DESIGN PRINCIPLES
LECTURES
Ng Shu Zhi (0327158)
Lecture 1: CONTRAST
We were introduced to our lecturers, the MIB and weekly assignments for us to do. It was also announced that the students will partake in giving a lecture for one of the design principle topics of the week. We were then given a lecture about contrast, the images shown were very helpful to show us the main point of the principle.
Feedback: The vibrant colours bring out each individual shape, making them more emphasized and contrasting from one another. The different orientation of the shapes also give an illusion of depth, attention and contrast
Week 3: Gestalt
My original plan was to go for something iconic which every could recognise and as for the ghosts in the piece, they were represented with only lines to indicate a shadow because they are ghosts and are supposed to be invisible.
Feedback: It is easy to recognise even with such simplistic lines and the composition is fitting for Pacman because of it's game mechanics.
Here are some of the other pieces I did before deciding to use the Pacman Gestalt.
Week 4: Asymmetry
Feedback: I'm getting better at composition and directing attention. The bubbles were able to bring attention to the darkness around the boy and give viewers an exit point while still being able to show the movement of him falling deeper into the water.
This was another sketch idea I had where a teacher is rounding out some kindergardeners which also fell into the idea of innocence.
Week 5: Texture
Feedback: The materials used were good because they would show different textures using different materials. It was a bit too much having the pink stripe in the middle of the piece because it's now too heavy with the big hair and big strips of pink.
Week 6: Direction
I wanted to create a serene piece for direction so I chose to make a piece based off one of my favorite mythical creatures, mermaids.
Week 9: Movement and Colour Harmony
PROJECT 2
As for the pictures taken themselves, they were taken in an urban landscape so I wanted to also include some urban/ mechanical elements in my final design so I wanted to include vehicles, street lights and the signal tower in the second picture which I feel stand out a lot as something unnatural which goes against nature.
The design principles I portrayed in the piece are asymmetry, proximity balance, gestalt, perspective and hierarchy.
REFLECTION
Experience:
Week 1: The overall experience doing this work, I didn't have the full grasp on visual contrast in the tutorial class so it was a bit frustrating for me to continue my work, having to redo the work over and over again. Though in the end, after a few days it finally clicked for me and I got to work to create a simple and abstract design.
Week 2: The experience was fun and interesting as we had to create unfinished designs which people still would interpret it with their own opinions. Some could be complex and show multiple objects with the use of the negative and positive space, and some could be simple t just show 1 interesting piece.
Week 3: Because my group was doing the presentation for week 3's topic, it was easier for me to jump into the ideation process quickly so I would be able to make a more complex piece with confidence.
Week 4: It was interesting to play around with texture because it feels like an experience for people to be able to actually see something and know what its supposed to physically feel like, like how we smell and can have that taste at the tip of our tongues.
Week 5: It was interesting to not use digital artwork this time as I had to use different ways to try and make a good colour scheme and have physical sketches to choose the final piece.
Week 6: It was interesting to be able to go out and look around for inspiration for out pieces. Dots and lines are a basic design element in any piece so it could be seen anywhere we looked which sparks inspiration easily.
Week 7: I did something different this time, to go for a more funnier route and to do digital work again but this time having it be a full piece which I put a lot of time into. At first I found it a bit hard to find an idea for Movement because again I wanted to do something more professional but in the end I ended up with my chicken idea.
Week 9: It was a good refresher to make a model of something again as I used to be in architecture where the students would be making models non-stop. It took a lot of time for me to complete that piece for Form with some technical difficulties like shortage of materials but it was a good challenge to take up again.
week 10: Working on project 2 really brought back some old memories for me and a bit of emotion as I had to go back to my old childhood happy place and see the awful state it was in. It really did help me get the feeling to make my composition of something like it has been untouched and abandoned by all, even including me.
Week 14: The weeks leading up to the final project have been a more immersive experience I would say as we were to think of a message behind the piece and it would connect more. Thinking of a message was both challenging and fun so I connected it back to my love for nature and my worries for development destroying the environment.
Observations:
Week 1: It was hard for many to create a piece on the spot as it was our first design principle. In the end most people went with different designs to show as our final pieces.
Week 2: Many people had many ideas for Gestalt as it is a very interesting design principle.
