What can we consciously do to stimulate the creative process? What sort of activities can promote the likelihood that a solution to a problem will present itself?
Many people today are concerned with such questions. A number of worthwhile books and articles have been devoted to the study of the creative process, featuring numerous technical terms to describe aspects of this admittedly complex subject.
They overlap and may be performed almost simultaneously or by jumping back and forth from one to another. Problems vary so that a specific assignment may immediately suggest an initial emphasis on one of these suggestions. But all three procedures can stimulate the artistic problem-solving process.
Thinking is an essential part of this solution. When confronted by a problem in any aspect of life, the usual first step is to think about it. Thinking is applicable also to art and visual problems. It is involved in all aspects of the creative process. Every step in creating a design involves choices, and the selections are determined by thinking.
Chance or accident is also an element in art. But art cannot be created mindlessly, although some twentieth-century art movements have attempted to eliminate rational thought as a factor in creating art and to stress intuitive or subconscious thought. But even then it is thinking that decides whether the spontaneously created result is worthwhile or acceptable.
To say that thinking is somehow outside the artistic process is truly illogical. Thinking about the Problem Knowing what you are doing must precede your doing it. So thinking starts with understanding the problem at hand: Precisely what is to be achieved? What specific visual or intellectual effect is desired? Are there visual stylistic requirements illustrative, abstract, nonobjective, and so on? What physical limitations size, color, media, and so on are imposed?
When is the solution needed? These questions may all seem self-evident, but effort spent on solutions outside the range of these specifications will not be productive. So-called failures can occur simply because the problem was not fully understood at the very beginning. Thinking about the Solution Thinking can be especially important in art that has a specific theme or message.
How can the concept be communicated in visual terms? Some obvious symbols are shown in the designs on these pages, and you will easily think of more. You might expand the idea by discussing it with others. They may offer suggestions you have not considered. Professional designers often are assisted by reports from market surveys that reveal the ideas of vast numbers of people. Sketch your ideas to see immediately the visual potential. At this point you do not necessarily decide on one idea.
Choosing a visual symbol is only the first step. How will you use your choice? The examples shown use only very obvious symbols for art, but in original and unexpected ways: A fragment of a pencil becomes the subject of a monumental sculpture. A Wasted talent is symbolized by a distorted and useless pencil. B These designs are imaginative and eye-catching. The symbol was just the first step. How that symbol was used provided the unique and successful solution.
Thinking about the Audience Selecting a particular symbol may depend on limitations of size, medium, color, and so on. Even thinking of future viewers may be an influence.
To whom is this visual message addressed? What reaction do you want from this audience? What effect or feeling do you wish to create? Undoubtedly, neither of these designs would be appropriate for a serious treatise on aesthetics. Distributed by Pace Editions, Inc.
Photo: Ellen Page Wilson. Collection Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Designer: Tony Palladino. Courtesy of School of Visual Arts. The thinking stage of the design process is often a contest to define this relationship of form and content. The contest may play itself out in additions and subtractions as a painting is revised or in the drafts and sketches of an evolving design concept. The solution may be found intuitively or be influenced by cultural values, previous art, or the expectations of clients.
The existing logo in A looked fat to Loewy, and the chief executive at Greyhound agreed. His revised version B based on a thoroughbred greyhound conveys the concept of speed, and the company adopted the new logo. Selecting Form The form an artist selects can also work in unexpected ways to express content. Edgar Heap of Birds presents just such a contradiction of our expectations for printed words.
This is an immediate signal that something is wrong, whether or not we know the specific history. What happens when the same form is used to convey opposing content?
A billboard showing a model wearing a De Beers diamond D is replaced by activists to depict a woman from the Bushman group E. Specific symbols may lose meaning when they cross national, ethnic, or religious borders. Given these obstacles to understanding, it is a powerful testimony to the meaning inherent in form when artworks communicate successfully across time and distance.
Original logo for Greyhound Bus Co. B Raymond Loewy. Redesigned logo, C Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds. Apartheid Oklahoma. Photo by Jonathan Player.
The New York Times. Thursday, November 21, , page W1. This is true of both images and objects. When such clarity is achieved, we say that form follows function. In this case form is determined by content and function is a priority.
