"A Designer's Art", Paul Rand

(pg4) “The Designer’s Problem”

“To believe that a good layout is produced merely by making a pleasing arrangement of some visual miscellany (photos, type, illustrations) is an erroneous conception of the graphic designer’s function. What is implied is that a problem can be solved simply be pushing things around until something happens. This obviously involves the time-consuming uncertainties of trial and error.”

“The designer is confronted, primarily, with three classes of material: a) the given – produce, copy, slogan, logotype, format, media, production process; b) the formal – space, contrast, proportion, harmony, rhythm, repetition, line, mass, shape, colour, weight, volume, value, texture; c) the psychological – visual perception and optical illusion problems, the spectator’s instincts, intuitions, and emotions as well as the designer’s own needs.”

Pg(239)

“Graphic design which fufills aesthetic needs, complies with the laws of form and the exigencies of two dimensional space; which speak in semiotics, sans-serifs, and geometrics; which abstracts, transforms translates, rotates, dilates, repeats, mirrors, groups and regroups is not good design if it is irrelevant.

Graphic design which evokes the symmetria of Vitruvius, the dynamic symmetry of Hambidge, asymmetry of Mondrian; which is good gestalt, generated by intuition or by computer, by invention of by a system of coordinates is not good design if it does not communicate.”

By the argument of Paul Rand if a piece of design does not effectively communicate, or solve the presented problem – even if it is aesthetically appealing – as a commercial service it does meet the needs of the consumer or client and therefore is not good design.

The psychological theories of Arnheim and Ross pose an understanding of aesthetics within design, however do not provide a finite way of processing, translating and effectively communicating subject matter. Therefore their importance to contemporary design practice, as according to Rand, is in fact limited as they do not provide all the necessary elements of a design work. 

Rand, P. (1985) A Designer's Art. New Haven & London : Yale University Press

Experimenting with Collage: "Rules"

• Selecting the best combination of forms through thumb-nailing, I have been making a series of collages derived out of my written manifesto on compositional balance, as according to Arnheim. 
• I am finding it sometimes hard to apply Arnheim's theories to the making of my images. It takes a lot of thought to generate a collection of forms that both look visually appealing and in some way apply to these rules. 
• I think in many aspects my own creative intuition does play a part in the making of these images. 
• So far, within the collages, I have been experimenting with my combination of media - using gouache, mono-printed textures, coloured card and coloured pencil.
• The coloured card, in itself, is good to use physically as it allows me to move elements around and therefore play with layout - but the texture of it doesn't give a very nice finish. 
• I started using gouache and coloured pencil together - but felt that it not provide enough differentiation, so have resolved on using the mono-printed textures and gouache paint. 

Peer Review

Positive Feedback:

• Good synthesis between practical work and theoretical study
• Liked the writing of a manifesto - clearly outlines and states my intentions within the practical. 

Things to do: 

• Produce a zine/publication including manifesto and series of images - like this idea, feel that it could be really good way of drawing the project together at the end.
• Look into asymmetry of Mondrian? (although a bit cliché)
• Experiment with different media - gouache, use textured mono-prints to make collages.

Manifesto of Compositional Balance (1st Draft)

After my one-to-one tutorial at the beginning of this week I decided to purely focus on Arnheim's chapter on Balance to write my manifesto of rules. In terms of my research, this is the approach to composition that I have found most interesting and informative. I think the manifesto does not necessarily produce step-by-step rules, but a number of mechanisms or principles to generate balance. 

Considering using the principles of gestalt psychology or the golden ratio, Denman Ross or Rudolph Arnheim in the writing of my rules has caused me to spend a lot of time thinking about how to construct this manifesto, rather then just making the images themselves. Now that I've focused on this specific compositional principle and theorist I feel as though I can move forward with the project and actually start making the final two categories of images. 

Mono-printed Textures

I would like to start making a series of images outside my sketchbook, as I think this will give new dimension to the practical project. Also using coloured pencil is too labour intensive as a method of production. I think collage would be an effective way of making these images - as having each form as a separate element will allow me to move things around and play with layout. In response to this I have made a series of mono-printed textures, to then collage with plain coloured card. The combination of the two, will help me to create balanced compositions because the forms containing textures will naturally act as a focal point that will then dictate the rest of the frame. 

