What is a pleasing design you may ask. To be sure it is a subjective thing; as we say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but there are some rules loosely defined that have a positive effect on us. Of course there are those who break all the rules and somehow that seems to work too. The reasons for this are too numerous to put in this short post but it is our aim to help you begin to understand a few of the basic ways things work together.
One of the most common techniques is the "figure, field, relationship", escentially this is a field, of some color and texture with another smaller object, color or texture, on top of it. One example is this field of grass with the peacocks on it. The three major components are the size of the field, color, and texture and the same three apply to the object on the field. The relationship of the figure and field will make for a more or less pleasing design. In the case of the photograph, we employ the rule of thirds, where the head of the peacok is at the intersection of the lower right third of the field of grass. If you divide a photo into a three by three module and place the suject along these lines or at the intersection of these lines. If we place it right in the middle, the image becomes to static. When the focus is offset we get a sense of movement or dynamics.
This principal applies to all kinds of things such as where windows occur within walls or how products are arranged on shelves. There is really no limit to the figure, field, relationship
Interesting reading!
Posted by: Emil Trollklint | August 24, 2006 at 07:46 AM
Some well known things and also some personal observations that I've developed over the years. Thanks for stopping by.
Posted by: Harold | August 24, 2006 at 10:07 PM