This relationship is often easiest to see and acknowledge in utilitarian design, such as the furniture design of the American Shaker movement. The interior presented in A reveals a simple, straightforward attitude toward furniture and space design. All the furnishings are functional and free from extraneous decoration.
The ladder back of the chair exhibits a second utility when it is hung on the rail. Everything in this space communicates the Shaker value of simplicity. The Bookworm bookshelf shown in B is also functional but in a playful and surprising way. This design solution is simple, like Shaker design, but the form expresses a sense of visual delight and humor as well. The solution for the form of this arts center was influenced by these factors.
These new towers act as a visual reminder of the past integrated into an institution that has a mission to respond to art of the present. In this case the form of the architecture attempts to respond to several functional requirements: house and exhibit contemporary art, fit into a given setting, respect the history of the site, and convey a sense of dynamic future possibilities. A Shaker interior.
American Museum in Britain, Bath U. Ron Arad. Thermoplastic technopolymer, 7. This process includes observing both nature and human artifacts, including art, design, and commonplace objects. Most artists are stimulated by the visual world around them and learn of possibilities for expression by examining other art.
Studying art from all periods, regions, and cultures introduces you to a wealth of visual creations, better equipping you to discover your own solutions. For better or worse we do not create our design solutions in an information vacuum. We have the benefit of an abundance of visual information coming at us through a variety of media, from books to television.
On the plus side, we are treated to images one would previously have had to travel to see. On the A Henry Moore. Standing Figure: Knife Edge. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation. Source versus Subject Sources in nature and culture are clearly identifiable in the works of some artists, while less obvious in the works of others—perhaps only revealed when we see drawings or preparatory work. In any case a distinction should be made between source and subject.
The source is a stimulus for an image or idea. For example, a bone can be the source for a work of sculpture. D Martin Camm, illustrator. Pygmy Right Whale, Caperea marginata. In Cawardine, Mark, and Martin Camm. The sculptor Henry Moore noted that he had a tendency to pick up shells at the beach that resembled his current work in progress.
In that way he recognized in nature a resemblance to forms he was already exploring in the studio. His sculpture of a mother embracing a child, for example, resembled the protective wrapping form of a broken shell he found. In turn the forms from nature he collected came to suggest possibilities for new figurative pieces. We can probably assume that the designers of the seaplane shown in C did not copy the form or light-dark pattern of the whale D.
Similar problems led to similar solutions, however. Both are streamlined for easy movement through the water. It is safe to assume that the engineers and designers did look at models from nature, and this influenced their solution.
Long before the training in seeing we get in art and design classes, we are trained by our exposure to mass media.
Television, film, internet, and print images provide examples that can influence our self-image and our personal relationships.
At times it seems that visual training demands a retraining of looking on slower, more conscious terms. Part of this looking process involves examining works of art and considering the images of mass media that shape our culture.
While this may seem like an esoteric exercise to the beginning student, an awareness of the power of familiar images is fundamental to understanding visual communication. Certain so-called high art images manage to become commonly known, or vernacular, through frequent reproduction.
In the case of a painting like Washington Crossing the Delaware, the image is almost as universally recognized as a religious icon once was. There is a long tradition of artists paying homage to the masters, and we can understand how an artist might study this or other paintings in an attempt to learn techniques.
A Jennifer Bartlett. In the Garden Drawing Courtesy Jennifer Bartlett, New York. B Jennifer Bartlett. Study for In the Garden detail: 54 of squares. Pencil, ink. Commission, Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia. Collection of the artist, New York. We expect artists and designers to be visually sensitive people who see things in the world that others might overlook and who look with special interest at the history of art and design. The source of imagery is clearly a garden pool.
The subject is the many ways of seeing the garden and thinking about painting. A variety of styles is presented in this series, which reflects both the process of looking at the original source and looking at art from various periods. George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware. Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York. D James Rosenquist. Collection of the artist.
However, George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware C , by the African American artist Robert Colescott, strikes a different relationship to the well-known painting we recognize as a source. Colescott plays with the familiarity of this patriotic image and startles us with a presentation of negative black stereotypes.
One American stereotype is overlaid on top of another, leading the viewer to confront preconceptions about both. James Rosenquist looks at billboards and advertising images, which form a significant part of our visual environment. He E James Rosenquist.
Looking, then, can be influenced by commercial images, which are as real an aspect of our lives as the elements of nature. Looking is a complex blend of conscious searching and visual recollections.
