PRINCIPLE OF

DESIGN
 The principles of design are the artistic guidelines used to
organize or arrange the structural elements of design.

These principles will provide explicit ways in which these

elements are used, how they are manipulated, how they
interact and how they inform the overall composition of the
artwork to assist the artist in conveying his intention.
1. BALANCE
1. Balance
Balance is a sense of
stability in the body of
work.
Balance can be
symmetrical (formal) or
asymmetrical (informal)

Edgar Degas (informal balance) Wayne Thiebaud, Around the Cake (formal balance)
2. EMPHASIS AND FOCAL POINT

Emphasis & Focal Point

Emphasis - Any forcefulness that gives importance to some
feature or features of an artwork; something singled out,
stressed, or drawn attention to by means of contrast, anomaly, or
counterpoint

Focal Point = portion of an artwork's composition on which

interest or attention centers

David Hockney
EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT

Barbara Rene
Kruger Magritte
 3. CONTRAST
Contrast
A large difference between
two things,
such as light and shadow,
color and black/white

Andy Warhol David, the Death of Marat

4.
MOVEMENT
Movement adds
excitement to your work
by showing action and
directing the viewers
eye throughout the
picture plane.

Umberto Boccioni, Marcel Duchamp, Nude

Unique forms of continuity in space Descending Staircase
5. VARIETY
When elements are
changed in scale, color,
or form.

Andy Warhol
 6. PATTERN & REPETITION
Involves multiples of the same element.
Repeated elements can vary in size, color,
or axis placement.

Repeated elements can create a pattern.

The use of repetition may be applied to all
Visual Elements.
Motion can be created by repetition.

Chuck Close, Self Portrait, detail

 7. UNITY & HARMONY

The quality of
wholeness or oneness
(Gestalt) that is achieved
through the effective use
of the elements and
principles of design.

Cezanne
Claude Monet
Haystacks Wayne
Theibaud
COMBINED
OR HYBRID
In contemporary art, these developments were mirrored in the
multifaceted nature of artworks that were created. It is not surprising
that themes, subjects, and the problematic addressed shaped and
produced new kinds of articulation in which two or more forms and
styles are combined. Combined arts include dance, theatre, installation
art, film, video art, documentary, photography, puppetry, design, and
other forms of production
A clear example of combined art is a theatrical performance that taps into many art forms such as music, 2D
and 3D art, literature, lighting, and set design, among others.

Another movement that is reminiscent of the motivations of the Renaissance and whose emergence is hinged
on the frontiers of science and technology, is called HYBRID ARTS. Referencing and tapping into the fields of
robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, natural and computer sciences, telecommunications,
information, digital and interface technologies (software programs,
speech and face recognition, social media and on-line platforms, among many
other emergent developments), artists whose works tread under this
movement disrupt the norms in terms of what is considered as hybrid art, and
even the way people envisage artistic production.

More than anything else, hybrid arts are driven by the expansion of the
imagination and what is possible through its “blistering pace of scientific and
technological development” (Pirma, 2014).
CLASSIFICATIONS
OF ART
Classifications Forms Scope Traditional Fusion A Fusion
of Arts forms/Forms mixture of
dimension and
space
2-dim Presented in Painting, Drawing Installation art Performance art
flat surface (sketches), Construction a mixture of
Space Arts
Photography, Print, Assemblage sound, image,
Art-Occupies object, body
space Photomontage, Collage
and live
performance
3-dim Free-standing/ Masks, Sculptures, Mobile
Visual Arts Arts sculptural/ Carvings, low and high art-sculptures
w/physical relief, furniture, that move
actual volume architectural structure,
mass and landscaping, bonsai art
weight
Classificatio Fusion A
ns of Arts Forms Scope Traditional forms/Forms mixture of Fusion
dimension and
space
Music Western Classical Instrumental
(orchestral, chamber, opera)

Strings Indigenous/Eastern

Time Percussion
Arts-time Wind Rock Music, Blues, Jazz,
driven arts Country, R & B, Hip Hop, Ska
and Reggae, Latin American,
World, New Age
Auditory
Arts
Contemporary Instrumental and
Techno-music
Classifica Fusion A
tions of Forms Scope Traditional forms/Forms mixture of Fusion
Arts dimension
and space
Literatu Prose Fiction-Short story,
re (Ordinary story, script, drama Image poem Performing
language)
Image-sound Poetry
Fiction or Non-fiction-diary,
nonfiction science, history, journal, Letras Y Dula-tula
figuras (poetry-perf
newspapers, ormed)
bio-philosophy
Poetry Song, Poem, Sonnet,
(with Eulogy, Haiku
form/rhyth Picture-image/Sound-Imag
m, beat, e
format)
Classificati Fusion A
ons of Arts Forms Scope Traditional forms/Forms mixture of Fusion
dimension and
space
Theater Indigenous Spanish influences Komedya or Puppetry Performance Poetry
moro-moro, Religious Drama (short
Prehistoric, Dula-Tula
drama – salubong, panunuluyan and
Spanish (poetry-performed)
full-length – sinakulo)
influence,
Japanese American period – Zarzuela, Vodabil,
Space/time (seditious), Phil. Theater in English and the
American Return to the vernacular
An art
Dance bodabil, Ballet, Jazz, Latin, Hip hop, tap, neo, Dance Flash Mob
production
Shakespearean, theater, classical ballet, pointe, acro,
that needs Improvisation
classics ballroom, crumping, break dancing,
time and Body
adaptation, 60’s robot, belly dancing, line dancing,
space
gap of language, Irish dancing, cha-cha, salsa, Movement
vernacular cheerleaders, techno, contemporary,
Performing/ drama, PETA Indian tango, waltz, rumba, jive,
establishment, theatrical and many more
Combined indigenous
arts
Classifica Fusion A
tions of Forms Scope Traditional forms/Forms mixture of Fusion
Arts dimension
and space
Film Non-linear Documentary, feature, Bio epic
animation, experimental

Linear

Source: Alampat: An Intro to Art Appreciation. Perez, Cayas and Narciso