To help you with your planning for your term project - please read the following thoughts on visual communications and the impact of design elementsiand its relationship ” Human Perception”.
How do we perceive visual information? Well that is not a simple question to answer as human perception is not a constant. There are many influences which determine how we see and interpret visual information; there are cultural influences, economic influences, sexual influences etc. For simplicity; this discussion we will set aside the physical mechanics of how our eyes and brains actually translate light into visual information and we will focus the aspects of human perspective that are more generalized. So we will deal with “Norms of Human” perception and in this format I should add …. rather superficially.
In the visual picture plane large shapes appear closer than small shapes ( all other elements being equal), in other words we perceive the larger shapes appear nearer to us than the smaller shapes. Dark shapes appear closer than light shapes, shapes lower on the picture plan appear closer than ones higher in the picture plan. The shape of a circle is calming, the square strong and rigid, the triangle implies direction; Straight lines make our eyes travel across the picture plan faster than curved lines. We will look at more of these as we explore other relational design elements and how they effect visual problem solving.
Please consider that not all the elements of design are constant and that there are many other components influencing human perception. For example : In Western cultures we have a preference for visually entering the picture plan from the left, conversely in Japanese culture, influenced through reading from right to left would tend more to enter the picture plan visually from the right. It fair to say that men have a different perspective than women based on their life experience and cultural influences and religion, politics, age can have a large impact on our perception.
Basic human instincts play a huge role in understanding human perception. Modern art has embraced these ideas and with the maturing of psychology and the theories of Sigmund Freud the last hundred years in painting have illustrated this relationship like no other time in the history of art. Matisse and the Fauves were instrumental in exploring these relationships in particular with psychology of colour. Abstract expressionism focused on emotional response to visual yet non representational information. The relationship between the elements of design to human perception are in visual literacy what reading and writing are to literature
Think of the elements of design as visual grammar. Here is some terminology you will hear repeated in our classes, we will expand on these visual elements in a more practical way when paint hits the Canvas.
Relational Elements: These two elements of design hold a special place for me in visual literacy because they exemplify my ideas about composition and visual communications. They are the most integral components of design and I refer to them as the Yin-Yang elements. These elements I refer to a relational elements because they are dependent on the visual elements
Contrast: the juxtaposition of opposing elements : light vs dark - large vs small - warm vs cool etc.
Balance: is the consideration of visual weight of opposing elements:
Visual Elements:
Line: can be considered as a continuous mark (or marks) along the picture plane
Shape: self contained defined area within the picture plane
Value: or tone is the relative lightness or darkness of any element existing within the picture plane
Texture: is the surface quality of the shape, texture can be physical (tactile) or visual
Form: refers to volume or size … any element occupies within the picture plane
Colour: also referred to as Hue
Design Principles (for in class discusion)
Emphasis
Harmony
Unity
Variety
Depth
repitition
movement
Colour: Colour also refered to as Hue is the most closely related element to Human emotion - We will dedicate the majority of our in class discussion around issues or colour. Here is some terminology
Hue: Colour title “blue” “green” etc.
Tone: the inherent value of the Hue
Croma: the purity of a colour relative to it’s intensity or saturation
Colour Tempature: the appearance of colours to be warm or cool
Tint: the variation of colour obtained by adding white
Shade: the variation of colour obtained by adding black
Primary: Colour which can not be mixed or formed by any other combination of colours. All other colours are derived from these three: Cyan, magenta, Yellow
Secondary: the sum of any two primary colours mixed together : Green, Orange, purple
Tertiary: or Nuetral colour are made when all three primaries are mixed together
Complimentary: Colour opposite on the colour wheel
Analogous: Colour relationships close together on the colour wheel
