Principles of Design - Overview

Principles of Design

"Path of Light"

A work of art can be analyzed by considering a variety of aspects of it individually. These aspects that make up  a painting are often called the elements of art.  The principles of design are what we do to the elements. I designed the chart above to show the elements of art in the center with the principles of design along the edges.

The design principles were used in my watercolor painting, "Path of Light."  Unity is helped by dominance in line (the straight); in value (the darks), in color (the cools), in texture (the roughs), in size (the dark space), and in direction (the horizontal).  Contrast is found in the values of light and dark located at the focal point.. Gradation is shown on the grass at the bottom of the painting.

Information from Wikipedia on Visual design elements and principles. 

"Design elements are the basic units of any visual design which form its structure and convey visual messages. There was a painter and design theorist, Maitland E. Graves (1902-1978), who attempted to gestate the fundamental principles of aesthetic order in visual design,in his book, The Art of Color and Design (1941); he defined the elements of design as line, direction, shape, size, texture, value, and color, concluding that "these elements are the materials from which all designs are built."

Seven Elements of Design

Line – Types of lines are thick or thin, broken or unbroken, soft or hard, curved or straight.  All of them may be in a painting, but only one type should be dominant.

Direction – A well designed painting will have a directional dominance that is horizontal, vertical, or oblique. The dominant direction is determined by the lines, linear shapes, and the angular shapes.

Shape - Anything that has height and width is a shape and may be placed in one of three categories: curved, angular, or rectangular shapes.  Shapes in all three categories may be in a painting, but only one type should be dominant -- that is, some of one type should be larger, appear more often, or both.  
Make all shapes, positive and negative, with two different dimensions, with an oblique thrust and with incidents along the edges (i.e., jigsaw puzzle)..

Size – Shapes are of various sizes in relation to one another: larger, smaller, or the same size. 

Texture – Texture is defined as the surface quality of objects and is detected by touch or sight. Many textures exist in nature, but all are variations of the three with which the painter deals: rough, smooth, and soft. Shapes may have any texture in the interior, but that texture that identifies them must be at the edge. 

Value – Value is the lightness or darkness of colors.   More important for readability.  Mood is set by dominance of one value.

Color -hue, intensity, and value.  Harmonious and complementary colors are the categories of color. 

The Principles of Design are a set of guidelines to be used in planning a painting. Principles applied to the elements of design bring them together 

When all elements are in agreement, a design is considered unified. No individual part is viewed as more important than the whole design. A good balance between unity and variety must be established to avoid a chaotic or a lifeless design.

Dominance is created by contrasting size, positioning, color, style, or shape.The focal point should dominate the design with scale and contrast without sacrificing the unity of the whole.

 Eight Principles of Design

Unity – In the end, any design must be a complete unit, rather than a collection of several. The treatment of the element that appears in one section should be echoed in another part so that all sections are related.

Contrast – Sometimes called conflict, contrast  means "opposite of."  This produces tension between versions of an element, creating interest and excitement. In color, use a complementary color side by side.  In line; straight against curved.  In value; light against dark.  In shape, round versus angular.  And in size, large against small. In direction, horizontal against vertical, and in texture, rough against smooth..

Dominance – If there's one principle of design more important than the rest, it is dominance.  . Dominance resolves conflict and regains unity.  This is done by making one larger than the rest, by repeating it more often than the others, by providing more value contrast around it, by putting the brightest color there, using all or a combination of these techniques.

Alternation and Variation  - These separate principles are easier to understand if we see them both as forms of repetition. Repetition in art is the act of repeating , and we may repeat with variation, or we may repeat with alternation. For example; when painting a forest, I have to repeat the tree shape over and over again. If I repeat it with variation, I might vary the size, shape, color, value and texture. If I repeat it with alternation, I create an alternating pattern of trees with one large tree and three small trees following, then again one large tree with three small following and so on. 

Balance – Asymmetric is informal balance in which a larger shape closer to the center is balanced by a smaller shape further out. When balancing shapes in a painting, it helps to know that a dark shape appears heavier than a light one; so that a small dark shape will balance a larger light shape. 

Harmony – Harmonious elements are simply those elements that are similar.  A straight line and a slightly curved line,  a circle is harmonious with an oval,  a color orange is harmonious with red.  Making elements harmonious is a great help in achieving unity.

Gradation – Gradation is an entertaining quality to the viewer without being too demanding visually. Mainly used with color, value and texture for transition of near and far to indicate distance. 

Complied by Everett of Everett's Watercolors

References

•  Graves, Maitland, E. The art of color and design. 2d ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1951.
•  Lidwell, William; Kritina Holden; Jill Butler (2010). Universal Principles of Design (2nd ed.). Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59253-587-3.
• Whitney, Edgar A.  Complete Guide to WATERCOLOR PAINTING  ed Mineola, N.Y. Dover Pub,  2001
• Couch, Tony Watercolor, You can do it Cincinnati, OH North Light, 1987
• Ranson, Ron Learn watercolor the Edgar Whitney way Cincinnati, OH North Light 1994
• Lovett, John Design and Color link https://www.johnlovett.com/design-overview