Week 3: It was interesting to see the different pieces that everyone was creating because now we were to play around with composition and balance.
Week 4: I had to play around with composition to make a piece interesting. Composition can change the feel to a piece.
week 5: It was interesting to see the different ideas people can create without the usage of laptops and digital programs.
Week 6: The amount of ideas that can come to be when looking around for inspiration was a good experience.
Week 7: Its good to make a few sketches to get an idea of what to do and sometimes good to refer to my interests to find inspirations.
Week 9: I should have more material the next time I would like to make something.
Week 10: It was hard to find the right angles and perspectives to take pictures of to portray a certain feeling in a space because it's hard to get into the details when you see the thing as a whole.
Week 14: The billboards in Malaysia are mostly for commercial products while my friends who went over seas saw billboards for museums and awareness.
Findings:
Week 1: I realised that it is much better to go with simplicity to portray a simple idea. Like good designers always say: "Less is more."
Week 2: Gestalt was a very interesting principle to design as it would challenge our brains to create interesting designs for other people to interpret. It could be simple or complex.
Week 3: I found that doing Asymmetrical pieces was interesting because it plays around with balance, not only having to place another object on the other side of the axis, but also just leaving a blank space can also create a sense of balance to the piece.
Week 4: I realised I'm very excited to play around the textures, maybe because I'm a person who enjoys playing with the senses to create an overall experience. I also learned that composition can help with engulfing a person into a piece even more where it can tell a story with just visual positioning.
Week 5: I found out that using thumbnails is very helpful when doing a traditional piece because they require less materials but it doesnt mean a piece will come out exactly like the thumbnail so its best to have many back up plans.
Week 6: Like week 1 I think I should try and go back to the "Less is more" because my work has been too complicated recently.
Week 7: Sometimes it is okay to have a sense of humour in the work I've done, it catches more attention of people as it is something out of the ordinary and something people can enjoy.
Week 9: It is sometimes good to go back to my old skills I've picked up and spent the time to learn instead of trying something completely new where as I do not like the outcome as much.
Week 10: I feel like it is good to include some feeling into what you make and it can be good to actually go to the site and get inspiration. It can be hard to visualise a composition when looking at something as a whole but going through the site can actually give a good feeling of what to take.
Week 14: I find that working on a piece with a deeper message behind it is much more worth it as I could connect with it better and have a direction to head towards while making the composition.
We were introduced to our lecturers, the MIB and weekly assignments for us to do. It was also announced that the students will partake in giving a lecture for one of the design principle topics of the week. We were then given a lecture about contrast, the images shown were very helpful to show us the main point of the principle.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- An idea on contrast
Lecture 2:
In this class we were introduced to Gestalt which is a very interesting topic which uses positive and negative space to create an "imcomplete" image where the human mind will figure out the image to see the complete piece.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The basic concept of Gestalt.
- The usage of positive and negative space on a piece
Lecture 3:
In this class my group was to give a presentation for Balance, Symmetry, Asymmetry and Emphasis. It was interesting to be presenting the topic instead of just learning as it makes us do our own research to fully grasp onto the topic. It was interesting learning about balance between symmetry and asymmetry and even though they are different, they still portray balance.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The usage of space and elements to create an interesting composition
- The different types of Symmetry
- Teaching is harder than I thought
Lecture 4:
In this class we learned about textures, surfaces, repetition and balance. That there are different types of textures that come with it like visual texture and real texture. Repetition and pattern were different things.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The understanding of the difference between surface and texture.
Lecture 5:
We learned about Direction, Alignment, Hierarchy and Placement which were very interesting to learn about because it would be able to have us learn how to direct people visually.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The understanding of direction and the many ways we can apply these.
Lecture 6:
We learned about lines and dots being the most fundamental part of designing. We also had scale.
Lecture 7:
We learned about Harmony, Rhythm and Movement.
Lecture:
We learned about Shape, form, figure and ground which were interesting and reminded me of my old architecture days.
