DESIGN PRINCIPLES - EXERCISES

27/08/18 - (Week 1 - Week )
Dk Nur Reem Rashah Pg Mohammad Apri (0336605)
Design Principles
Exercises

LECTURES:

Lecture 1: Introduction to Module and Contrast Exercise

(Couldn't attend - Late reporting as a new international student)

INSTRUCTIONS:



I was able to catch up with what was expected in terms of the module as we had a small briefing with the other students who missed the lecture. Ms. Sherry explained that we'll be working on exercises that will be based on several design principles. The first exercise will be on contrast as a design principle.

From what I understood, contrast is a design principle where opposing elements are arranged in a way that creates focus. It is usually used to create interesting pieces of work as contrast helps to easily catch attention from the audience.

Exercise 1 - Contrast

For this exercise, we were only allowed to use shades of black and white to express contrast. I wanted to do a simple piece where there will be a strong contrast between a black background with white outlines. Due to this, I went to search for inspiration and found some black and white pop art that attracted my attention.

Moodboard

Fig. 1.1 - Monochrome pop art examples (Source: http://darrellcrow.com/category/pop-art/). 

(First attempt)

Fig. 1.2 - Experimental piece, Gouache paint on A4 paper.

Description:

The female figure in this work is reflective towards a character named Martha in Edward Albee's play, 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'. Based on my personal interpretation, Martha was never truthful to herself in order to cope with the problems she faced. As consequence, her choice to do this only acted as a double-edged sword and ended up emotionally hurting her as the truth starts to unfold towards the end of the play. I attempted to represent this through my work by simply portraying a female figure in a way how I personally envisioned Martha. In order to evoke sadness and grief, I decided to create a tearful expression on Martha.

Moving forward - (Second attempt) Final piece

I decided to do a second attempt for this exercise because I wasn't satisfied with the outcome of my first piece. For this second attempt, I used a reference from the film adaptation of the play, 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' featuring Elizabeth Taylor as Martha. I also decided to use a marker instead of gouache paint because the marker allows me to easily add more small details to my piece.

Fig. 1.3 - Reference -A scene featuring Elizabeth Taylor from the film adaptation of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' by Mike Nicholls and Ernest Lehman (1966)

Fig. 1.4 - Final piece on contrast, (Artline Medium 0.6) Marker on A4 paper.

________________________________________________

Lecture 2: Introduction to Gestalt + Exercise

(03/09/18 -  06/09/18)

For this lecture, we were introduced to the concept of Gestalt. Gestalt is a psychological term for 'unified whole'  as it refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s (http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm).

These theories suggest that people will naturally be able to make visual connections when certain principles are used. These principles include:

• Similarity -  where elements have similar appearances.
• Continuation - when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.
• Closure - when an object is incomplete or space is not completely enclosed.
• Proximity - when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group.
• Figure and Ground - where the eye differentiates an object from its surrounding area. 

Exercise 2 - Gestalt

Fig. 2 - My final gestalt piece, white and black colored A4 paper

Description:

For this exercise, I decided to do something that would relate to the idea of responsibility and consequence. My idea was to portray an image of hands as a reference to the phrase "it's in our hands" suggesting responsibility towards our actions. I ended up with using the silhouette of a fish to substitute the space between the hands. I thought it also suited my intentions for the piece as fishing practices are continuously debated to have negative consequences. Overfishing has always been a global issue that needs to addressed as it affects the coral reef and disrupts the ecosystem. Overall, I urge people to make more sustainable choices through this piece by reminding them of the responsibilities that come with their action.

Feedback:

Ms. Sherry commented that she was satisfied with the simplicity in my gestalt piece. Everyone was able to see the silhouette of the hands and the fish.

________________________________________________

Lecture 3: Class presentation - Symmetry, Asymmetry, Balance, Dominance

(13/09/18 -)

Starting from Week 3, our class will start their own lectures in aims to increase our knowledge of design principles and practice our teamwork skills. The class was split into groups and were assigned to different topics to research. Each group will share their newly gained knowledge to the class on the topics they were given. This week's group will present symmetry, asymmetry, balance, and dominance.

