Brief Comment

Dondis, just like the first reading we covered of his writing, encapsulates design elements in a way that is comfortable to read. The topics in chapter 6 are interesting to me because now we are using the base elements of design he described, such as lines and shape, and putting them together in interesting ways to demonstrate composition ideas. When reading this chapter, there were many great design keypoints that I didn’t even realize I thought about when analyzing art. I often chalked up my improvements as ‘it just feels better on the eye’ without actually considering why. This chapter helped to point out some of those ideas. However, some of the points did seem repetitive to me, such as simplicity/intricacy and understatement/exaggeration. On top of that, I did not agree with some of his examples, such as 6.21 a as well as 6.32 b and c.

Balance and Instability

Balance and instability have always appealed to me when creating my own art. I enjoy cosidering where the art is the ‘heaviest’ or if balanced, how to evenly distribute the weight of my ideas across the canvas. Another way I like to think about balance and instability is as gravity: do I want a focal point to gravitate all attention towards itself? or do I want a collection of smaller bodies each with their own gravities in orbit? I enjoy playing around with this concept and trying to find balance with elements that seem hard to control, which is why balance and instability appeals to me.

Sharpness and Diffusion

Another concept that Dondis covered that appeals to me is sharpness and diffusion because both can be greatly impactful to the piece that one is working on and often has to be considered. For example, companies typically go for a sharp design = it’s easy to print, overlay on publications, and edit in design. On the other hand, diffusion is often used in illustrative pieces using realism. Most commonly, sharpness and diffusion are used together and can convey shape, tone, and more. It has a wide range of uses together and is interesting to look at. For example, Rachel’s self portrait used both watercolor (diffusion) and marker (sharp) brushes to create an interesting affect that other’s picked up on in class. An artist that I follow online, Baot Pham has a wonderful use of sharpness and diffusion.