INSTRUCTIONS
- The usage of positive and negative space on a piece
Lecture 3:
In this class my group was to give a presentation for Balance, Symmetry, Asymmetry and Emphasis. It was interesting to be presenting the topic instead of just learning as it makes us do our own research to fully grasp onto the topic. It was interesting learning about balance between symmetry and asymmetry and even though they are different, they still portray balance.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The usage of space and elements to create an interesting composition
- The different types of Symmetry
- Teaching is harder than I thought
Lecture 4:
In this class we learned about textures, surfaces, repetition and balance. That there are different types of textures that come with it like visual texture and real texture. Repetition and pattern were different things.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The understanding of the difference between surface and texture.
Lecture 5:
We learned about Direction, Alignment, Hierarchy and Placement which were very interesting to learn about because it would be able to have us learn how to direct people visually.
Outcomes of the lecture:
- The understanding of direction and the many ways we can apply these.
Lecture 6:
We learned about lines and dots being the most fundamental part of designing. We also had scale.
Lecture 7:
We learned about Harmony, Rhythm and Movement.
Lecture:
We learned about Shape, form, figure and ground which were interesting and reminded me of my old architecture days.
INSTRUCTIONS
Week 1: We were to create a piece which conveys visual contrast in the best way possible in class. The best would've been to use black and white, the simplest of colours for contrast.
Week 2: We were to create pieces/ designs which portrays Gestalt the best, but for me and my group this week, we were able to use the time to discuss our presentation which we had to give the next week for Balance, Symmetry, Asymmetry and Emphasis.
Week 3: We were to pick one topic from Symmetry, Asymmetry or Emphasis to create a piece.
Week 4: We were to pick one topic from Texture, Surface, Repetition and Pattern to create a piece. This time I wanted to play around with a different medium instead of just digital creation so I used paper to create a textured piece.
Week 5: We were to pick a topic from Direction, Alignment, Hierarchy or Placement. I chose do Direction because I feel it would be interesting to be able to direct people visually without words.
Week 6: We were to pick a topic from dots, lines and scale or we could do all of the 3. We were free to do just about anything because dots and lines are the fundamental elements to design.
Week 8: We were to pick a topic from Movement, Rhythm and Harmony to create a piece.
Week 9: We were to pick shape, form, figure or ground from today's lecture and I chose form to remind me of my old architectural days.
WORK
Week 2: We were to create pieces/ designs which portrays Gestalt the best, but for me and my group this week, we were able to use the time to discuss our presentation which we had to give the next week for Balance, Symmetry, Asymmetry and Emphasis.
Week 3: We were to pick one topic from Symmetry, Asymmetry or Emphasis to create a piece.
Week 4: We were to pick one topic from Texture, Surface, Repetition and Pattern to create a piece. This time I wanted to play around with a different medium instead of just digital creation so I used paper to create a textured piece.
Week 5: We were to pick a topic from Direction, Alignment, Hierarchy or Placement. I chose do Direction because I feel it would be interesting to be able to direct people visually without words.
Week 6: We were to pick a topic from dots, lines and scale or we could do all of the 3. We were free to do just about anything because dots and lines are the fundamental elements to design.
Week 8: We were to pick a topic from Movement, Rhythm and Harmony to create a piece.
Week 9: We were to pick shape, form, figure or ground from today's lecture and I chose form to remind me of my old architectural days.
WORK
Contrast
Week 2: ContrastFeedback: The vibrant colours bring out each individual shape, making them more emphasized and contrasting from one another. The different orientation of the shapes also give an illusion of depth, attention and contrast
Week 3: Gestalt
My original plan was to go for something iconic which every could recognise and as for the ghosts in the piece, they were represented with only lines to indicate a shadow because they are ghosts and are supposed to be invisible.
Feedback: It is easy to recognise even with such simplistic lines and the composition is fitting for Pacman because of it's game mechanics.
Here are some of the other pieces I did before deciding to use the Pacman Gestalt.Week 4: Asymmetry
The original idea behind this was to portray innocence in dire situations where imagination can change any situation. I've started a change in my life where I would love to believe in the innocence of the mind and just channel it through my work and life.
Week 5: Texture
I wanted to try and challenge myself to create something more advertisement like while doing this piece because I had the idea to play with the texture of hair and thought making a shampoo advertisement would be interesting.
I did this other piece first to get the idea of texture and composition
Week 6: Direction
I wanted to create a serene piece for direction so I chose to make a piece based off one of my favorite mythical creatures, mermaids.
