BASI

C
COMPOSI
TION
THEORY~f
or~
BEGI
NNERS
 Awellbal
anced
composi
ti
onfeel
sri
ght
.

Humanbeansare
wir
edtoenjoybalance.
BAL
ANCE
I
SNOT
MANDATORY,

butunder
standi
ng i
tis
.
VI
SUAL BAL
ANCE
THECONCEPTI
S TWO F
OLD
Vi
sualWei
ght Vi
sualDi
rect
ion
Vi
sualwei
ghtr
efer
sto Vi
sualdi
rect
ionr
efer
sto
theext enttowhich t
heper
cei
vedf
orceonan
anel ementdr awsthe obj
ect
;thedi
rect
ioni
t
vi
ewer
’
sat t
entionandt he
woul
dbeheadi
ng i
fthe
under s
tanding of
how muchwei ght l
awsofphys
icsandany
anobj ectwouldbe f
orceappl
iedt
othe
perceivedt ohave. obj
ectwer
eto
beobeyed.
 BAL
ANCEDARTWORKI
S
Des
irabl
eini
t’
sver
ynat
ure,duet
otheneedf
orbal
ancei
nther
ealwor
ld
Pl
eas
ing t
otheeye
Gr
eatatpor
trayi
ng di
ff
erentel
ement
sofequali
mpor
tance
Gr
eatatconveyi
ng as
ens
eofr
ight
nes
s,ors
erent
iy

UNBAL
ANCEDARTWORKI
S:
Uns
ett
li
ng oruncomf
ort
abl
e(notneces
sar
il
yabadt
hing!
)
Gr
eatatconveyi
ng t
hats
omeel
ement
sar
emor
eimpor
tantt
hanot
her
s
Beaut
if
ulandhi
deousatt
hes
amet
ime
Di
ff
icul
ttogetr
ight
THEDIF
FERENTTYPES
ofVisualBalance
SYMMETRI
CALBAL
ANCE
Symmetricalbalance Symmetri
calbalanceis
occurswhenequal l
y for
mal,elegantand
weightedel ements calmi
ng.Unfort
unatel
y,
areonequals idesof thi
scans ometi
mesbe
adi vi
ding l
ineoraxi s
. consi
deredbor i
ng.
ASYMMETRI
CALBAL
ANCE
Asymmetr
icalbalance Forexampl e,one
i
swhenunequal ly visuall
yheavyel ement
weight
edel ements ont heleftmaybe
arebalancedbya bal ancedbyt woor
combinat
ionofot her mor evisual
lyli
ghter
unequalelements
. elementsont heright
.
Asymmetri
calbal ance
i
smor ediffi
cul
tto
achievethan
symmetri
calbalance.
However,itevokes
feel
ingsofmoder nit
y,
dynamicnat ur
eand
energy.
RADI
ALBAL
ANCE
Radialbalance Radialbal ance
occurswhens ever
al conveysi deasof
elementsemanate rel
ati
ons hips
,focus
,
fr
om aroundacent ral i
mpor t
anceand
orsingl
epoi ntonthe att
raction.
design.
Bereservedwhenus i
ng
radialbalance;not
EVERYTHING canbea
pointoffocus.
MOSAI
C BAL
ANCE
Mos aicbal ance, I
t’sverydiff
icul
tto unif
ormit
yt hat
somet i
mesr efer
redto achieve.Whendone suggeststhatt he
ascr ystalographi
c ri
ghtthedes ignwil
l seperateel ementsar
e
balancei st he l
ackpos iti
onal actuall
ypar t
sofa
wonder fulblendof emphas i
s,usi
ng l
argervisual l
y
orderandchaos . i
nsteadanover al
l weightedwhol e.
 I
TISI
MPORT
ANTTO NOTE:
Whil
stitiscommonfora designt
ohaveonl yonef ocalelement
,it
i
spos s
ibleforal
ltypesofsymmet
rytoexis
ts eper
atetotheoverall
compos i
ti
on and have a vi sual balance of t heir own.

F
OR
Thispage,whi chonlyuses
text,di
splaysboth
symmetricalbalancein
thepar agraphabove,
andas ymmet ri
cal
balancebet weenthi
s

EXAMPL
E: paragr
EXAMPL
aphandt
Et ext.
heFOR
rEFL
ECTI
ON ROTATI
ONAL TRANSL
ATIONAL
SYMMETRY: SYMMETRY: SYMMETRY:
Refl
ecti
onSymmetry Rotati
onalSymmetr
y Trans
lati
onalsymmetry
occurswhenagr oupof occurswhenagr oupof occurswhenelementsare
el
ementsaremirr
ored el
ement sdi
splayat repeatedoverdiff
erent
aroundacentralli
neor anglesaroundacentral spaces.I
tcanoccuri n
axis
. pointofexis
tence. anydirecti
onordistance.
Fencepos t
sforexample.
EXAMPL
ES
Phot
ogr
aphbyI
anBr
anham
EXERCI
SE:
Br
ows eyourf
avouri
tewebs
ites
,magazi
nesorpiecesofmedia
andt r
ytounders
tandthecomposi
ti
onalsymmetr
ythatthey
use.

Remember:s
ect
ionsofades i
gn(websi
tesinpar
ticul
ar)can
havethei
rowncomposit
ionalwei
ghti
ng t
hatiss
epar at
eto
thepi
eceasawhol e.
 THANKYOU
Ref
erence:ht
tps
:/
/www.
smas
hingmagaz
ine.
com/
2015/
06/
des
ign-
pri
nci
ples
-compos
it
ional
-bal
ance-
symmet
ry-
asy
mmet
ry/