William Luz interview answers

On your website I was really drawn to your paintings and the sketchbook drawings. I was hoping you could explain a little bit about what drives or influences this kind of work ... 

"My sketchbook work is very much about practice, in the more literal sense. It is what I turn to when I have little specifically to do. It's way to keep thinking about colour and composition within a quick, easy and constrained format. I've built up about 3 or 4 of these sketchbooks now and I don't feel that precious about them so I almost make decisions about the compositions without thinking. Sometimes sketches made in smaller notepads form the basis of the drawings. I often draw whilst watching films, pausing on interesting frames or drawing from books or the internet. A lot of my work is about redrawing and reworking earlier things and often the source is from some reference material. Through this drawing and redrawing I aim to separate the resulting image from it's starting point so it becomes something new but there is still this trace to something in the real world, that maybe only I am aware of. The paintings I have been making over the last year or two often reference these small sketchbook compositions directly or partly, in that I may like a colour combination or collection of forms. I have learned to try and take away as much chance for conscious decision making in my work as possible. By mixing colour in my sketchbook using coloured pencils I can simply put a colour down, react to that one in the next colour I put down, then put something on top of that to make a colour, so it's very reactive, I don't really sit and think about a palette beforehand. It is the same with painting, using slightly transparent acrylics from a fixed but varied colour choice in the first place I can react as the image develops, rather trying to plan it out. I try and be as unconscious and intuitive as possible. I don't necessarily use chance operations or things systems to help me make decisions but try to keep decision making to a minimum."

There is a real sense of balance and sometimes symmetry in the way the forms interact with each other - is this something you have consciously refined or is it more intuitive? Also, what are you trying to achieve as a practitioner or communicate to the viewer with these images? 

"I like to make the distinction between creating a picture and creating an image. I am not aiming to make a picture. To me a picture is something that directly refers you to something else, it speaks to a specific thing, feeling or experience of the world. An image for me isn't bound by these responsibilities. What is lost by not being directly representational, is gained by its ambiguity. An image is itself and refers to itself only. A picture might reference another moment, but an image exists in that moment only. An image therefore should aim towards some kind of perfect balance between texture, form and colour and also between abstraction and figuration. My work does reference external sources but I aim to shroud these in abstraction to the point that they are only identifiable to myself. By titling works I can either uncover these allusions or further obscure them. A picture is a novel or piece of non fiction, an image is like a poem. In this way I don't seek to communicate anything specific to an audience, simply that there is a joy to be had with images, with seeing and noticing, and thinking. I like to leave a sufficient amount of space in the images so that the viewer can bring their own reading, ideas and thoughts to it, that will be influenced by their own history up that point. Everyone reads things in different ways based on everything they have seen or thought up to that point. This is the joy of images."

Individual Progress Tutorial

Key points: 

• Split chapter 2 into discussion of the use of composition for function and beauty in design.
• Is discussing creative problem solving as well too much? 
• Possible question: How relevant are the theories of Ross and Arnheim to design practice? 
• Ross and Arnheim provide the deconstruction of 'beauty', look at the expression/description of 'beauty' by writers and poets. 
• Conclusion - are order and balance the same thing as beauty? this is influenced by taste and individual experience. 
• In practical focus on one of the principles discussed in essay e.g. balance, rhythm, harmony, order. Construct a set of rules on how to achieve this principle in image-making then make a set following them and breaking them. 

601 Draft Submission Feedback

Positives :

• Good Triangulation 
• Good use of texts

Things to rework:

• Introduction: outline what you are doing, and why are you doing it. What are you trying to achieve? 
• Outline key principles and rules of composition 
• Mention contemporary design practices and texts that are being triangulated with Arnheim and Ross to prove their relevance to design practice. 
• Make the focus of your essay clear, and structure Chapter II according to key rules/principles used in practical. 

Focus : 

Contemporary composition - NOT linear perspective etc. 

Key principles: unity, order, balance, rhythm, harmony, simplicity and beauty. 

This is then set against artistic individuality and subjective taste. 

What to do:

• Write a clear manifesto/set of rules on composition based on Arnheim, Ross and Gestalt Psychology. 
• Re-structure chapter 2. 
• Re-write introduction.
• Write 2nd and 3rd case study. 
• Write conclusion. 

Play Images: Working with Colour

I am slightly apprehensive to start working with colour. It has so much influence in bringing harmony to a composition, yet so far all I have been concentrating on is the relationship of forms.

