Graphic Design: The New Basics - Rhythm and Balance

Rhythm and Balance

Balance acts as a catalyst for form.
A symmetrical design is stable, but balance doesn’t have to be symmetrical - contrasting size, texture, value, colour and shape.
Rhythm is a strong, regular, repeated pattern - in graphics rhythms are punctuated with change and variation.
Balance and rhythm work together to achieve stability and surprise.
On multiple pages, use rhythm to create repetition yet the pages should have variety.

Design Task 1

For this task I experimented using symmetry and asymmetry with 3/4 basic shapes and colours. The results are below:

Design Task 2

For this task I created an accordion book from squares cut out of a magazine, focusing on the composition and layout of each page with text and colours.

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Graphic Design: The New Basics - Time and Motion

Motion is a kind of change, and change takes places in time. Time and motion are considerations for all design work. Any still image has implied Motion, while motion graphics share compositional principles with print. Animation encompasses diverse modes of visible change. Alternative modes of change: scale, transparency, colour, layer, etc. A word or design element can stay still while the environment around it changes. A motion sequence is developed through a series of storyboards, which convey the main pages and movements of an animation. Cropping a shape can suggest motion, just as diagonal compositions do. Complex and subtle behaviours are created by using different modes of change simultaneously. When animating type, the designer must pay special attention to legibility and reading order - context is important. Storyboards summarise key content/moments of an animation's events. Interactive logos and graphics are another aspect of motion design.

Contrasting Letterforms

In Photoshop, I used a pair of contrasting letterforms; g & Z, and created logos using just the letters and a background to see how the curves and straight lines contrasted.

Graphic Design: The New Basics - Pattern

Surface pattern is creating a vibrant discourse. Rebirth of ornament. Nearly any pattern arises from 3 basic forms: Isolated elements (dots) Linear elements (stripes) The crisscrossing or interaction of the two (grids) Pattern design is about creating a larger texture. A pattern results from repetition. Every pattern follows a rule - designers can define rules with computer code meaning they can create variations by changing the input into the system. Design Task 1 Here I created a simple element and added variation to show pattern. Design Task 2 For this task, I created a seemingly random pattern of cats and used slightly overlapped tiles to make a repeating structure.

Grace Walker Communication Design

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