• Symmetry - "When elements are arranged in the same way on both sides of an axis. Perfect symmetry is when elements are mirrored over the axis and exactly the same on both sides."
• Asymmetry - "When the arrangement of elements is different on both sides of an axis."
• Balance - "The distribution of visual weight of objects, colors, texture and space in a composition."
• Dominance - "The dominant element in a design is the one with the greatest visual weight (or the one that everything else points to). It’s the element that attracts the eye first, more than anything else on the page."

Exercise 3 - Dominance

Unfortunately, I had difficulties with the material chosen for this exercise as I have little to no experience with watercolor. Otherwise, I decided to do a piece on dominance because I felt more comfortable with the concept in comparison to the other principles.

Fig. 3 - My final piece on dominance, watercolor on A4 paper

Description:

In order to express dominance in my watercolor piece, I went ahead on placing figures with masks in order to bring dominance to the figure without one. Here, I'm creating a dominant figure in the piece, making him the focal point of the composition.

_______________________________________________

Lecture 4: Class presentation - Texture, Repetition, Surface, Pattern

(17/09/18 - 20/09/18)

This week's group will present texture, repetition, surface, and pattern.

• Texture - the surface quality
• Surface - the uppermost layer of an object
• Repetition - repeating one element
• Pattern - repeating more than one element (includes branching, spiral, flow, packing and cracking)

Exercise 4 - Repetition/texture

In this exercise, I wanted to apply both repetition and texture to my piece. I decided to do this by using cardboard as a stamp. I knew I wanted to include figures so I had cut out the cardboard to create distorted figure forms. For the background, I cut out a strip of cardboard and use it as a second stamp. I wanted my work to be a two-color piece in order to keep it simple so that the texture will stand out as well.

Fig. 4 - My final piece on texture and pattern, cardboard stamp with gouache paint on A4 paper

Description:

I was inspired after watching an episode of a television series, 'The Walking Dead'. The series itself revolves around the idea of being surrounded by danger and is filled with gory imagery as a consequence of this. I was hoping to represent this idea by incorporating a repetition of red stripes to signify danger towards the human-like figures in this piece.

_______________________________________________ 

Lecture 5: Class presentation (my group) - Alignment, Hierarchy, Placement, Direction

My group will be presenting on this week on the following topics;

• Alignment - the arrangement of visual elements so they line up in a composition.
• Hierarchy - the arrangement or presentation of elements in a way that implies importance.
• Placement - the change and position of shapes or objects that can affect the visual depth and composition of an artwork.
• Direction - the perceived direction of visual forces. 

Exercise 5: Alignment

We were only allowed to do a collage work for this week's exercise. Though, we were allowed to use a variety of materials to do our collage. I decided to use magazine cut-outs as a medium for my piece.

Design progress:

Fig. 5.1 - Progress of deciding the placement and alignment of textual elements

Final piece:

Fig. 5.2 - Final piece on alignment, magazine cut-outs, collage on A4 paper

Description:

I wanted to create a simple piece of work that focuses on a specific concept. To achieve this, I searched for a few words in a magazine to base the concept from. I ended up with the phrase "mix to match" as my concept. Moreover, I decided to apply alignment to my work by aligning the graphic elements in the center. In contrast to this, I used edge alignment for the text element in my piece.

_______________________________________________ 

Lecture 6: Class presentation - Dots, Lines, Size, Scale

For this week's exercise, we will be exploring dots, lines, and scale as design principles.

• Dots - the smallest and most basic element of graphic design.
• Lines - an element of art defined by a point moving in space. 
• Size - how big or small an element is in relation to other objects.
• Scale - size of an object in relationship to another object as a whole.

Exercise 6: Lines

Design progress:

Fig. 6.1 - Progress - Stitching and collage

Final Piece:

Fig. 6.2 - Final piece, stitching and magazine cut-outs collage on colored A4 paper

Description:

I simply wanted to have a playful approach in order to use lines within my piece for this exercise. So I decided to do a mixed media piece where I used thin yarn and sewed lines and pasted some torn magazine articles to certain areas, wherever I thought was necessary to express playfulness.

