Art - Design Principles

Carin Rutherford Creel

November 10 2010

DESIGN PRNCIPLES

The photo of the boats and colorful buildings is a photo taken by Steven Merkin, (2010). It is busy photo with many points of interest, and is a beautiful picture but has no focal point. Additionally, the photo is so cluttered that the eye doesn’t know where to look. You want to first look at the center of the composition, but there you find only an empty, negative space filled with water, in which leads the eye to even more water at the left center of the frame, adding even more dead or negative space in the frame. A focal point is important in a composition because it gives the eye something of interest to be drawn to. However, in this photo, even the boats in the composition are uninteresting because the angles and lines are too cluttered to find anything of real interest that holds the eye, instead, the eye wants to wander and observe the beautifully colored building, but they have the same problem, though they bring a lot of interesting colors and shapes to the composition, the lines, angles and shapes are too boring and cluttered to actually focus on any one thing.

Although a focal point is important, it can be anywhere in the composition and doesn’t necessarily need to be centered in the frame. The most important aspects are the lines of light and color within the composition in which should guide the eye to the focal point, or point of interest. Even designs without an identifiable image can have a focal point through the use lines and lighting which draw the eye to this point.

One example of a composition having an off centered focal point is the photo of the lighthouse on top of the rocks. This is another photo by Steven Merkin in which he named, Pemaquid Lighthouse Park. I believe Merkin did a wonderful job of dividing the shot, and by shooting the lines at an angle, he was able to add interest to what could have been a very boring setting. One half of the photo is of the beautifully colored swirling sky, and calm sea below it. The other half of the photo are the rocks, and by capturing the jagged lines of the rocks he was able to add interest, and contradicting emotions, where you have a calming sea and sky evoking a peace in one half of the composition, and the jagged angles and lines of the rocks evoking agitation or anxiety in the other half of the composition. What would otherwise have been dead, negative space, become added points of interest by paying attention to the angles and lines, and additionally, the lines of the rocks draw your attention up and to the main focal point, the Pemaquid Lighthouse.

The use of light and dark value differences can create lines of interest and contrasts to create light and shade areas that can draw the eye, and the more contrast between the shades is used, the more emphasis is put in this area, such as in the rocks in the lighthouse photo that guide the observer up the rocks and to the lighthouse.

In the example of the painting by Ganey Smallwood, Matador under a Pink Sky, the composition shows that even though there can be a lot of lines, angles, colors, textures and hues going on, the right use of light and dark contrast can draw the eye to the focal point, such as here in the lines and angles of cream colored sheet, the deep set lines draw the eye down the line and to the left, to the image of the bull and the matador. Additionally, the use of color can add emphasis to an area, such as the use of complimentary colors, the purples, reds and yellows of the Matador’s cape, that stand out from the rest of the colors and add emphasis to the cape, because this emphasis is added with the use of bright complimentary colors, the eye is drawn to this area.

The photo by Sarah Teran, consisting of all the many colors separated by lines is a perfect example of not having an identifiable focal point, but the lines, angles, color, textures and light patterns draw the eye to the left center of the composition, to the center of the four greenish-yellow boxes. Additionally, the bold angles of the black dividing lines also add interest and allow the eye to take in the rest of the composition, perhaps then allowing the observer to notice the beautiful, calm curvy lines and the all of the combinations of colors and textures that seem to fade into one another. This very interesting composition is actually a microphoto of Nematic liquid crystals confined to a TEM grid and magnified (10x). Since the first time I observed chemicals and other items under a microscope I’ve been hooked to the beautiful colors and the interesting shapes, lines, angles and textures within the compositions.

The second microphoto, by Steven Skirius, is of Hexanitrodiphenylamine high-explosive crystals magnified (35x). The composition here, having no direct focal point directs the eye towards the deep reds and then to the brightly colored, spiky, feather-like forms and then the eyes are freed to wander across the rest of the composition and observe all of the interesting shapes, lines, angles and colors.

Whether a composition is interesting or not depends greatly upon the observer; I myself love to observe nature and find interesting shapes and forms in otherwise uninteresting compositions having no real focal point; such as the clouds in the sky, or the previous discussed photos. Even the most uninteresting composition consisting of many lines, shapes and colors, once really observed, can become interesting.

However, I must admit, I have seen some very boring examples as well where the lines and angles leave no room for imagination, such as in polka dots or a brick wall. The Louis Vuitton Logo below is perfect example of this.

REFERENCES

Bauer, Eric. (2010). Globe Critique: Stephen Merken of Melrose; Portugal Boats and colorful buidings. 

Bauer, Eric. (2010). Globe Critique: Stephen Merken of Melrose; Pemaquid Lighthouse Park. 

Fine Art America. (2009 November 1). Matador under a pink sky; Ganev Smallwood. 

Louis Vuitton. (2010). Louis Vuitton Classic Logo. 

Skirius, Steven. (1978). Hexanitrodiphenylamine high-explosive crystals (35x). Retrieved November 10, 2010 from Nikon; Small World.

Teren, Sarah. (2007). Nematic liquid crystal confined to a TEM grid (10x). Retrieved November 10, 2010 from Nikon; Small World.