Design Principles - TASK 2 (Visual Analysis)

20.02.2024 - 05.03.2024 / Week 03 - Week 05
Ilhan Rayan bin Khairul Anwar / 0361205
Design Principles / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Task 2 - Visual Analysis

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LECTURES 

Topic 6: Visual Analysis

• Visual Analysis is a method of understanding designs that focus on visual elements and principles and recognising the choices a designer makes in their designs in order to communicate ideas, content or meanings.
• Visual Analysis is a critical part of visual literacy, a skill that helps people critically interpret images wherever they see them, such as on social media, in entertainment, advertisements, the news, or elsewhere.
• We are constantly confronted with visual media thanks to modern day technology and so practicing visual analysis can sharpen our critical thinking and judgemental skills so we can seek out answers rather than passively receiving information.
• Visual Analysis has three phases: Observation, Analysis, and Interpretation.
• Observation means closely looking and identifying visual elements of a design, thinking about what is being presented and interpreting it in our own words.
• Analysis requires us to think about our observations and form statements about the work based on those observations. We should think about specific visual elements that have been identified and think about how it adds to the design being presented. 
• Interpretation is when our observations and analysis work is combined with factual information about the design as well as historical context so we can understand the meaning of the design.

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INSTRUCTIONS

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PRACTICAL

For TASK 2 of Design Principles, we are required to assess, investigate, document and analyse the existing art/design work we selected in Task 1. We will study the design principles found in the work as well as the size, placement, purpose, effectiveness of the design in relation to the UNSDG goal that we have chosen.

Figure 1.1: "Ashes" by Wenqing Yan, 2021 (Link)

One of the main design principles I noticed was the use of contrasting colours as seen with the greenery inside of the helmet compared to the monotone greys used for the rest of the suit and the brown background. Because of how strong the contrast between the two colours are, the dull greys force the audience’s eye to shift towards the greenery in the helmet which becomes the main emphasis in this piece of art. The choice to have two primary colour palettes (green and grey) could also be attributed to the principle of Unity as the bright and vibrant greens help to bring balance against the drab greys and browns of this piece which in turn help to build on the artist’s message of how climate change will eventually destroy all nature and the only way we can survive is to have it become part of us. As seen by the choice of using green hair instead of any other hair colour, it creates this image of the person slowly blending in and becoming one with the nature inside of the helmet. 

One of the principles from Gestalt Theory, the Principle of Continuation is also present in this piece as seen with the tube coming out from the bottom of the helmet which moves and connects to the "backpack" the person is wearing. What this does is that it creates guiding lines for the viewer to see how all of the details present in the piece all lead to somewhere else and have a “practical” element in the design. One thing that I noticed while analysing this piece is that there aren’t any symbols present anywhere, which to me makes me believe that the artist intentionally did this to give the idea that this could happen to anybody and isn’t tied to any specific background or group.

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REFLECTION

Experience

I personally enjoyed doing this task for the most part as I enjoy writing in general so being able to describe what I see in a design is often entertaining for me. However I was not a fan of the word limit we were given as I often find it difficult to fully express anything I want to whenever I'm forced to write within a certain limit.

Observation

In my opinion, looking for design principles was the harder part of both this task and task 1 as I didn't have much practice or knowledge with them beforehand and having to look for them right off the bat was challenging at first, but after a while I was able to identify elements much more easily.

Findings

I found this task to be a good way for me to practice and apply my knowledge of the design principles as it helps me to better understand how to identify them and how to describe them.