!

  Principles of Design are used to combine the

visual elements of art (the things we discussed in
the last chapter) into compositions that have a
certain style, form and content.

!  Design or composition is a “process” - the

organizing of the visual elements to achieve a
desired aesthetic in a work of art
!  Unity is oneness or wholeness. A work of art
achieves unity when its parts seem necessary to
the composition as a whole.
"  Extreme Unity is unity of shape, unity by color contrast
and/or unity between figure and ground.
Shapes tend to be regular and even, take further, extreme unity becomes bland,
tedious or repetitive. Usually something to be avoided, it can be used to make
a point, as with Andy Warhol’s Campbell's Soup Cans, commenting on mass
production and mass marketing.
"  Visual Unity relies on consistency or repetition of the
elements of art in a composition. The art has visual
harmonies.
"  Conceptual Unity utilizes the unity of ideas.
The strength of composition is not on the visual harmonies, but lies instead in
the relationships between meaning and function of the images, allowing the
work to have diverse elements, discordant punctuations and unusual
juxtapositions.
This is “Value Print War Cans” by Andy Warhol. It is an example of extreme unity, used to
make a point about mass marketing and mass production.
!  Balance in art refers to the distribution of the
actual or apparent weight of the elements in a
composition.
!  Sculptures are art objects that have actual
weight, and therefore can have actual balance.
!  Pictorial balance refers to the distribution of the
apparent or visual weight of the artistic elements
in two dimensional works of art.
This sculpture is Doryphoros
by Polykleitos.

The statue is an example of

actual balance.
!  Symmetry is the similarity of form or
arrangement on either side of a dividing line or
plane, or to the correspondence of parts in size,
shape and position.
!  Symmetrical balance is created through formal or
pure symmetry or approximate symmetry.
"  Pure or formal symmetry, also called bilateral
symmetry, occurs when everything in the composition
to either side of an actual or imaginary line is the same
Leonardo da Vinci Proportions
of the Human Figure is an
example of formal symmetrical
balance.

The regularity and

predictability of formal
symmetry conjures a sense of
peace, calm, comfort and
order.
US Capitol Building is an example of symmetrical balance, and conjures a sense of peace,
calm, comfort and order. Repetition and symmetry imply rationality and decorum. Also, with
its architectural references to the Greek Golden Age, shows pride of grandeur.
!  In approximate symmetry, the overall impression
is that of symmetry, yet there are images or
shapes within the composition that break the
monotony of the symmetry.
The whole of the work has a symmetrical feeling, but also has more
variation than a mirror image.

!  Asymmetrical balance occurs when the

variations to the left and right of the composition
are more than slight, and yet there remains an
overall sense of balance.
The left and right sides of the composition may contain visibly different
shapes, the total effect is one of balance. Asymmetrical balance is also
referred to as “informal balance”.
Examples of symmetry:

Formal Symmetry Approximate Asymmetrical

Symmetry Balance
!  Horizontal balance: the elements in the left and right
sides of the composition seem to be about equal in
number or visual emphasis
!  Vertical balance: the elements in the top and bottom of
the composition are in balance
!  Diagonal Balance: equal visual weight is established to
either side of a perceived diagonal.
!  Radial balance: the design elements radiate from a
center point.
"  Designs with radial balance generally have a circular pattern around
the source.
"  This occurs frequently in nature.
"  Even when the circular pattern is incomplete, the viewers’ eye will
take a cue from what is present, and generate the complete circular
pattern. (Allowing pattern completion is emotionally pleasing due to
the intellectual stimulation)
 Radial balance:
Even if the
circle is
incomplete the
viewers eye will
take the cue
and “complete”
the circular
pattern.

Martha Graham: Letter to the World (Kick) by Barbara Morgan

And just an FYI, Martha Graham is considered to be the “Mother of Modern

Dance”
!  Balance provides a certain level of comfort, and
a viewer will try to impose balance on a work,
even when there is no symmetry. Some artists
try to stimulate the viewer’s discomfort by
creating works of imbalance.
Death of a Loyalist Soldier by Robert Capa, taken during the Spanish Civil War.

