Emily chaffer ec256366 601

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How relevant is the psychological and scientific study of composition to design practice? Chapter I The principle of composition in image making is difficult to define. Its use has varied across several periods and practices - from linear perspective in Renaissance art to isometric perspective in Japanese and Chinese painting (Hockney, D and Gaynor, M. 2016). All of which may see influence of in contemporary design practice. The Cleveland Institute of Arts, in their ‘Glossary of Terms’, best defines the principle of composition to introduce the context in which it will be analysed in this essay: “The organising of elements of an artwork into a unified whole; the arrangement of pictorial elements in a picture plane” (Cleveland Institute of Art, Glossary of Terms) The core argument of this essay will be constructed surrounding the psychological and scientific study of art by theorists Rudolf Arnheim (1974) in “Art and Visual Perception”, Denman Ross (1907) in his text “A Theory of Pure Design”, and Gestalt Psychology. Through the study of the human eye and mind, these theorists focus upon the importance of composition through the defining principles of balance, order, harmony and rhythm. This will be further supported by the practice or comment of past and present art and design practitioners. The relevance of these psychological and scientific theories to contemporary design practice will be explored though three primary methods of analysis: The first chapter relates the key theories to the core constructs of design practice – visual appeal, function or legibility and creative problem solving. The objective being to further understand how understanding such theories can benefit and, or correlate with the necessary elements of a design work. The second chapter evaluates the works of contemporary designers in relation to these theories, whether used consciously or unconsciously within their practice, to understand the relevance of these principles to the present day design industries. The third and final chapter analyses a body of work, one part of which has been created with the conscious use of compositional rules derived from the theorists stated above, and another two parts made through creative intuition and then purposefully breaking these outlined principles. By evaluating the success of each set of images, this practical work aims to judge the effect of creative intuition against rule-led image making as well as question the importance of balance and order to image making – can chaos be beautiful?

Emily Chaffer

LAUIL601 Draft Essay


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