design principles

Balance is one of essential principles of design and it can be divided into two types that are symmetrical and asymmetrical.   Symmetrical balance is usually required that the left and right sides are the same on the structure; however, the asymmetrical is not.  Van Gogh’s artwork Starry Night is a good example here.  It perfectly shows what asymmetrical balance looks like.  In this painting, the artist amplifies the bush on the left side and then it naturally becomes a focal point on the composition because of its large size.   To avoid the bush being too “heavy” visually and to keep balance of the whole painting, the artist depicts many other things.  Now, the large bush is balanced by the town, mountains, and the moon on the right side. Moreover, we can see that the artist uses the blue and purple as the colors of background to bring out the brightness of the moon; also, those colors become a strong contrast to the brown of the bush on the left side.   

It is also important to have unity and variety in a work of art.  Unity makes everything belong together and shows a vivid and strong connection between figures and objects. This is the artwork by the Italian contemporary artist Angelo Musco  that titles Hadal.  Musco expresses the unity of the painting in a stunning way. The composition of the artwork is built by uncountable naked human bodies. The bodies are moving in the same direction with the same prostrate look and gradually form a huge black hole.  The painting clearly shows the unified sense of purpose and the repetition of bodies also unified the whole visual perspective.

Scale is the first element artists have to consider before starting their works of art. More and more artists use the distortion of scale to show the relationship between the figures and objects or send a message to viewers. Dave Limpfish’s  digital painting  Vader with Parasol, the Dark Lord conveys a sense of unclear crisis.  The artist depicts a huge-sized dark lord with holding a small umbrella standing next to a little boy. The boy looks innocent and does not feel nervous. It seems that the boy has known the devil and is not afraid of him.  They might be friends and enjoying the nice weather together. The blue sky, the clouds and yellow flowers in the foreground are harmonious; at the same time, they bring out the difference between the lovely human and the evil dark lord.  The artist makes the relationship of the two figures very interesting but a little confusing.