The final piece
Feedback: It was interesting that everything was creating a path that brings the eye through differently with its curves, even including the hair in that motion. Would've been better to take away the top left corner's gust of wind.
Here are some sketches I did to choose an idea for Direction
Some thumbnails I made to pick the a good colour scheme to portray serenity.
But in the end I didn't use this painted piece because of the terrible quality of the sky even though I tried to pick a colour scheme but I did cut out the mermaid and use her in the final piece because I did still like the mermaid.
Week 7: Dots & Scale
For this week we were to go out of our class and comfort zones to look for things which could imply dots or lines. My piece was based off umbrellas seen from afar and cars in the parking lot. I've done a piece where people are crossing the zebra crossing with some cars waiting for them.
Critique: I earned $75
some sketches for the dots and lines exercise. I went through a few ideas after going out to see the scenery and getting ideas. So I was recommended to do the umbrella one where it could look sophisticated and simple. To do something different from my usual cuter style.
Week 9: Movement and Colour Harmony
For this exercise, I went with movement with the initial idea to be a dragon as the chicken and the chef is meant to be an adventurer but later my friend told me the sketch of the dragon looked like a chicken drumstick so I changed the whole idea to an escaping chicken and a chef trying to catch it. The whole idea was to make a children's book cover but still with a more detailed look.
Feedback: The chicken can be seen as visual movement but the wording for the flying chicken cannot be seen very well in the final printed form.
Week 10: Form
I wanted to do something different this time where I wanted to do something more mature and abstract, different from my usual work as I used to take architecture and had to make more serious works. I thought it was time I try to make something more serious and take the course more seriously.
Here are the sketches and ideas I had before settling down with my final work. At first I wanted to design something like the snake-like sculptures using wire mesh as it would really remind me of my old architecture days where I had made something similar but then I thought it would be plagarism of my old work so I went with yet another funny idea which was the model of a fish jumping out of water. Later I found that to be a little too childish and immature for college so I wanted to change the idea into a droplet of water falling into some golden nectar and have it look like an advertisement but in the end the composition for it to be in the centre just wasn't to my liking so I went with my final choice of placement for the final work which was having it splash from one side which would've made a more interesting and dynamic design.
PROJECT 1
"She's the type of flower that can grow after a forest fire"This was a quote my friend introduced to me and it just sat right with me and the moment it gave me inspiration, I immediately began my work. I wanted to put my face around the bottom of the page to show that there's is much more to myself than just my exterior. It took quite some time to achieve it and there were many things I had to endure and fight through to get to the point I am in my life now. I did something very different from my usual style of just cutesy designs and went with something more extravagant and contrasting to show the difference from destructive fire, blooming into flowers. I chose to have my face empty using gestalt because this portrait wasn't about my face but is about my story and the texture I added to my face was to show the scars and mess gathered from my story. As for the colour palette, I wanted to go with something harmonious so I chose to use warmer colours and avoid contrasting colours even though the fire was what brought me down at times but I can still power through it and turn it into a special experience about myself.
Working process
Initial idea
My initial idea was to have it be me giving out good vibes but then on the inside I'm actually an empty person but then it didn't feel right saying that so I changed my idea to something more meaningful to my time now.
PROJECT 2
My final composition
The place I picked was a playground near my housing area which I spent most of my time at when I was growing up. Before the H1N1 breakout in 2009, the playground used to be a lively place where lots of children would go for hours to have fun and play with their friends but now, everyone has grown up during the incident and no one goes anymore. I wanted to portray an abandoned and empty playground but with some of my favourite parts of it growing up so I included bits and pieces of the playground. I felt like for something like reminiscing, it felt like using foreground and background could be good to really bring the viewer into the piece and have a feel to it like the references I looked at where they had someone looking towards the horizon, so depth. I went with symmetry as we go into the composition with the help of the stairs to give a sense of stillness and coldness to show how things have been abandoned and untouched for years. Then the extra little bars I added were like some memory flashes of the past and to give a nice foreground and background effect to the piece, I included the 2 white parts to show some depth to the image and to have it look more like an old film photo.
