Principles: 2-D Design, Unity
Visual Unity occurs when the whole design is predominant over the parts: Gestalt. As a designer I’m fascinated with principles of 2-D design. These are, of course, the foundation, our guide book on developing effective composition.
Whether this a multi page brochure, an illustration, a poster these formal rules are here as guides as we design. As a professor of Art and Design I enjoy teaching Principles of 2-D design to freshman because its change to guide their first formative year but to also link these to principles to the advanced work that is to come. I have found that when I connect 2-D to advanced ideas of design 2-D becomes more relevant and more interesting. On a personal note I try to be aware of these principle when I am designing - they are this important to me.
Rather belabor my ideas of 2-D principles it might be better to simply combine an example with the corresponding term and definition. Look for more JOURNAL: TALKING DESIGN entries. They are not only important they are interesting too.
Proximity
In the first image on the left there are five generic shapes arranged in a basic organizational pattern. In this example, proximity means closeness or nearness, so the principle of proximity refers to how close, or far apart the figures are within a design area. Because Proximity is a unifying principle, figures appear to be more unified when placed close together. We can create tension adjusting spacing. However, removing a shape and placing it away from the others isolates it. We still retain unity in the other shape even while isolating one. This is principle is called isolation. Also, by adjusting tone, value, color we can attain a sense of balance, still maintaining the original unifying structure. By doing this we creating a sense of balance. See, foundational principles build upon other principles. They’re just plain exciting.
Continuation
Again, the first image on the left shows a better deign arrangement, but also the idea that space between the shapes act as channels - continuation causeways. In this example a blue line illustrates design theory; a line, an edge, a direction from one form to another. This carries the viewer’s eye smoothly from one element to the next.
Overlapping
The image in the middle shows basic overlapping. In this example, overlapping occurs when one shape overlaps another, and can give the illusion of 3-D space, where one thing is in front of another.