PNS - Letter Forms Overview
Positive/Negative Space – Letter Forms
Introduction
Understanding the basics of strong design will improve your drawings immensely. Viewers read an artwork by the shapes before naming the objects. This exercise will improve your ability to create a strong composition.
Module Lessons Preview
In this module, we will study the following topics:
Overview on Developing a Balanced Design: What makes good design? How do artist use Gestalt principles to create a balanced design?
Monograms and Letterforms: How can you create a balanced and effective design starting with your initials?
Module Key Terms
Elements
Line - path of a point moving through space
Shape - 2D area defined in some way
Form - object having 3 dimensions
Color - reflected light
Value - darkness or lightness of an object
Texture - how something feels or looks as if it feels
Space - the area around, between, above, below or within objects
Principles
Rhythm - movement by repetition of elements or objects
Movement - create the look or feeling of action, guide the viewer’s eye
Pattern - decorative surface design
Balance - equalizing visual elements
Proportion - concern with size relationships with one part to another
Variety - different and contrasting elements
Emphasis - part of a work dominant over another
Harmony - creates unity by stressing separate but related parts
Gestalt Theory in Art - Gestalt theory, a theory about perception, holds that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. It describes our ability to: Recognize patterns and make associations; group objects that are close together into a larger unit; relate and group objects of similar shape.
Similarity – a group or grouping that looks like a single unit because the shapes are the same or similar in some way
Proximity – the items are put close together to that people see them as a group
Closure - when an image is present and it is not complete, but the persons perception completes the image
Continuity or Continuation – when your eye and brain are moved through an image to another object.
Symmetry - that the viewer should not be given the impression that something is out of balance, or missing, or wrong
Figure and Ground - which happens when you use shading or size to change the brain’s perception. Silhouettes and complex relationships are an example of how our brains create order in chaos.
Concepts in Design
Distill - process of considering all images and icons which might represent and identify
Figure Ground Ambiguity - background in one part of composition transforms into the foreground
Formalize Visual Consistency - bringing all parts of an image into visual agreement
Ligatures - an integrated sequence of letters/ adjacent letterforms that can be shared and naturally woven together
Simplify - ridding a design of extraneous information leaving a quick read
Notan- Japanese origin/ the balance of light and dark
General Terms
Crop - cutting out part of an image
Font - an assembly of all the characters of one typeface. A unique family of letter designs.
Letterforms - design made by the unique characteristics that give it personality
Quick Read - something that is easily recognized at a glance
Rough Layout - earliest plan for a design which may include thumbnails
Sans Serif - letter form without a tail
Serif - lines or tails at the end of letters
Thumbnail - small rough sketches visualizing an idea or concept
Weight (of typefaces) - the boldness of a typeface
Zoom - in simplifying a design by focusing on a small part
IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS OR OPENSOURCE