This searching includes looking at art, nature, and the vernacular images from the world around us, as well as formal research into new or unfamiliar subjects. What we hope to find are the elements that shape our own visual language. For most artists and designers this is thinking with the materials.
Trial and error, intuition, or deliberate application of a system is set into motion. At this point an idea starts to take form, whether in a sketch or in final materials. The artist Eva Hesse got right to the point with her observation on materials: Two points of view— 1.
Materials are lifeless until given shape by a creator. Materials by their own potential created their end. The work of Eva Hesse is known for embracing apparent contradictions. The studio view A presents a number of her sculptural works that embody both of the preceding points of view. There are also elements, such as the hanging, looping, and connecting ropes and cords that reflect the inherent potential of the materials.
Photographs of the sculptor David Smith at work B show the playful side of doing. We can see the degree to which he allowed the materials to create their own end. Just as a child might delight in building blocks becoming a castle, Smith let the forms of cardboard boxes define the proportions of sculpture he would later complete in steel C.
Smith stacked the boxes on a windowsill and taped them to the window as he assembled each study. The influence of the window as a support shows through in the predominantly two-dimensional composition of the final pieces. Installation photograph by Gretchen Lambert. Courtesy Robert Miller Gallery. Doing and Redoing When designers leave a record of their drawings, we are able in effect to see them doing their work. The four steps depicted lay out the defining geometry of the scallop shell, and the first step shows that a circle provides the underlying form.
These four drawings provide the map to the final version E , but undoubtedly other possibilities were explored before this one was settled on.
Today, drawings such as these would probably be done on a computer, which can greatly speed up the viewing of alternative possibilities.
The doing step in the design process obviously involves continuous looking and thinking, yet more than one artist, writer, or composer has observed that doing takes over with a life of its own.
An artwork takes shape through you, and as it does you may find yourself wondering where the time went or what you were thinking of when a work session ends.
This experience is exhilarating but includes the elements of risk and failure. A wonderful film of the painter Philip Guston at work ends with him covering over his picture with white to begin again. Guston accepted such a setback along the way as normal and even necessary. His experience told him that revision would allow an idea to grow beyond an obvious or familiar starting point.
D Raymond Loewy. Steps in the development of a new Shell logo, E Raymond Loewy. Revision of Shell logo, You could have direct dialogue with a professor in front of a work in progress, or your entire class could review a completed work A and B.
Critique can also be a self-critique and take the form of a journal entry. A variety of creative people, from artists to composers to authors, generally affirm that criticism is best left for after the design or composition is completed. A free and flexible approach to any studio work can be stifled by too much criticism too soon. The components of a constructive critique can vary, but a critique is most valid when linked to the criteria for the artwork, design, or studio assignment.
Such a critique could also include cultural or historic precedents for how such an object might be depicted. A drawing of an apple that has been sliced in half and is seen from above would offer an unusual point of view.
An apple presented alongside a serpent would present a A A professor critiques a work in progress. Both approaches would be more than a simple representation and would offer contrasting points of view.
Nevertheless, both drawings may be subject to a critique of their composition. A Model for Critique A constructive model for critique would include the following: Description: A verbal account of what is there.
Interpretation: A sense of the meaning, implications, or effect of the piece. A simple description of a drawing that includes a snake and an apple might lead us to conclude that the drawing is an illustration for a biology text. Further description, analysis, and interpretation could lead us to understand other meanings and the emphasis of the drawing. And, in the case of a critique, thoughtful description, analysis, and interpretation might help the artist or the viewer see other, more dynamic possibilities for the drawing.
C Mark Tansey. A Short History of Modernist Painting. Collection Steve and Maura Shapiro. The many sections devoted to principles and elements of art and design in this text are each a potential component for critique. For example, the text may point out how color brings emphasis to a composition, and further discussion could reveal other aspects such as size, placement, and cultural context. The critique process is an introduction to the critical context in which artists and designers work.
Mature artworks are subject to critical review, and professional designers submit to the review of clients and members of their design teams. Future theory and criticism is pushed along by new designs and artworks. You may feel your work has been subjected to an aggressive cleansing process. You may feel you are butting your head against the wall.
