Graphic Design student at Noroff, who is passionate about art and design. This is my personal blog that will be reflecting all my work and thought processes throughout the course.
Take a magazine, newspaper or book that includes images and text. Lay tracing paper over the top of three spreads (both left-hand and right-hand pages). Using a pencil and ruler, carefully trace the grid underlying the page layouts. Remember to remove specific text elements or images, and to only draw the grid lines. Note column widths and margin sizes at the top, bottom, and to the left and right of the main body of text. Is your document based on a two-column, three-column, or another type of grid? Which elements stay the same on each page, and which change?
I chose the following book:
The pages are split into three columns on each page.
The margins between the columns, and at the sides, are 1 cm in width.
The top and bottom margin’s width is slightly smaller at 7 mm.
What changes mostly from page to page is the positioning of pictures. There are three pictures that have no margins around them because the white disappears into the background. And then you have three ordinarily rectangular pictures. On the second page, one picture overlaps two columns, and one just finds itself slightly off the grid.
On an A4 landscape page, draw four equal squares. Create 4 more pages in this way. So, you’ll have 5 pages with four squares on each.
Draw one or two squares or rectangles in each empty square to achieve the following visual effects (refer to your textbook, p.41 as guidance). You can work with the interaction of rectangles and squares to make the balance or imbalance more evident.
Entering left
Movement to the right
Movement to the left
Movement downwards
Movement upwards
Balance
Tension
Symmetry/asymmetry
Balance because: Centred, mirrored shapes; Movement to the right because: Shapes stepping up to the right; Movement to the left because: Stepping up to the left; Movement upwards because: Stair illusion, pointing upwards.
Balance: This was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of balance.
Movement to the right: I thought of a step going up the the right.
Movement to the left: Same as above, but to the left.
Movement upwards: I thought of an arrow pointing upwards – it later reminded me of stairs.
Balance because: The weight is equal on both sides, centred; Movement to the right because: Shapes flow towards the right, arrow shape; Movement to the left because: shape is positioned to the left; Movement upwards because: shapes pointing upwards, eye follows the shapes upward.
Balance: I thought of balance of weight, and I wanted the white space to be divided equally.
Movement to the right: The shapes form an arrow pointing towards the right.
Movement to the left: The simple shape was placed to the left of the white space.
Movement upwards: Shapes pointing upward. The human eye seems to follow shapes from big to small.
Movement downwards because: flows downwards, eye follows large to small; Tension because: shapes positioned tightly together; Asymmetrical because: appears off-centre, shapes don’t mirror each other; Symmetrical because: mirrored shapes.
Movement downwards: A zigzag composition pointing downwards.
Tension: The shapes placed tightly together reminded me of a tense spring.
Asymmetrical: I wanted shapes that didn’t mirror each other to be centred, but appear to be otherwise. The centre is where the top left corner of the medium rectangle meets the larger rectangle.
Symmetrical: This is a typical mirroring of shapes. I wanted a noisy composition that would catch your eye.
Movement downwards because: shapes flow downwards, “dripping” illusion; Tension because: Many shapes pressed together, two “arrows” pointing towards each other, contradiction; Asymmetrical because: shapes don’t mirror each other; Symmetrical because: mirrored shapes.
Movement downwards: I thought of a melting icicle – the water drops flowing towards the tip before falling.
Tension: I thought of two arrows contradicting each other.
Asymmetrical: …I’m not sure how to explain this one… but it’s not symmetrical.
Symmetrical: These were simply two identical shapes, opposite each other, diving the white space equally on each side.
Symmetrical (1) because: mirrored, centred, corner to corner; Asymmetrical (1) because: organised chaos, don’t mirror each other; Asymmetrical (2) because: Don’t mirror each other, off-centre. Symmetrical (2) because: shapes flow from corner to corner, splits white space in two.
Symmetrical (1): I wanted shapes flowing from one corner to another. I also wanted some centred shapes, and “frame” shapes. I was making an “H” composition. I don’t know if it looks more like an “N” to some… But the point was that your eyes would interpret an “H” out of the composition.
Asymmetrical (1): This is what I would call organised chaos. The composition is not symmetrical but it looks tidy.
Asymmetrical (2): This was my “A” composition. It’s not centred, and it’s not symmetrical, but it catches ones eye… I think. (To be honest, sometimes I think asymmetrical things are more eye-catching that symmetrical things… though symmetrical things seem to be more satisfying to look at.)
Symmetrical (2): I wanted the white space to mirror the shapes. So the white space is rectangular, and equal in each corner, just as the shapes mirror each other.
Rearrange shapes cut out of paper, and try to find the point at which the figure disappears into the ground.
Cut out a series of shapes from black paper – squares, rectangles, circles and random shapes – in a variety of sizes, from small to large.
Working with a square piece of white paper, place shapes of different sizes into the white space; place them on the white one at a time and move them around.
Try to find the point where the distinction between figure and ground becomes unclear. Does it depend on which shape dominates the space: black or white? Is it about the position of the shape within the space? Think about how important figure-ground relationships are within composition and design.
As part of the experiment, I asked a friend which compositions she liked most, for each set. That gave me an idea of what type of composition is eye-catching – although, asking more than one person would have provided a more reliable result.
I feel that I may have failed a bit on this assignment by not making big enough shapes. But I think that they serve their purpose…
SQUARE
The first composition is what caught my friends eye.
The first three compositions are made up of big squares on a white background, and the last two are smaller squares.
The larger squares obviously take up most of the white space, and in my opinion, this makes the composition less eye-catching. This is probably why my friend found the first composition most eye catching – because the white space is disturbed less.
STAR
Here, the fourth composition is what caught my friends eye the most.
The first three shapes disturb the space too much, and the last two shapes are too close to the edge, making the distinction between figure and ground slightly unclear. The fourth composition seems to be in the right place, and doesn’t disturb the white space, making it most attractive.
“LINE”
My friend didn’t particularly like any of these compositions, but if I had to choose one, it would be the third one. The first two are asymmetrical… the first one is ok – less disturbing than the second one. The second one is too close to the edge and disturbs the whole composition.
TRIANGLE
The third composition is what appealed most to my friend. It’s close to the edge but it’s centred – placed in the middle of the top edge, pointing towards the centre. I think that’s why it’s the most attractive.
The last of these three was the most satisfying to look at – according to my friend. I think it’s between the two last ones. They complement the corners of the white space, and add dimension to it. I find the first one attractive in it’s own way – but not for its composition.
CLOUD
Apparently, the second composition is what appealed most to my friend. I’m not sure if I agree… I think the first one is most attractive because it’s centred and doesn’t disturb the white space too much.
The reason my friend liked the second composition is because she thinks it looks more clean. I can understand this line of thought… maybe I’ve just been looking at the pictures too long to know which one is eye-catching.
CIRCLE
Number two was the winner here! Maybe the others are too centred or too close to the edge. Number two is in an “abstract position”, and it attracts the eye more.
I’ll agree with my friend and say that the first one of these is the most appealing. The other two take up too much white space. The first one is tidier, and in “one place”.
Ashley's Reflected Journal 