_______________________________________________ 

Lecture 7: Ilham Gallery Visit

Fig. 7 - Compilation of some of my favorite pieces from Mohidin's 'Pago Pago' series (1960-1969)

We visited the Ilham Gallery where an exhibition was held for Latiff Mohidin's 'Pago Pago' series. Latiff Mohidin is a Malaysian modernist artist. He is well known for 'Pago Pago' series where he explores a way to challenge the dominance of Western modernism during the 1960s. His Pago Pago series did not only include expressionist paintings but also a collection of drawings, prints, sculptures and poetry.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. We were able to reflect and critique some of his work based on our newly gained knowledge on some of the design principles we learnt so far. I hope we get to visit more exhibitions in the future as it does help me gain more artistic insight as well as inspiration for my future work.

_______________________________________________ 

Lecture 8: Harmony, Movement, Rhythm

Our this exercise, we will attempt to incorporate either harmony, movement or rhythm into our work.

• Harmony - the belonging of one thing with another which includes both visual and conceptual harmony.
• Movement - the path of viewer's eye takes through the work of art in order to focus on certain areas.
• Rhythm (Regular/Progressive/Alternating/Random) - shows movement that is created by repeated elements in a work of art.

Exercise 8: Movement

For the exercise, we were only allowed to use photography as a medium to express either harmony, movement or rhythm. Unfortunately, I don't own a camera so I used my smartphone instead. 

Fig. 8 - Final piece - Photograph using smartphone (960 × 1280)

Description:

For this piece, I wanted to take a photo of people swimming at the pool and attempt to capture their next movement in the right moment. Hence, I simply took a photo of a person almost taking their next move as they were swimming. I took this photo using an app on my smartphone, 'HUJI', as I have a personal preference towards the film effect that disposable cameras have. Because I do not own one, I decided to just use this app to imitate that effect for my photo.

_______________________________________________ 

Lecture 9:  Shapes, Form, Figure & Ground

This week we learnt about shapes, form, figure and ground as design principles.

• Shapes - an enclosed space, a bounded two-dimensional form and its boundaries are defined by art elements such as lines, space, colours. 
• Form - are three-dimensional. It gives dimension, volume, texture and space.
• Figure & Ground (Stable/Reversible/Ambiguous) - when there is figure & foreground or ground & background which can be achieved by applying blur, contrast or changing the size.

Exercise 9: Shapes

For this exercise, we were allowed to use the computer as a medium for our piece. Hence, I decided to use Illustrator in order to express shapes.

First attempt

Fig. 9.1 - First attempt on shapes, pen and shapes tool on Illustrator (A4 sized, 2480 x 3508)

Description:

For this exercise, I wanted to do a portrait where I only use shapes to construct the facial features. I decided to use both pen and shape tool to do this. I wanted my piece to be abstract and bold, so I decided to also apply contrast into my piece.

Feedback:

Ms. Sherry said that my piece is fine with only one exception, which is the fact that the top part where the forehead begins is too sharp and suggested that I cover it or make it less sharp.

Moving forward - (Second attempt) Final piece:

Fig. 9.2 - Final piece on shapes, pen and shapes tool on Illustrator

(A4 sized, 2480 x 3508)

_______________________________________________ 

Lecture 10: Proximity/Perspective/Proportion/Unity & Variety

This week, we learnt about:

• Proximity - organize or group objects into a composition to create and eliminate connections between visual elements.
• Perspective - represents three dimensional element onto a two dimensional surface to create an illusion of space and depth on a flat surface.
• Proportion - harmonious relationship between 2 or more elements placed together in one composition to create unity in a design.
• Unity - creates sense of harmony and wholeness using similar elements within a composition. 

Exercise 10: Perspective

I decided to do this week's exercise on perspective. I took inspiration from the idea of Halloween as Hallowen was coming up very soon.

Fig 10.0 Final outcome for perspective exercise

Description:

I wanted to portray a concept where the audience feels like they stepped out of their house to walk to into the path of Halloween night. This is the reason why the path leads the audience into the mouth of a dressed up (implied through the jewelry it wears) creature who represents the idea of dressing up as fictional characters during Halloween. Other than that, I used black paper to symbolize night time. 

_______________________________________________ 

Project 1: Self-portrait

For our first project, we were required to create a self-portrait by expressing our character and personality.

INSTRUCTIONS:




We were allowed to use any form of media for this project. I ended up using pen and marker as my medium for this piece.