In my sketchbook, using a set of coloured pencils, I did some tester colour palettes - trying to figure out which colours I felt fit best together. It's difficult to know, however, if the ones I feel go well together myself will also appeal to another person due to the subjective nature in which we appreciate art.

I then began applying these colour palettes to the compositions I have been developing in my sketchbook, to create a series of coloured pencil drawings. I feel that these are working really well and would to create more - but using coloured pencil is too labour intensive for producing these images. I think I should move onto some other form of media - like collage or gouache? As well as maybe start working on a larger scale. 

601 Extended Essay Draft Submission

Play Images: Ink Drawings

repetitive and extensive thumbnailing, to refine compositions.

• These ink drawings represent the 'Play' category of images within my practical research. I have started with this category, so that I enter into it uninfluenced by rules - that I will develop later on - and therefore am working purely from my own creative intuition.  
• The aim is to achieve a form of balance, rhythm or harmony in each of the compositions. 
• So far I have been doing a number of thumbnails and then taking these into ink drawings. 
• I have found this process very effective - in the thumbnails I often repeatedly draw the same collection of forms, refining the composition as I go along. 
• I then select the best thumbnails out of my sketchbook and take these into ink. 
• Filling in the shapes in plain black I think helps me purely focus the relationships of the forms and the overall balance of the composition, without the influence of other visual elements such as colour. 
• The next step I think, however, is to select the best compositions and then start making them in colour. 

James Joyce's Aesthetic Arrest

On James Joyce's epiphany from Campbell Extracts on Vimeo.

"Joyce's formulae for the aesthetic experience is that is does not move you to want to possess the object, that he calls pornography, nor does it move you to criticise and reject the object that he calls didactics, social criticism and all that kind of thing. It is the holding the object and he says you put a frame around it and see it as one thing and then seeing it as one thing you become aware of the relationship of part to part, and part to the whole and the whole is to the parts. This is the essential aesthetic factor - rhythm, the rhythmic relationships and when a fortunate rhythm has been struck by the artist that is the radiance, that is the epiphany"

Campbell Extracts. 2014. "On James Joyce's epiphany" Available from: https://vimeo.com/89773884

Group Tutorial

Feedback on essay:

• Good use of formal academic register. 
• Be clear on what principles or 'rules' of design are being evaluated. 
• How are you forming these rules - are they based on one study, or are they a summary of all of your research? 
• Let the creation of your practical work inform your conclusions. 

Tips on writing:

• Explain who someone is and why they are relevant to your argument before quoting them. 
• Clearly define all terms that you are using ie. what is composition? what kind of composition are you looking at? What do you mean by design? What do you mean by visually appealing? 
• Remember to leave independent conclusions to the conclusion - have to remain unbiased when discussing source material. 

Malika Favre

Malika Favre is an french illustrator and designer, mainly working within editorial or publishing contexts. I have identified that she may use principles of gestalt psychology in the composition of her her design work. For example, in this print entitled "Balloons", Favre has used the gestalt principle of proximity to create the girls dress and collection of balloons. 

Favre, interestingly, has also created a body of work using the similar compositional principle of the golden ratio. She was a part of the publication "Golden Meaning", curated by GraphicDesign&, that contained the work 55 design practitioner's using the asymmetrical proportions of the golden ratio. Her interest in using a mathematical approach to composition and evidence of gestalt principles within her design work could lend her as an appropriate case study for my written essay. 

Research Notes - "The Art of Looking Sideways" by Alan Fletcher

Creating my own Visual Language

• I have selected a collection of 10 abstract or geometric shapes to work from in the making of my images. 
• This was to act as a solution to the fact that I was struggling to settle on a content to base my images upon. 
• I choose using simplistic forms because stripping images down to their bare bones will help me focus solely on the composition. 
• I also do not want to have to worry about communicate anything - this is all about developing my own understanding of composition. 
• I am not going to limit myself, however, to using only these 10 shapes. This is just a starting point to help me generate imagery and apply compositional principles to image-making. 

Questions for William Luz

William Luz replied to my email saying that he would very happy to answer some questions. Here is what I sent him: 

"On your website I was really drawn to your paintings and the sketchbook drawings. I was hoping you could explain a little bit about what drives or influences this kind of work. 

