The Principles of

Design

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

The rules that govern how artists organize the elements of art.

The principles are BALANCE, RHYTHM, REPETITION, PATTERN, MOVEMENT, PROPORTION, EMPHASIS, VARIETY, CONTRAST, and UNITY.

BALANCE Principle of design concerned with

equalizing the visual forces or elements in the work of art

The types of BALANCE areSymmetry or Formal BalanceAsymmetry or Informal BalanceRadial Balance

Symmetry Also called Formal BALANCE

Occurs when equal or very similar, elements are placed on opposite sides of a central axis

Examples of Symmetry or Formal BALANCE

Asymmetry Also called Informal

BALANCEOccurs when there is a

balance of unlike objects, such as a building on one side and a crowd or people on the other

Baby at Playby Thomas Eakins

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

Examples ofInformal BALANCEor Asymmetry

Radial BALANCE

Type of BALANCE in which forces or elements of a design come out or radiate from a central point

Examples ofRadial BALANCE

RHYTHMPrinciple of Design that indicates

movement by the repetition of elements

There are four types of RHYTHM Random

Regular

Alternating

Progressive

or

Progressive RHYTHM

TransformationsBy M. C. Escher

REPETITION Technique for creating RHYTHM and

UNITY in which a single element appears again and again

REPETITION is very similar to RHYTHM and they are usually used together. Sometimes there is RHYTHM without REPETITION (example, Progressive RHYTHM)

PATTERNA two-dimensional, visual

REPETITION

Examples of PATTERN are fabric, wallpaper, bed spreads.

PATTERN

Work by Henri Matisse that uses a lot of PATTERN

MOVEMENTPrinciple of design that

deals with creating the illusion of action or physical change in position

MOVEMENT

Dynamism of aDog on a LeashBy Giacomo Balla1912Oil on Canvas

The many REPETITIONs of the legs, feet, tail,and chain in this work give it the appearanceof actual MOVEMENT.

Nude Descending a Staircaseby Marcel Duchamp

Captures the feelingof MOVEMENT that occurswhen someone is walking down thestairs.

Most art does not really move, but these are some examples of mobiles byAlexander Calder thatdo move.

Mobile from National Gallery of Art

Lobster Trap and Fish Tail

PROPORTION The principle of design concerned with

the size relationship of one part to another

If you have ever tried to draw a human figure and realized that the head was too big or small compared to the rest of the body, you were already using the principle of PROPORTION.

Facial PROPORTIONs

Body PROPORTION

The basic rule of

thumb is that

the body is 71/2 or

8 times the size of

the head.

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519), Study of proportions, from Vitruvius's De Architectura, pen and ink

Leonardo, inspired by the mathematician Vitruvius (Roman, 1st century BCE), drew this famous picture of Vitruvian Man -- a sort of ideal figure -- whose arm span is equal to his height -- a ratio of one, or 1:1.  

An artist can changethe actual PROPORTIONat any time. In this work by Michelangelo,he made Mary much larger than the body of Jesus. If Mary could stand up, she would be about nine feet tall! He did this so that she wouldn’t look crushed bythe weight of the body.

The Pieta by Michelangelo

Examples of contemporary artwork with distorted

PROPORTION

EMPHASIS A portion of a work that is dominant

over the other parts The Focal Point is the first part of the

work to attract the viewer’s attention.

EMPHASIS by

LocationIn the Dining Roomby Berthe Morisot

The young woman appears to be in the center of this painting. A lot of times, we naturally look in the center of the picture first like we would with a photo or camera.

EMPHASIS byContrast

Rembrandt. Self-Portrait. c. 1629. Oil on canvas.

Rembrandt uses value contrast to create a focal point in this work. Only the head and the area immediately aroundit are painted in lightvalues. The background sinks into darkness.

EMPHASIS by Convergence

Baptism in KansasBy John Steuart Curry

In this painting allthe people arestaring at the preacher and the girl. The viewer becomes one of the crowd andstares too.

EMPHASIS with theUnusual

Time Transfixed, 1939  Artist: Rene Magritte (1898-1967) Surrealist

By placing veryunusual objects orimpossible activities in awork, an artist can also create a focal point.

CONTRAST or VARIETY

Principle of Design concerned with difference or CONTRAST.

An artwork which makes use of many different hues, values, lines, textures, and shapes would reflect the artist's use of variety.

CONTRAST or VARIETY

Variety – how an artist adds interest to the artwork. May be created through use of transition and

gradation. Transition moves the eye from one part of the work to the next. Gradations create illusions of space or distance.

This Art workcontainsdifferentcolors,shapes, andvegetables tomake thepicture moreinteresting.

Unity:

the arrangement of the elements to create a coherent whole

The elements work together to produce a sense of order.