Unity means that a congruity or agreement exists among the elements in a design; they look as though they belong together, as though some visual connection beyond mere chance has caused them to come together. Another term for the same idea is harmony. If the various elements are not harmonious, if they appear separate or unrelated, your pattern falls apart and lacks unity.
The image in A illustrates the idea of a high degree of unity. When we look at the elements in this design, we immediately see that they are all somewhat similar. This harmony, or unity, is not merely from our recognizing all of the objects are paint cans. Unity is achieved through the repetition of the oval shapes of the cans. Linear elements such as the diagonal shadows and paint sticks are also repeated.
The subtle grays of the metal cans unify a composition accented by a few bright colors. Such a unity can exist with either representational imagery or abstract forms. A Wayne Thiebaud. Paint Cans. Lithograph, hand worked proof, DeYoung Museum gift of the Thiebaud Family, The wrenches in B vary with surprising elegance from large to small, simple to complex, and straight to curved.
However, a fundamental unity based on a similar shape would be apparent to us even if these were unfamiliar objects.
Seen simply as cutout shapes, the variety of silhouettes in C would be apparent. Alex Katz balances this variation with the unity of the repeated portrait of his wife, Ada. This approach of theme and variation is the essence of the concept of unity. Where Does Unity Come From? Unity of design is planned and controlled by an artist. Sometimes it stems naturally from the elements chosen, as in these examples.
But more often it reflects the skill of the designer to create a unified pattern from varied elements. Just as a composition in a writing class is not merely a haphazard collection of words and punctuation marks, so too a visual composition is not a careless scattering of random items around a format.
Adjustable-wrench collage illustration pg. Smithsonian Magazine, February C Alex Katz. Black Jacket. Des Moines Art Center gift in honor of Mrs. Meredith, Permanent Collection, This concept differentiates a design from the typical scrapbook page. In a scrapbook each item is meant to be observed and studied individually, to be enjoyed and then forgotten as your eye moves on to the next souvenir. The result may be interesting but is not a unified design.
Exploring Visual Unity The collage in A is a design. It is similar to a scrapbook in that it contains many diverse images, but we are aware first of the pattern the elements make together, and then we begin to enjoy the items separately. Do not confuse intellectual unity with visual unity.
Visual unity denotes some harmony or agreement between the items that is apparent to the eye. To say that a scrapbook page is unified because all the items have a common theme your family, your wedding, your vacation at the beach is unity of idea—that is, a conceptual unity not observable by the eye. A unifying idea will not necessarily produce a unified pattern. The fact that all the elements in A deal with African American history is interesting but irrelevant to the visual organization.
The unity in B does not derive from recognizing all the items in the design as plant specimens. The visual unity stems from the repetition of spiral forms and curved linear features. Then the variety of thick and thin, darkness, and arrangement add interest.
The need for visual unity does not deny that very often there is also an intellectual pleasure in design. Many times the task of a designer is to convey an idea or theme. Now the visual unity function is important along with an intellectual reading of the design. One example can show this dual appreciation. The poster in C is for a series of noontime concerts in downtown Seattle. The unity and idea is immediately seen in a design of lined-up lunch bags. Each bag contains an element of the varied programs.
Collage for National Geographic magazine. January Pumpkin Tendrils. Designers: Pat Hansen, Jesse Doquilo. Illustrator: Steve Coppin. C Grouping similar shapes makes us see a plus sign in the center. B The white diagonal is as obvious as the two groups of rectangles. The viewer does not want to see confusion or unrelated chaos.
The designer must provide some clues, but the viewer is already attempting to find some coherent pattern and unity. Indeed, when such a pattern cannot be found, chances are the viewer will simply ignore the image.
This is one of the conclusions that studies in the area of perception have shown. Since early in the twentieth century, psychologists have done a great deal of research on visual perception, attempting to discover just how the eye and brain function together.
Much of this research is, of course, very technical and scientific, but it is useful for the artist or designer to understand some of the basic findings. The most widely known of these perception studies is called the gestalt theory of visual psychology. How We Look for Unity Consider a few elementary concepts that only begin to suggest the range of studies in perception.
Researchers have concluded that viewers tend to group objects that are close to each other into a larger unit. Our first impression of A is not merely some random squares but two groups of smaller elements. Negative or empty spaces will likewise appear organized.