The photographer has captured the soldier just as an enemy rifleman shot him. By allowing
the composition to remain unbalanced, or weighted on the left, the drama of the moment is
intensified.
 Horizontal Vertical Balance
Balance Imbalance
Visual weight is No symmetry, no
Visual weight is balanced between visual balance
balanced between the upper and lower
the left and right sides of the picture
sides of the picture

Radial Balance
The design elements
radiate from a center
point.
!  Emphasis focuses the viewers attention on one
or more parts of a composition by accentuating
certain shapes, intensifying value or color,
featuring directional lines, or strategically
placing the objects and images.

!  Emphasis creates focal points.

Creating Focal Creating Focal Creating Focal
Point by Shape Point by Value Point by Color

Creating Creating
Focal Point by Focal Point by
Directional Lines Strategic Placement
!  Natural rhythms are orderly progressions that occur in
natural phenomena and time, such as genetic codes,
the order of the revolving planets, ocean waves, atomic
vibrations, etc.

!  Regular repetition of sensory impressions create

meaning from a jumble of sight and sound.

!  Artists can enhance or exaggerate individual elements

of their compositions through minor and major
variations in rhythm.

!  Regular repetition is the easiest and most precise way

to create rhythm. Rhythms are also found in
architecture, with repeating arches, columns or pillars.
 Interior of
Mosque,
Cordoba

Example of rhythm: regular repetition is the easiest way to create rhythm, as seen in the
rhythmic progression of arches that span the distances between the columns (not to mention
the columns themselves!)
 Skidmore,
Owens and
Merrill,
US Air Force
Academy
Chapel,
Colorado
Springs

Rhythm through repetition of aluminum pylons, abstractions that echo the spikes
of the chapel’s Rocky Mountain Setting
!  Scale refers to size, big or small, and the relative
size of an object compared to others of its kind, it’s
setting, or human dimensions.

!  In hierarchical scaling, relative size is used to

indicate relative importance of the objects or
people.
Very commonly done in medieval manuscripts. In Egyptian art, the rulers
were shown to be bigger than those around them.

!  Distortion of scale can challenge the viewer to look

at the familiar in a new way, offering a new
perspective on the form of things, or the
relationship between things
 Pyramid
of Khafre,
Egypt

Egyptian Pyramids are imposing because of their scale, or their size compared
with other buildings, their sites, and people. Their overall size is essential to their
impact. They would not be so amazing if they were only 10 feet tall.
Example of Distortion of Scale:
Marisol’s Baby Girl creates visual
shock and humor, and anyone who
has had a new baby in the house,
will ‘get’ the humor here.

Baby Girl by Marisol

Oldenburg has lent
monumentality to a commonplace
item by upgrading its scale.

This was commissioned by the City of

Philadelphia for its bicentennial. The
clothespin represents Philadelphia in two
ways; both sides ‘hug’ each other
(Philadelphia is the “City of Brotherly Love”)
and the crack down the center is symbolic
of the crack in the Liberty Bell.

Clothespin by Claes Oldenburg

!  Proportion is the ratio of things to each other

!  The Canon of Proportion: The ancient Greek,

Polykleitos’ set of rules about body parts and
their dimensions relative to one another that
became the standard for creating the ideal
human figure (The head is 1/8 of the total
height of the body, the width from shoulder to
shoulder should not exceed ¼ of the body’s
height, etc)
!  The Golden Mean, or Golden Section is the
Greek ideal proportion to use in architecture

!  The Golden Mean, or Golden Section, is the

Greek ideal proportion to use in architecture.

Golden Mean – in a line, AB:BC is as BC:AC

 AB:BC is as BC:AC

The ration of the shorter segment (AB) is to the larger segment

(BC) as the larger segment (BC) is to the whole line (AC)
Segment BC is the Golden Mean
The Golden Rectangle was thought by the Greeks to be the most
pleasing rectangle, and became the basis for many temples, and
statuary.
!  The Golden Rectangle, also called the Fibonacci
sequence, can used to create spirals as they
occur in nature

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