Design Principles / Exercises

02.09.2022 – 20.09.2022 / Week 1 – Week 4
Hewr Khaled Mohamed Walid Bayazid / 0337650
Design Principles / B' of Mass Comm (Hons) (Broadcasting)
Exercises

---

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

The design principles I selected for my artworks are balance, contrast, harmony & unity, movement and repetition. Here is a brief recap:

PRINCIPLE 1 / Balance
Balance refers to the distribution of visual weight in a work of design – the visual equilibrium of the elements that causes the image to appear balanced. It can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Fig 1.1, Symmetrical Balance Example

Fig 1.2, Asymmetrical Balance Example

PRINCIPLE 2 / Contrast
Contrast refers to the juxtaposition of strongly dissimilar elements, this prevents the visual experience from being monotonous.

Fig 2, Contrast Example

PRINCIPLE 3 / Harmony & Unity
Harmony involves the selection of elements that share a common trait – it's the sense that all of the elements in an artwork fit together, whether it's the theme, aesthetic or mood. However, it can be monotonous without variety.

Fig 3.1, Harmony Example

Unity refers to the repetition of particular elements throughout a design – whether they're colours, shapes or materials – to pull the look together. Unity occurs when these elements are composed in such a way that gives a sense of oneness, creating a theme.

Fig 3.2, Unity Example

PRINCIPLE 4 / Movement
Movement or motion in a visual image occurs when objects seem to be moving. It is the way a design leads the eye in, around, and through a composition. The kinds of shapes, forms, lines and curves used are what create movement in an image.

Fig 4, Movement Example

PRINCIPLE 5 / Repetition
The repetition of design elements creates rhythm and pattern within the work, this could make a work of design seem active. However, variety is important to keep rhythms exciting and active, avoiding monotony.

Fig 5, Repetition Example

---

DESIGN PROCESS

Visual References
For my artworks, I decided to recreate the covers of five songs that are meaningful to me. Before I began sketching out my ideas, I looked at various visual references of song cover recreations which also contained the design principles I selected.

Fig 6, Visual References, (03/09/2022)

Idea Exploration & Description

1. Balance
The first song I selected was "You're my spring" by Moon Myung Jin and TAEIL. As flowers were what first came to mind when thinking about spring, I started off by drawing flowers. Since I work best through experimentation and trial and error, I decided to start first and think about how to proceed as I go.

To prevent the artwork from being monotonous, I decide to have two of the petals form a heart. This also helped express the title of the song.

Fig 7.1, Balance (Draft 1), (03/09/2022)

I then decided to change the background colour to black to add an element of contrast.

Fig 7.2, Balance (Draft 2), (03/09/2022)

To emphasise the element of balance, I decided to divide the image into two.

Fig 7.3, Balance Artwork (FINAL), (12/09/2022)

2. Contrast
I created multiple artworks for contrast as I was I had various ideas and was unsure what I liked best.

Fig 8.1, Contrast (Options), (12/09/2022)

After feedback from Ms. Noranis, I decided to go with the final artwork as a cover for the song "Hope" by john eun.

Fig 8.2, Contrast Artwork (FINAL), (19/09/2022)

3. Harmony & Unity
For harmony and unity, the song I chose was "My Universe" by Coldplay and BTS. For this artwork, I decided to draw a planet in space.

Fig 9.1, Harmony & Unity (Draft 1), (13/09/2022)

As the elements are of the same theme – planet, space, stars – I thought there was a sense of harmony and unity, but while I was happy with the artwork, I was unsure if the colours were harmonious.

Fig 9.2, Harmony & Unity (Draft 2), (13/09/2022)

After changing the colours to different shades of blue, I thought it was a bit monotonous, so I decided to change the colours again.

Fig 9.3, Harmony & Unity Artwork (FINAL), (15/09/2022)

4. Movement
I was unsure what to do for movement so I first distorted my balance artwork to create a wave-like shape.

Fig 10.1, Movement (Draft 1), (14/09/2022)

While I though the artwork depicted movement, I was not satisfied with it. I then decided to play with different brushes on Photoshop.

Fig 10.2, Movement (Draft 2), (14/09/2022)

I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome as after distortion, the element of movement was emphasised and the strokes formed images of what appear as skulls or ghosts. The song I chose for this artwork was "Everywhere, Bad People Are There" by TAEK. For a better expression of the song, I decided to change the colours.

Fig 10.3, Movement (Draft 3), (14/09/2022)

After feedback from Ms. Noranis, I added some white lines to emphasise the element of movement even more, and changed the colours.

Fig 10.4, Movement Artwork (FINAL), (12/09/2022)

5. Repetition
The first thing that came to mind when I thought about repetition was shapes, so I experimented with a simple design.

Fig 11.1, Repetition (Draft 1), (17/09/2022)

While I liked the artwork as it was harmonious, it was too simplistic. To help me narrow down my ideas, I decided to pick the song "Blueming" by IU. A combination of the words 'blue' and 'blooming', I decided to draw various flowers to depict growth.

Fig 11.2, Repetition (Draft 2), (17/09/2022)

I then edited the artwork to add variety and make the design more sophisticated.

Fig 11.3, Repetition Artwork (FINAL), (17/09/2022)

Process (Overall)

Fig 12, Process

Final Artworks

Fig 13, Final Artworks, (25/09/2022)

Feedback
During the first consultation, I showed Ms. Noranis my artworks for balance and movement. She approved both of them, but suggested I add white lines to emphasise the element of movement even more. I also asked her if my designs were too simple as I was worried about that, but she told me that was not the case.

During the second consultation, I showed Ms. Noranis all of the artworks. I had two options for contrast (refer to figure 8.1), so Ms. Noranis helped me pick one. The remaining artworks were all approved by her.

---

REFLECTION

Experience
During these 4 weeks, I really liked and enjoyed the freedom Ms. Noranis allowed us. While she guided us throughout the way, there were no limitations on what we could create/design. As I wanted to enjoy the process of creating the artworks, I decided to incorporate something I genuinely love and enjoy; music. Recreating covers of songs that are very meaningful to me helped me work with sincerity and also made this assignment a less stressful one.

Observations
After learning about the design principles, I began to see them everywhere around me, which I thought was quite interesting. In addition, while we were creating an artwork each for a specific design principle, I've realised that while one principle is often more apparent, each design contains various design principles that work together.

Findings
Throughout these exercises, I have learnt that I am able to enjoy art when I let go of my expectations of what art should look like. I also realised the importance of art in every aspect of life – not only can it be a medium for expression, but it is also essential in the professional world.