Design Principles Week 4 & 5 | Harmony & Unity

Week 04 - Week 05
Shamiella Baziella Binti Mohamad (0333104) 
Bachelor of Mass Communication (Hons) (Digital Media Production)

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LECTURES 

Week 04: 
In this week's lecture, we were introduced on harmony, unity, symbol, word, and image. The key concepts are covered as below:

• Harmony

- a sense that all of the elements of design fit together. They may fit the same theme, aesthetic style, or mood. 

- involves the selection of elements that share a common trait. 

Figure 1.0: Examples of Harmony 

• Unity
- refers to the repetition of particular elements; be it color, shape, or materials to pull the look together.
- elements are composed in such a way that they are balanced and give a sense of oneness, creating a theme

Figure 1.1: Examples of Unity 

• Symbol 
- a sign, shape, or object that is used to represent something else

- provide or convey information

Figure 1.2  Symbols 

* Pictorial Symbol 
- image-related and simplified pictures

* Abstract Symbols
- represents certain objects but have less details 

*  Arbitrary Symbols 
- no resemblance to the objects or ideas they represent. 

• Word and Image
- imagery is a vital part of the design, in where viewers are able to relate to a concept or a brand by using the right images used in the work of design. Therefore, the use of images are important and must be suitable and relevant.

 

Figure 1.3: Example of Word and Image on Cover Books

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INSTRUCTIONS

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VISUAL RESEARCH

Below are a few of the inspirations that I found via Pinterest in which I intended to incorporate in my artwork.

Task 1: Harmony 

I stumbled upon these beautiful gouache watercolor paintings in Pinterest painted by Caleografia and I love how the artist incorporates the use of the colors, tones, and balance as it gives a sense of harmony in the artwork. 

Figure 1.4 Harmony Examples 

Task 2: Unity 
As for unity, I love how the elements of the artwork below come together and create a sense of wholeness. 

Figure 1.5: Unity Examples 

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IDEA EXPLORATION

Task 1: Harmony 

Below are a few of the ideas exploration that I found related to what am I working with currently by using watercolors and acrylic paints. 

Figure 1.6: Harmony Idea Exploration on Vinyl 

Figure 1.7: Harmony Idea Exploration on Canvas 

Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers as it symbolizes happiness, good luck, happiness, and it brings many meanings across the world. Different cultures believe it means anything from positivity and strength to admiration as well as loyalty. I decided to design a sunflower field scenery by using acrylic colors and acrylic painting paper. Below are the references of the sunflower field on what I intended to incorporate in my design. 

Figure 1.8: Sunflowers Field

Through the reference above, I started off by painting the sunflowers. Hence, below are my progression. 

Figure 1.9: Painting Sunflowers

Figure 2.0: Adding Colour to Different Flowers

Figure 2.1: Using Cotton Bud to Painted the Middle Part of the Sunflowers

Figure 2.2: Adding the Stem of the Sunflowers and Details 

Then, I added mini flowers and painted the background of the sunflower field. Hence, below is the first outcome of my sunflower field scenery. 

Figure 2.3: First Outcome on Harmony

Received feedbacks from Dr. Charles and he suggested me to added some details on the flower petals to enhance the color petals and enlarge the middle part of the sunflowers. Hence, I did some of the amendments according to the suggestions. 

Figure 2.4: Final Outcome on Harmony 

Task 2: Unity 
As for the 2nd task, I decided to incorporate flowers as flowers have different meanings attached to them. Below are the posters I found on Pinterest that represent unity at its best. 

Figure 2.5: Unity Idea Exploration 

I decided to choose tulips as it symbolizes perfect and deep love. Hence, with love, it can unite people for a  purpose be it- culture or peace, it has the power to unite the whole world with people coming from different backgrounds, races, and diversity. Ultimately, love and unity are closely intertwined!

Figure 2.6: Unity Idea Exploration 2

Below are the rough sketches I've done on what I intended to do. 

Figure 2.7: Unity Sketch 

Then, I started to paint them by using different colours in order to make them colorful. 

Figure 2.8: Painting Progression

Figure 2.9: First Outcome

I decided to add the black outlines to make the flowers stand out. On the other hand, I also wanted to emphasize that different colors on the tulips bring different meanings which eventually gives a strong sense of wholeness. 

Figure 3.0: First Outcome on Unity

After receiving feedback from Dr. Charles, he suggested to add details on the tulips specifically on the leaves and add a little color shadow. Hence, I did the amendment based on Dr. Charles's suggestions.

Figure 3.1: Final Outcome on Unity 

FINAL SUBMISSION

Figure 3.2: Final PDF Submission for Harmony & Unity 

and that concludes Task 3! 

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FEEDBACK

Dr. Charles suggested to overlap on the tulips by adding more tulips / makes the tulips 3D using papers (collage) as it gives a strong sense of unity.  

Dr. Charles suggested to add more details on the sunflower petals as well as the tulips leaves. 

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REFLECTION

I realized that time surely flies so fast and it's already the end of the exercise progression. Throughout this whole exercise; I learned quite a lot from the design principles itself particularly, contrast, balance, gestalt theory, harmony, emphasis, unity, and etc. Therefore, I get to understand and incorporate a few of the design principles in my artwork. Other than that, the feedback given by Dr. Charles was extremely helpful in such that it has pushed me to my best potential throughout the whole process. Dr. Charles also constantly provides us with a lot of suggestions and encourages us to explore in different ways in regards to our artworks. The option of making my artwork all manually gives me satisfaction although there might be room for improvement on every exercise I've done so far. Definitely, it takes a whole lot of time to do the artwork manually and juggling other assignments, but I'm proud to say that I'm satisfied with the final outcome.