To design is to organizing formal elements (line, space, light, color, texture, pattern, time, motion) into a whole composition.

Here will now discuss principles of design: balance, symmetry, emphasis, proportion, rhythm & Repetition, unity and variety.

First is balance and proportion. The human body displays balance and symmetry and proportion. In Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (ca. 1485–1490), he is designing the perfect male body based on the principles of balance, symmentry, and proportion written by the ancient Roman author and engineer Vitruvius.

In this study of the ideal man’s proportions in accord with the circle and square, the two shapes that Vitruvius (and Plato) believed to be the foundations of the universe.

The circle represents the heavenly world, infinite, and the universal. The square represents the earthly world. The man’s belly button is the source of life and the center of the body. The perfect proportions of this man’s torso, limbs, and torso symbolize the unification and harmony of man and physical world and immaterial world.

In the next design we see the antithesis of da Vinci’s unity but still a balance of oppositions! The contemporary architects Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunic designed The Rasin Building (1992-96) in Prague, Czech Republic as a statement of harmony between the old and new world and culture.

Built on site of 15^th century building that was destroyed in World War II, we sense a of collapse! The forms are twisted, distorted, and the foundation appears to be faulty. It’s a CONTRAST (we learned that term last week) of opposites.

The building is a playful celeb of modern engineering; to look like the brink of catastrophe but it’s structurally sound. The building’s nicknames are “Dancing House” and “Fred and Ginger” because the two sides twist and whirl.

Let’s look at balance. There are three types of balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial.

We’ll start with Symmetrical Balance, the correspondence in size, form, and arrangement of parts on opposite sides of a plane, line, or point.

The architectural example we’ll look at is the Taj Mahal in Agra, India (c. 1632–48). The Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan favorite wife who died in childbirth (her 14^th!). All four sides are the same. That means it’s symmetrical.

The basic shape is a perfect square with cut corners to create an octagon. The identical facades each have a central arched portal flanked by two stories of smaller arched openings. The negative space add lightness to the block-like structure.

The exterior is also inlayed with semi-precious stones to create a mesmerizing lace-like patterning.

The symmetry is emphasized by the surrounding gardens and reflecting pools. The balance and symmetry of all the elements is a symbol of the harmony and perfection of heaven and eternity.

The second type of balance is asymmetrical balance, a balance even if not symmetrical. Possesses balance of visual elements.

These are examples of asymmetry but are not absolute. There are no absolute rues of how to achieve balance.

A) Larger closer to fulcrum; smaller farther
B) 2 small vs. 1 large
C) Dark closer vs. light farther
D) Large light vs small dark
E) Texture close vs. light far

Here we have asymmetry in the American Impressionist Childe Hassam painting Boston Common at Twilight (1885–86).

Here we see a winter evening on the Boston Common and fashionable Bostonians walking on the sideway. The heavy condensed city is pushed to the left and on the opposite side is the wide expanse of the park. Do you see the asymmetry? The fulcrum (balance axis) is at on the left between the park and the city.

The left is heavier than the right side. The heaviness created by the dense dark buildings, horses, and crowds of people. The tension is created by the contrast between the serene snow and the bustle of street, between nature and city, between light and dark. The BALANCE comes from the disproportion of heavy city and lighter commons area. If the fulcrum were more towards the center of the canvas the view would be imbalanced.

The last type of balance is also a form of symmetry, radial symmetry, when everything radiates outward from central point.

An excellent example of radial symmetry is the beautiful Gothic rose windows in Gothic Cathedrals. Let’s look at one, Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France. There are three rose windows in Chartres, one over each of the three entrances at the North, West, and South portals.

In the south transept rose window features The Glorification of Christ with Jesus enthroned in Heaven (the red color symbolizes the glow of heaven). He is surrounded by angels and the symbols of the four Evangelists: Matt (man), Mark (lion), Luke (bull), John (eagle).

The radial symmetry means that it can be divided any which way, horizontally, vertically, diagonally and it will be completely balanced. The window is perfectly symmetrical , balanced, a physical example of perfection – which gives the symbolic meaning, the Blessings of Christ, a greater significance.

What about an emphasis or focal point?

A focal point or emphasis in an artwork is the element that draws a viewer to a specific area of the work. In the French Baroque painting Georges de La Tour’s Joseph the Carpenter (c. 1645) the focal point is the candlelight.

In this canvas La Tour depicts a sweet and innocent moment of Jesus as a young boy holding the light for his father Joseph so that he may work on his carpentry. The bright light of the candle is in high contrast against the darkness of the room and it draws our eye away from title of the artwork, Joseph, to the young boy, Jesus.