There is a real sense of balance and sometimes symmetry in the way the forms interact with each other - is this something you have consciously refined or is it more intuitive? Also, what are you trying to achieve as a practitioner or communicate to the viewer with these images?"

With these questions I would like to find out to what extent he consciously thinks about achieving order, harmony or balance in his work - as to me the images in question very clearly exemplify these principles. 

William Luz

William Luz is an illustrator and part of the artistic collective NousVous. I think that his paintings and sketchbook series are very relevant to my study of composition. For me, personally, they encapsulate order, balance and harmony in an image. The way the forms interact with each other and the edges of composition, creates this sense of necessity in all of the visual elements to create a unified and balanced whole. The forms in his images have a feeling of controlled tension, as they are confined to a space by the edges of the composition or other surrounding objects. In his sketchbook series, many of the drawings also use symmetry to achieve a sense of balance. He also clearly has a strong sense of colour - using colours of similar brightness, hue or tone to balance opposing sides of a composition. 

Due to this I think that his practice could be a possible case study for my extended essay. There is limited information on his practice online, so I decided to email him to see if he would be happy to answer some questions. 

Plan of Action for Practical

1. Make own visual language - by using the same basic shapes for each of the image-making processes I hope to remove any subjective preference based on content. 
2. PLAY - make a series of images using your own intuition to find a sense of balance, order and harmony.
3. Write a list of rules based on your theoretical research outlining how to achieve order and balance in composition. 
4. Create a series of images BASED ON THE RULES.
5. Make a series of images BREAKING THE RULES. 
6. Select (maybe 3) from each process of image-making - develop into a more finalised outcome, using screen-print? 
7. Show the images to people and see which they prefer? - propose an exhibition or do a survey?

(From now on aim to do one process of image-making a week - 13/11 PLAY, 20/11 RULES, 27/11 BREAKING THE RULES)

"A Theory of Pure Design" by Denman. W Ross

Ross, D. (1907) "A Theory of Pure Design" Boston and New York Houghton: Mifflin and Company.

"Art is regarded as the one activity of man which has no scientific basis, and the appreciation of art is said to be a matter of taste in which no two persons can be expected to agree. It is my purpose of this book to show how, in the practice of art, as in all other practices, we use certain terms and follow certain principles. Being defined and explained, these terms and principles may be known and understood by everybody"

"While an understanding of the terms of principles of art will not, in itself, enable anyone to produce important works, such works are not produced without it."

"In a sense this book is a contribution to science rather than to art. It is a contribution to science made by a painter, who has used his art in order to understand his art, not to produce works of art."

"The only thing which remains in art, beyond measurable quantities and qualities, is the personality, the peculiar ability or genius of the artist himself. That, I believe, admits of no explanation. The element of personality is what we mean when we speak of the element of inspiration in a work of art. Underlying this element of personality are the terms and principles of art. In them the artist has found the possibility of expression; in them his inspiration is conveyed to his fellowmen."

"While I am unable to find any definition or explanation of beauty, I know where to look for it, where I am sure to find it. The beautiful is revealed, always, so far as I know, in the forms of order, in the modes of harmony, of balance, or of rhythm. While there are many instances of harmony, balance and rhythm, which are not particularly beautiful, there is, I believe, nothing really beautiful which is not orderly in one or the other, in two, or in all three of these modes."

"This is perhaps our nearest approach to a definition of beauty; that is is a supreme instance of order, intuitively felt, instinctively appreciated."

"The order of the whole must never be diminished"

"I object to the word 'decoration' as commonly used by designers, because it implies that additions are likely to be improvements, that to multiply features, to enrich surfaces, is worth while or desirable."

"As designers we ought to avoid additions, if possible. We ought to make them only when in so doing we are able to increase the order of the whole"

Ross could be used to support many of Arnheims arguments, as he stresses the importance of the unified, or in this case an ordered, 'whole' as well as principles such as balance and harmony in design. Similarly to Arnheim, he claims to be taking a scientific approach to the study of design, through which its basic principles and terms can be deconstructed to build a better understanding of artistic practice. The direct link he makes between beauty and forms of order, supports my building argument that balance and harmony of composition achieves better design work. The argument that artistic personality is expressed through the use of such principles, builds upon my theoretical analysis of Arnheim as well as provides another perspective on my own developing idea that rules in design practice could limit creative expression. 

Research notes: 'A History of Pictures' Hockney, D & Gaynor, M.

