1. The Principles of Design

2. PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
The rules that govern how artists organize the elements of art.
The principles are BALANCE, RHYTHM, REPETITION, PATTERN, MOVEMENT, PROPORTION, EMPHASIS, VARIETY, CONTRAST, and UNITY.

3. BALANCE The types of BALANCE are Symmetry or Formal Balance
Principle of design concerned with equalizing the visual forces or elements in the work of art
The types of BALANCE are
Symmetry or Formal Balance
Asymmetry or Informal Balance
Radial Balance

4. Symmetry Also called Formal BALANCE
Occurs when equal or very similar, elements are placed on opposite sides of a central axis

5. Examples of Symmetry or Formal BALANCE

6. Asymmetry Also called Informal BALANCE
Occurs when there is a balance of unlike objects, such as a building on one side and a crowd or people on the other

7. Examples of
Informal BALANCE
or Asymmetry
Baby at Play
by Thomas Eakins
The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by
Katsushika Hokusai

8. Radial BALANCE
Type of BALANCE in which forces or elements of a design come out or radiate from a central point

9. Examples of
Radial BALANCE

10. RHYTHM
Principle of Design that indicates movement by the repetition of elements
There are four types of RHYTHM
Random
Regular
Alternating
Progressive or

11. Progressive RHYTHM
Transformations
By M. C. Escher

12. REPETITION
Technique for creating RHYTHM and UNITY in which a single element appears again and again
REPETITION is very similar to RHYTHM and they are usually used together. Sometimes there is RHYTHM without REPETITION (example, Progressive RHYTHM)

13. PATTERN A two-dimensional, visual REPETITION
Examples of PATTERN are fabric, wallpaper, bed spreads.

14. PATTERN
Work by Henri Matisse that uses a lot of PATTERN

15. MOVEMENT
Principle of design that deals with creating the illusion of action or physical change in position

16. MOVEMENT Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash By Giacomo Balla 1912
Oil on Canvas
The many REPETITIONs of the legs, feet, tail,
and chain in this work give it the appearance
of actual MOVEMENT.

17. Nude Descending a
Staircase
by Marcel Duchamp
Captures the feeling
of MOVEMENT that
occurs
when someone
is walking down the
stairs.

18. Lobster Trap and Fish Tail
Mobile from National Gallery of Art
Lobster Trap and Fish Tail
Most art does not really move, but these are some examples of mobiles by
Alexander Calder that
do move.

19. PROPORTION
The principle of design concerned with the size relationship of one part to another
If you have ever tried to draw a human figure and realized that the head was too big or small compared to the rest of the body, you were already using the principle of PROPORTION.

20. Facial PROPORTIONs

21. Body PROPORTION The basic rule of thumb is that the body is 71/2 or
8 times the size of
the head.

22. Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, ), Study of proportions, from Vitruvius's De Architectura, pen and ink
Leonardo, inspired by the mathematician Vitruvius (Roman, 1st century BCE), drew this famous picture of Vitruvian Man -- a sort of ideal figure -- whose arm span is equal to his height -- a ratio of one, or 1:1.

23. The Pieta by Michelangelo
An artist can change
the actual PROPORTION
at any time. In this
work by Michelangelo,
he made Mary much larger than the body of Jesus. If Mary could stand up, she
would be about nine feet tall! He did this so that she wouldn’t look crushed by
the weight of the body.
The Pieta by Michelangelo

24. Examples of contemporary artwork with distorted PROPORTION

25. EMPHASIS A portion of a work that is dominant over the other parts
The Focal Point is the first part of the work to attract the viewer’s attention.

26. EMPHASIS by Location In the Dining Room by Berthe Morisot
The young woman appears to be in the center of this painting. A lot of times, we naturally look in the center of the picture first like we would with a photo or camera.

27. EMPHASIS by Contrast Rembrandt. Self-Portrait. c. 1629. Oil on canvas.
Rembrandt uses value contrast to create a focal point in this work. Only the head and the area immediately around
it are painted in light
values. The background sinks into darkness.

28. EMPHASIS by Convergence
Baptism in Kansas
By John Steuart Curry
In this painting all
the people are
staring at the preacher and the girl. The viewer becomes one
of the crowd and
stares too.

29. EMPHASIS with the Unusual
Time Transfixed, 1939
Artist: Rene Magritte
( )
Surrealist
By placing very
unusual objects or
impossible activities in a
work, an artist can also
create a focal point.

30. CONTRAST or VARIETY
Principle of Design concerned with difference or CONTRAST.
An artwork which makes use of many different hues, values, lines, textures, and shapes would reflect the artist's use of variety.

31. CONTRAST or VARIETY
Variety – how an artist adds interest to the artwork.
May be created through use of transition and gradation. Transition moves the eye from one part of the work to the next. Gradations create illusions of space or distance.

32. This Art work
contains
different
colors,
shapes, and
vegetables to
make the
picture more
interesting.

33. Unity: the arrangement of the elements to create a coherent whole
The elements work together to produce a sense of order.