EXERCISES : CONTRAST AND GESTALT

week 1 (14.04.20 - 24.04.20)

Contrast

From Pinterest I have gathered artworks with good contrast and explored how designers make good contrast in their artworks. For this exercise we were supposed to create contrast artwork using white and black paper. Artworks of three simple colors or black and white color seemed to be suitable as a good reference.

Link of Pinterest for contrast : https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/contrast/

Fig 1.5

I've used Procreate app on iPad to explore and sketch to create contrast artwork.

Fig 1.6

In the beginning, I attempt on trying complex lines and shapes in different perspective, but it was too hard as Black and White was the only color I can use. In the end simple figures and lines made it more suiting to the eye.

Fig 1.7

Fig 01 Tennis court and Ball bouncing off to outside.

Fig 02 Power pole. The size of the Power pole gets bigger to create perspective.

Fig 03 Baseball court. Dark side indicates fallen shadow.

Fig 04 A person feeding swan. White side indicates the land and the dark background shows the lake the swan is swimming in.

Fig 05 Pair of shoes on the black background and the reflection of a man is on the white background.


Final Outcome

For the final outcome silhouette of a man floating above. the ground is colored white and the shoes on the ground colored black and lines placed on the background to create perspective.

Fig 1.8

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Gestalt 

Fig 1.9

I have searched gestalt artworks from Pinterest and gathered information on how artists have implied two different images into one. Through research, simplified images with very minimal details were easy to combine with other images to create gestalt.

Pinterest link for reference : https://www.pinterest.com/kuddbs/gestalt/

All of the sketches are drawn by using Procreate on iPad.

Fig 1.10

Total six sketches were drawn. Researching artworks took longer time than to make sketches. It was easy to make sketches when the idea was set.

Fig 1.11

Fig 01 shows bus stop sign, the roof outline makes the overall image to be seen as piano.

Fig 02 Book which is placed in a way where paper lines of the book can be seen as trees. A child standing on road is drawn to provide perspective to the trees. The title of the book is "Journey to Unknown".

Fig 03 Silhouette of a man who's mouth can be seen as a pistol. Idea of words can hurt people helped me to create this gestalt.

Fig 04 End of the Key can be seen as words. Text written are "Turn to Unlock" which is derived from "Slide to Unlock" from iPhone lockscreen.

Fig 05 Tip of fountain pen and a light bulb. to imply meaning of writing down bright ideas.

Fig 06 Pastry mix flowing down the bowl which reveals buildings and tower outlines.


Further Exploration

Fig 1.12

Final Outcome

I have decided to go with Fig 02 concept. Totoro movie characters are implied on the same book design. Trees have been replace as rain and characters holding umbrellas under the rain.

fig 1.13

WEEK 1 CONCLUSION

Reflection 

Had good studies on icons and simple line illustrations and art works that only used 2 to 5 colors. Combining two images as one and creating good compositions were very interesting and challenging to work with. For contrat the basics of perspective were very helpful as it Black white colors of strong composite colors could bring out strong perspective visual.

Feedback

The first outcome of the contrast were too similar to the reference photo so had to be replaced, and commented on good use of iPad procreate with given situation of not able to get art supplies due to pandemic.

Final Feedback

Although your final outcomes reflect contrast and Gestalt, they are too close to the originals (especially for contrast). You need to redo to avoid plagiarism.You can variate more from the original ideas or create your own design inspired by these ideas.

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