Hockney, D & Gaynor, M. (2016) A History of Pictures. London: Thames & Hudson

Teaching To see

This is a documentary focusing on the teachings and students of design professor Inge Druckrey. The way she speaks about looking and translating information is very valuable to me as a practitioner, but also many of the discussions surrounding graphic design could be seen to be relevant to theories highlighted in my essay, as well as in a more general context the discipline of illustration. 

The importance of learning to look in translating information effectively and interestingly. 

• "Training the eye is very, very important, you can't come up with ideas if you don't see first. What interested me was to teach student to see in an abstract manner, so not to see an object but to see it as something round or square, something textured or smooth and to translate what they see into a form language." (Druckery, 2012)
• "When an art teacher asked me to look at a tree and I looked at a tree but I only saw the noun - tree. I didn't see the beautiful progression from heavier to lighter branches or the overlapping of branches and the resulting negative area. The potential of the human eye is so impressive and wonderful. It is very important for designers, or anyone in the field of art to develop a greater ability to see." (Druckrey, 2013)

The importance of order and functionality in graphic design, and how to achieve this.

• "I gave students a 9 square grid which its ordering principle allowed them to come up with a coherent composition, the actual design elements were up to them.""Limiting is important that students have a very clear playground set up and it helps them focus." (Druckrey, 2012)

This method of teaching could refer to the idea of whether we need or benefit from the use of rules (of composition) to create artwork. It could be triangulated with other art practices such as Swiss style graphic design - particularly their use of a rigid grid system to make posters - to conflict with the theory of art being intuitively made and instinctively appreciated. 

• "Graphic design it's seeing and envisioning. The eye has to move around enjoyably, there's nothing where you can get stuck, it all flows and holds together, there's nothing unnecessary." (Druckrey, 2012)
• "It's interesting to see how a poster or cover design are different from information design because both have to function at a distance reading. They have to capture the attention of someone walking by, and entice them to look at more detail information." 
• "Graphic designs always visualising an idea and its definitely about drawing attention, its about informing, its about distance reading but its also about symbolising something because like poetry you have to get the essence of something" (Druckrey, 2012)
• "Bad maps have a dominance of bright colours and simply get noisy, typographic details get lost in meaningless dark shading of the buildings. Its astonishing how sensitive our eyes are in distinguishing the most subtle variation in colour." (Druckrey, 2012)

I think the way graphic design is described in these quotes could also refer to illustration - some contexts of our discipline, such as editorial or poster design, demand immediacy and functionality in their reading (from a distance) thus making it important for it to also embody these principles of order, in visual elements such as colour. Illustration is also often used alongside type meaning it needs to be able to work in harmony with elements of graphic design. 

• "The eye wants to look at an orderly set of marks on a page, the eye wants pattern, the eye wants order, the eye wants relative perfection, the eye wants something that is reliable, that it can count on, the eye is a very conservative part of reading. On the other hand, you have the hand and the hand is the radical aspect of writing. So the hand wants to write faster and faster, writing changes because we're writing faster and faster all the time and the hand wants to write expressively so when you're writing your signature your not thinking about getting every little letter perfect you're thinking about the way you write your signature and that's why its very hard to forge someone's signature because you can't do it slowly you have to write it fast and expressively - that's the radical hand at work. So the whole history of writing can be looked at as an elegant little conflict between the conservative eye which wants everything perfect and rational, and the radical hand which wants to write fast and write expressively, and its this constant battle that makes our environment that we look at when we look at lettering." (Holmes, K.) 

Holmes is speaking about typography, however essentially she is discussing the conflict between order and expression in visual communication. According to principles of graphic or pure design, order is essential to communicating effectively; however in asserting order into an art form how do you control the artist personality or imperfection of the human hand? The quality and importance of the handmade is extensively discussed in design and art practice, therefore it begs the question whether complete order is desirable, or does removing the sense of the human hand render an image to some extent unsuccessful. Can you achieve both a sense of order and expression in an image?

"Teaching to See" (2012) Directed by Andrei Sevemy. [Online] Available from : http://teachingtosee.org/film/TeachingToSee.html [Accessed 09/11/17]

Tufte, E. (2013) "'Inge Druckrey : Teaching to See' trailer" [Online] Available from: https://vimeo.com/67108069 [Accessed 09/11/17]