The place I picked was a playground near my housing area which I spent most of my time at when I was growing up. Before the H1N1 breakout in 2009, the playground used to be a lively place where lots of children would go for hours to have fun and play with their friends but now, everyone has grown up during the incident and no one goes anymore. I wanted to portray an abandoned and empty playground but with some of my favourite parts of it growing up so I included bits and pieces of the playground. I felt like for something like reminiscing, it felt like using foreground and background could be good to really bring the viewer into the piece and have a feel to it like the references I looked at where they had someone looking towards the horizon, so depth. I went with symmetry as we go into the composition with the help of the stairs to give a sense of stillness and coldness to show how things have been abandoned and untouched for years. Then the extra little bars I added were like some memory flashes of the past and to give a nice foreground and background effect to the piece, I included the 2 white parts to show some depth to the image and to have it look more like an old film photo.
The first composition I tried to do but it didn't look like it was going to work because of the types of pictures I've taken like the leaves I wanted to use and such.
This is the second one I did where I started to get an idea of making it look empty and forgotten using the plants and texture to make it look older and somewhat forgotten.
Images I used to make my final composition
PROJECT 3
For this billboard, its actually from a development company I know of which focuses on having a green environment for their clients to live in. In this billboard I analysed the following design principles: Hierarchy, Asymmetry, Alignment, Perspective, Proximity and Harmony. I chose to include the asymmetry and perspective principles from this billboard to place into my final composition. I also wanted to take account of the flora in the billboard so I used it as a piece in my final design.
As for my second billboard, it's another property development company. From this billboard, I analysed the following design principles: Contrast, Placement, Ground & Figure and Colour Harmony. I chose to use the Contrast and Ground & Figure principles from this billboard.
As for the pictures taken themselves, they were taken in an urban landscape so I wanted to also include some urban/ mechanical elements in my final design so I wanted to include vehicles, street lights and the signal tower in the second picture which I feel stand out a lot as something unnatural which goes against nature.
Serenity
For the first piece I tried to include all of the elements of the urban and natural landscape so I wanted to create a piece where there can be serenity between the 2 coexisting together but then the idea wasn't enough to fulfill a deeper meaning. I tried to use contrast between the girl and nature and the urban landscape, making it a grayscale and less detailed.
The flower man
For the second piece I kept the same idea as the first one, to have the urban and natural landscapes coexist together but this time in a not so peaceful manner. Again using the difference in contrast and asymmetry to push a deeper meaning forward this time about our planet and deforestation and how it can affect others. This time I wanted to inflict more feeling by showing the helplessness in someone trying their best to save the forest but in the end all they can do is show peace and hope for the best to come for them.
MY INSPIRATION
This was the main inspiration for making the flower man whereby this guy is preaching for freedom and even though he may get shot down, he still's going through with the message for the cause he believes in.
For the flower man's aesthetic I was inspired by Japanese street performers where they're dressed in such odd fashion but have a emphasized piece about them.
FINAL PIECE
For this piece I developed from the idea of the flower man whereby nature is helpless against industrialisation if we don't learn to save it. I got the idea when looking at the billboards of mine whereby one of the billboards was for a housing area whose marketing point is being full of nature but I find that idea hypocritical and greedy where they have to destroy naturally grown eco-systems to build their own "green" paradise for people. So further developing from the flower man I wanted to make something more immersive so I started making some sketches.
The design principles I portrayed in the piece are asymmetry, proximity balance, gestalt, perspective and hierarchy.
These were the initial sketches while further developing the idea from the flower man so they all have the same theme of nature being helpless against industrialisation.
Then the eye sketch was chosen and it was further developed into the final surrealistic piece.
I remembered I once saw an article for a photographer who takes wedding photos from the reflection of someone's eye and that was to really make it immersive and bring more emotion to people because they would be seeing what the subject was looking at. Then after showing the sketches to my tutor, she asked for me to develop it into a surrealistic piece where the eye could be bits and pieces of nature so I developed it further into the final piece.
Experience:
Week 1: The overall experience doing this work, I didn't have the full grasp on visual contrast in the tutorial class so it was a bit frustrating for me to continue my work, having to redo the work over and over again. Though in the end, after a few days it finally clicked for me and I got to work to create a simple and abstract design.
Week 2: The experience was fun and interesting as we had to create unfinished designs which people still would interpret it with their own opinions. Some could be complex and show multiple objects with the use of the negative and positive space, and some could be simple t just show 1 interesting piece.