Design process:

Fig. 10.1 - Initial sketch, pen on A4 paper.

Final piece:

Fig. 10.2 - Final piece for Project 1: 'Self-portrait', pen and marker on A4 paper.

Description:

For this self-portrait, I wanted to put emphasis on the two features that people first notice about me; my red glasses and my hair. In order to achieve this, I applied a few design principles such as dominance in terms of color due to the pop of red as well as contrast where the hair is dark and bold in comparison to the white space surrounding it. I decided to create a composition where it suggests the idea that no matter on what angle or perspective you see me in, you'll definitely take notice of my red glasses and hair first. In order to make sure that the audience knows that all the figures presented are the same girl, I decided to create a connection between all figures through the little white lines. The lines also help to create a pathway for the audience's eyes to flow from the top to the bottom where more details of the figure starts to reveal.

_______________________________________________ 

Project 2: Sense of place

For our second project, we were given the task to create a digital piece where we visually express any place nearby in a way that the audience can feel what type of atmosphere the place evokes.

INSTRUCTIONS:



Design process:

Fig. 11.1 - Compilation of images I used to create my final piece (taken by smartphone)

Final piece:

Fig. 11.2 - Final piece for Project 2: 'Sense of place', 

photo manipulation on Adobe Photoshop (A4 sized, 2480 x 3508)

Description:

For this project, I decided to do it on the small playground located in D'Latour. During the day I chose to take photos of the place, the weather was quite cloudy and this gave the whole playground a dull, dark atmosphere. Hence, I wanted to express the dull impression I had of the playground by increasing the darkness and decreasing the saturation of the images in my piece. I also used an external app, 'HUJI', to take the photos from my smartphone. I did this because I wanted a muted, film effect on my photos to further accentuate the concept of a dark, rainy day at the playground.

_______________________________________________ 

Final project:

For our final project, we were instructed to explore and perceive a variety of Malaysian billboards and take inspiration from the content presented within a preferred billboard. I chose to do my final project based on a Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) billboard that was located in KL.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Before anything, I decided to do some research on YSL as a brand. It is a French, luxury fashion house that was founded by Yves Saint Laurent. Although they sell fashion items, they also sell cosmetics which include makeup, fragrance and many more. The billboard I chose to do this project on was focused on advertising the new makeup collection YSL has launched. Hence, I decided to do further research on their makeup line. 

I found that YSL did not state whether they are cruelty-free in terms of animal testing. After researching, I found out that YSL products are sold in mainland China. This automatically means that are not cruelty-free as it is known that any products that are sold in mainland China have to go through animal testing.


Based on my foundings, I wanted to present a message within my piece that encourages the cruelty-free movement. 

Design process:

Fig 12.0 Chosen billboard - YSL advert

Fig 12.1 Closer look on the image of the advert seen on YSL billboard

I decided to go online and try to look for the image seen on the billboard so that I can get a closer and clearer look of the advert. Thankfully, I found the same image, as seen in Fig. 1.2. I decided that I wanted my final piece to be quite similar to the advert in terms of the color scheme as well as the model.

Fig 12.2 Sketch of initial idea on representing an anti-cruelty message

My initial idea was to have specific kinds of animals (rabbits, mice, and guinea pigs) that are usually used for animal testing surround themselves around the model. I wanted to make eyes an important motif within the piece because it is usually the animal's eyes that will be severely affected by the testings done to them. So, I wanted to place animal eyes within an oozing liquid that resembles both blood and melting red lipstick. Though, I decided against it because I thought it might look too crowded with the multiple eyes included. Instead, I made the red melting liquid a recurring image which will be seen in the background, on the animals as well as the model.

Fig. 12.3 Final outcome for the final project

Description: 

For this piece, I wanted to portray a red melting liquid as a motif in order to represent both blood and melted lipstick (in the production of a lipstick, lipsticks are usually melted and mixed with hot wax and this liquid mixture is then poured into containers) as it implies that in the process of making the lipstick, blood was shed.  This is the reason why you can see red liquid oozing off the animals' eyes, the model's lips as well as the background. The overall message of the piece is to encourage the cruelty-free movement by showcasing the dark side of the beauty industry.