In B viewers immediately see the many elements as two groups. However, with all the shapes ending on two common boundaries, the impression of the slanted white diagonal shape is as strong as the various rectangles. Also, our brain will tend to relate and group objects of a similar shape. In D the pattern is not merely many circles of various sizes. The elements that make up the Richard Prince painting shown in E are easily identified as three ellipses and a circle in a white field.
The close proximity of the four black shapes forms a constellation, and the smaller parts give way to the organization of the larger pattern. In this case it is possible to see this configuration as a startled clownlike face. The impulse to form unity or a visual whole out of a collection of parts can also work on an architectural scale. The Beaubourg F is a contemporary art center in Paris. Conduits and structural features that are usually hidden form the outer shell of the building.
This potentially chaotic assortment of pipes and scaffolding is given visual unity by the constant repetition of vertical ducts, square structural framing, and circular openings. Our brain looks for similar elements, and when we recognize them we see a cohesive design rather than unorganized chaos. My Funny Valentine. The four elements in A appear isolated, as floating bits with no relationship to each other.
By putting them close together, as in B, we begin to see them as a total, related pattern. Proximity is a common unifying factor. Through proximity we recognize constellations in the skies and, in fact, are able to read. Change the proximity scheme that makes letters into words and reading becomes next to impossible. However, these light elements are not placed aimlessly around the composition but, by proximity, are arranged carefully to unite visually.
Four of the figures form the apex of an equilateral triangle at the center of the painting. This triangle provides a stable unifying effect. Notice how these small clusters connect, forming the larger constellation of the whole composition. The elements are visually tied together by proximity. Our eyes move smoothly from one item to the next. Proximity is the simplest way to achieve unity, and many artworks employ this technique. Without proximity with largely isolated elements , the artist must put greater stress on other methods to unify an image.
D Elizabeth Osborne. Still Life with Red Bowl. Private collection. Photo courtesy of Locks Gallery, Philadelphia. As the term implies, something simply repeats in various parts of the design to relate the parts to each other.
The element that repeats may be almost anything: a color, a shape, a texture, a direction, or an angle. This shape is repeated in different sizes and positions. The result is a composition that is unified but not predictable.
The obvious aspect is the repetition of the cut pencil fragments. The unity created by these many repeated parts is strengthened by the continuous line and cohesive mass of the assembled form. A Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Composition with Circles Shaped by Curves. Kunstmuseum Bern gift of Mrs. Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach. Repetition can be a unifying factor in a representational painting. See also: Rhythm, pages — The Art Institute of Chicago, Collection of Zoe and Joel Dictrow.
C Edgar Degas. The Millinery Shop. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, The design in A is unified by the closeness and the character of the elements. The shapes no longer float casually. They are now organized into a definite, set pattern.
Other subtle lines of continuation visually unite the many shapes and colors of what might otherwise be a chaotic composition. A Proximity and similarity unify a design. In one series of photographs, she would catch passing trucks as an edge of the truck would visually align with a distant roofline or a foreground pole.
This alignment would connect these disparate elements for an instant, resulting in a unified image. In D Groover employs a more subtle form of continuation, which results in a fluid eye movement around the picture. One shape leads to the next, and alignments are part of this flow. Three-Dimensional Design Continuation is not only an aspect of two-dimensional composition. Three-dimensional forms such as the automobile shown in E can utilize this design principle. In this case the line of the windshield continues in a downward angle as a line across the fender.
A sweeping curve along the top of the fender also connects the headlight and a crease leading to the door handle. B The unity of the same elements is intensified. The Living Room. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. D Jan Grover.
Janet Borden, Inc. Serial Design The artist has almost unlimited choices in how to apply the concept of continuation in a single design. Item may show signs of shelf wear. Books by David A. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. This is an absolutely amazing book. I do not like the layout of this book ironically, but it is a good chunk of information that touches on all the basics of design a. Design Basics by David A. Fast Shipping from California. Preview — Design Basics by David A.
Design Basics Lauer Refine Results. I davis recommended this book to all design students. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting.
It skims all the issues of the eye, but I feel my own research into the subject helped me learn more desibn the end. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Refresh and try again. It is full of illustrated examples and great works of art.
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. I think it would have been helpful to have more color images, but the exampl This was a good basic introduction to art and design principles. Search this site. Larson Download. Black Download. Scott Download. PDF Online Delicioso! PDF Online Delphi for.
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