In addition, the candlelight has a greater symbolism; a symbol of the divine light of God, the ethereal glow fills and warms the scene.

Can an artist create an artwork with NO focal point? Good question. Yes! It’s called afocal.

We’ve seen one already. Monet’s Water Lillies (1916 -1926).

Another one is the American abstract artist Larry Poons’ Orange Crush (1963).

This field of orange with random grey dots is afocal because the viewer’s eye continues to be distracted. Our eye focuses on the dot (figure) to the orange (ground) to the dot (figure) to the orange (ground)…on and on and on. Our vision floats aimlessly.

What about multiple focal points? Yup.

In the Spanish Baroque painter Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor) (1656) we see the Princess of Spain, Infanta (Princess) Magarita with her maids of honor, body guards, and dog in attendance. To the left we see the painter himself, Diego Velazquez. They are all standing in his artist studio the Spanish Royal palace in Madrid, Spain.

But are they the only people in this painting? Who are they looking at? In the square behind the figures we see something that can be understood as a mirror where we see two people who look like the King and Queen of Spain, Infanta Magarita’s parents King Phillip IV and Queen Mariana.

So what is the focal point? There are multiple focal points.

Focal point #1

The first is title of the work, the Infanta and her maids. They are the center of composition, with a spotlight of light coming from the window and the meet our gaze in the line of sight.

But several people are NOT looking at the Infanta. What are they looking at? What’s captured their focus?

Focal point #2

The second comes from outside the picture plane but reflected in the painting, the King Philip and Queen Mariana.

So what is the content of the painting?

Is Velazquez in the middle of painting the King and Queen’s portrait? Has the Infanta come to watch her parents get their portrait painted?

Or, have the King and Queen entered the studio to see Velazquez paint the Infanta’s portrait and we simply see their reflection in the mirror?

Or, is it not even a mirror but double portrait painting that is hanging on the back wall?

Is he even making a formal portrait of one of the royal family or is he working on some other work entirely?

Pretty cool huh?

Now we’ll look at scale, the relation of dimensions within the artwork and the exterior world.

In the Korean sculptor’s Do-Ho Suh’s Public Figures (1998–99) we see a playful use of scale. A massive solid white pedestal is held up by hundreds of tiny people. The dramatic difference in size (scale) of the small green figures in comparison to monumental pedestal purposefully appears to lack the support required to hold it or move it.

There are 600 small figurines, each is 12” tall and come in 6 shapes and 2 genders and several races. Suh’s purpose for this artwork is to emphasize the importance of the many individuals who help lift, support, and move the hero (represented by the pedestal) without recognition.

In one of the most famous works of art (you’ve probably seen it), Katsushika Hokusai’s Wave off Kanagawa is a play on scale. Hokusai was a Japanese ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period and in his print The Great Wave off Kanagawa from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1823–29) we see him play with the scale of the wave in the foreground and the scale of Mount Fuji in the background.

We see the gigantic volcanic peak of Mount Fuji appears dwarfed by crashing wave. There are also two boats in water under the crashing wave about to be crushed. The wave hangs like menacing claw that will eventually fall. However we know that Mount Fuji will not. The wave shape echo Fugi, another play on it the foreground and background.

Now let’s look at repetition and rhythm. Repetition can result in rhythm.

As we’ve seen in Bramate’s Tempietto, repetition of form can create rhythm.

Repetition can imply the rest of or completion of a narrative/story. Here in the contemporary American artist Laylah Ali’s Untitled (2000) we see a painting of brown-skinned, gender-neutral “Greenheads,” martian-like figures that are often featured in her work.

The repetition plays crucial role in this artwork. Three masked Greenheads are hanged in front of the 4^th victim who is being held by the leg and arm by the belted Greenhead. As the textbook states, “The repetition is what I think is so striking. It’s not like one thing happens and it doesn’t happen again. You know it will happen again.” The horror lies in the repetition.

Now let’s look at unity (same) and variety (difference).

Here in the French Post-Impressionists sculptor Auguste Rodin’s bronze The Three Shades (1881–86) we see three views of the exact same single figure (unity).

They are viewed from three angles and therefore appear to be three individuals (variety). The figures are depictions of the the shades from Medieval Italian poet Dante’s Divine Comedy, i.e. the souls of the damned that stand at the entrance to Hell and point to an inscription: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

Rodin made several studies of Shades. He placed them on top of his work The Gates, from where they could gaze down at the spectator. The Gates was conceived for the doors to Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris and based on Dante’s Inferno section of Divine Comedy. There are over 200 figures that swirl in hellfire and they try to escape. On the top of the gates, the three shades serve as guardians of the inferno.