Week 3: Because my group was doing the presentation for week 3's topic, it was easier for me to jump into the ideation process quickly so I would be able to make a more complex piece with confidence.
Week 4: It was interesting to play around with texture because it feels like an experience for people to be able to actually see something and know what its supposed to physically feel like, like how we smell and can have that taste at the tip of our tongues.
Week 5: It was interesting to not use digital artwork this time as I had to use different ways to try and make a good colour scheme and have physical sketches to choose the final piece.
Week 6: It was interesting to be able to go out and look around for inspiration for out pieces. Dots and lines are a basic design element in any piece so it could be seen anywhere we looked which sparks inspiration easily.
Week 7: I did something different this time, to go for a more funnier route and to do digital work again but this time having it be a full piece which I put a lot of time into. At first I found it a bit hard to find an idea for Movement because again I wanted to do something more professional but in the end I ended up with my chicken idea.
Week 9: It was a good refresher to make a model of something again as I used to be in architecture where the students would be making models non-stop. It took a lot of time for me to complete that piece for Form with some technical difficulties like shortage of materials but it was a good challenge to take up again.
week 10: Working on project 2 really brought back some old memories for me and a bit of emotion as I had to go back to my old childhood happy place and see the awful state it was in. It really did help me get the feeling to make my composition of something like it has been untouched and abandoned by all, even including me.
Week 14: The weeks leading up to the final project have been a more immersive experience I would say as we were to think of a message behind the piece and it would connect more. Thinking of a message was both challenging and fun so I connected it back to my love for nature and my worries for development destroying the environment.
Observations:
Week 1: It was hard for many to create a piece on the spot as it was our first design principle. In the end most people went with different designs to show as our final pieces.
Week 2: Many people had many ideas for Gestalt as it is a very interesting design principle.
Week 3: It was interesting to see the different pieces that everyone was creating because now we were to play around with composition and balance.
Week 4: I had to play around with composition to make a piece interesting. Composition can change the feel to a piece.
week 5: It was interesting to see the different ideas people can create without the usage of laptops and digital programs.
Week 6: The amount of ideas that can come to be when looking around for inspiration was a good experience.
Week 7: Its good to make a few sketches to get an idea of what to do and sometimes good to refer to my interests to find inspirations.
Week 9: I should have more material the next time I would like to make something.
Week 10: It was hard to find the right angles and perspectives to take pictures of to portray a certain feeling in a space because it's hard to get into the details when you see the thing as a whole.
Week 14: The billboards in Malaysia are mostly for commercial products while my friends who went over seas saw billboards for museums and awareness.
Findings:
Week 1: I realised that it is much better to go with simplicity to portray a simple idea. Like good designers always say: "Less is more."
Week 2: Gestalt was a very interesting principle to design as it would challenge our brains to create interesting designs for other people to interpret. It could be simple or complex.
Week 3: I found that doing Asymmetrical pieces was interesting because it plays around with balance, not only having to place another object on the other side of the axis, but also just leaving a blank space can also create a sense of balance to the piece.
Week 4: I realised I'm very excited to play around the textures, maybe because I'm a person who enjoys playing with the senses to create an overall experience. I also learned that composition can help with engulfing a person into a piece even more where it can tell a story with just visual positioning.
Week 5: I found out that using thumbnails is very helpful when doing a traditional piece because they require less materials but it doesnt mean a piece will come out exactly like the thumbnail so its best to have many back up plans.
Week 6: Like week 1 I think I should try and go back to the "Less is more" because my work has been too complicated recently.
Week 7: Sometimes it is okay to have a sense of humour in the work I've done, it catches more attention of people as it is something out of the ordinary and something people can enjoy.
Week 9: It is sometimes good to go back to my old skills I've picked up and spent the time to learn instead of trying something completely new where as I do not like the outcome as much.
Week 10: I feel like it is good to include some feeling into what you make and it can be good to actually go to the site and get inspiration. It can be hard to visualise a composition when looking at something as a whole but going through the site can actually give a good feeling of what to take.
Week 14: I find that working on a piece with a deeper message behind it is much more worth it as I could connect with it better and have a direction to head towards while making the composition.
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