Introduction to Fundamentals of Design I
(This page of notes, links, and photos is under construction and is regularly edited, corrected and updated. Material is for a course offered as part of North Island College's Metal Jewellery Design Program.)
(This page of notes, links, and photos is under construction and is regularly edited, corrected and updated. Material is for a course offered as part of North Island College's Metal Jewellery Design Program.)
Overview of the Course
We're going to try and synchronise the morning drawing course with this course. In the drawing course we will be refining skills associated with the Elements of Art/Design; drawing, rendering, techniques, media etc. In the afternoon we'll be considering composing these Elements by applying the Principles of Design. The schematic below sums up how we will be studying Design weekly over the next few months.
We're going to try and synchronise the morning drawing course with this course. In the drawing course we will be refining skills associated with the Elements of Art/Design; drawing, rendering, techniques, media etc. In the afternoon we'll be considering composing these Elements by applying the Principles of Design. The schematic below sums up how we will be studying Design weekly over the next few months.
Don't panic. This should be a fun class. You don't have to remember everything we look at. You just need to be familiar with it. Recognition trumps memory. If you are like me, when someone puts a gun to your head and asks you to list the elements of design and the principles of design you will struggle to do so. But mention one of them to me and I know very much what it means. There is lots of room for intuition and irrationality in the design process...don't panic!
In our first class we'll start by viewing some lovely little movies on design that can be found online. They will get us in the mood to design. You can review them at the links below.
'Creating a Brand-Fundamental Elements of Design' by Erica Gorochow. A very loosely organized romp through both the elements and principles of design and associated concepts and how they impact the branding of products (notice how most of the words up above crop up. All these words are just pegs upon which we can hang a concept which is often quite innate and intuitive). This relates to advertising of course, but you as an artist will be creating your own brand of art-object, and to do so successfully you will have all of the design elements and principles we cover in this course at your disposal. Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8x1Mb-8l04
'What is Design?' A little video apparently made by or for Virginia Tech. From the point of view of an individual fascinated by the design process and thrilled to be studying it at the institution. Shows lots of scribbling and doodling often essential to the design process.
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0y8Zi4uQSw
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0y8Zi4uQSw
'What is Design' by the Design Council of the UK. Another fun little overview of design and making. Yup. Design isn't just about designer underwear...Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyUklqKrrZ0
A list of Opposites Attributable to Design
Rational/Irrational
Intentional/ Intuitive
Procedural/Spontaneous
Methodical/Whimsical
Concrete/Flexible
Intellectual/Lyrical
Logical Thinking/Magical Thinking
Orderly/Randomly
Theoretical/Practical
What is Design?
We could actually go back to the beginning of everything, or the beginning of life itself to consider what design might be. Did a god intelligently and intentionally design all life and us? Or did we randomly evolve into existence? You might place the first proposition on the ‘left’ side of the above list with ‘orderly’, ‘intentional’, ‘rational’, and the second with ‘whimsical’, ‘spontaneous’, and ‘irrational’. Regardless of which of the above propositions you ‘believe’ to be true, either way represents a design process. If there were a god or an intelligent designer, it designed with intent and designed us and all the operational, reproducing life forms and ecosystems that surround us. But intention-less evolution is a design process itself; it is essentially an algorithm for replicating and evolving organic living systems. Or any system. Evolutionary design proceeds through trial and error, through a long process called random variable selection in which vast quantities of random occurrences either ’work’ or don’t work as well. If they don’t work as well they fail to replicate as rapidly as more successful variants and eventually become less prominent or disappear altogether. If they do work exceptionally well they replicate rapidly and become dominant. No intelligence, no sentience, no conscious intent is required for evolutionary design. There are already design processes that have been used by computers using evolutionary style algorithms to design. Both intelligent design and random variable selection evoke processes that we can utilize in our own design work. Sometimes you will find yourself willing objects intentionally into existence through a rational step by step work flow process. This sort of design process follows The Rational Model. But at other times ideas will just present themselves -pop into existence in your head - by the dozen in a kind of primordial soup from which you will make random variable selections. Your mind is working unconsciously, without obvious intent, according to a kind of architecture of thought. This design process is responsive and erratic and resembles the Action-Centric Model.
Both models of design have value, and might even be woven together in your design process. Whatever works best for you is best. I’ll be encouraging you to try both, and will encourage looking at design fundamentals from either of these two models.
So, in the world at large what constitutes ‘design‘? Many disciplines fall under the umbrella of design; here is a list copied from Wikipedia:
Applied arts, architecture, automotive design, benchmarking design, communication design, configuration design, engineering design, environmental graphic design, fashion design, game design, graphic design, information architecture, industrial design, instructional design, interaction design, interior design, landscape architecture, lighting design, process design, service design, sound design, systems architecture, systems design, systems modelling, transition design, urban design, user experience design, visual design, web design, biological design.
The list is in no way comprehensive, and each category might have sub disciplines within it. Wikipedia has actually listed sub disciplines for visual design and these apparently include:
Art director, animator, graphic designer, creative director, illustrator, industrial engineer, instructional designer, marketing communications, presentation, technical writing, visual arts.
Jewellery design is missing from the main list and the above sub-list. Where would we fit it? Visual design? Product design? Fashion design? Sculptural design? I would suggest all of the above. The skills you use to make and design jewellery can incorporate many aspects of art and design; drawing, sculpture, painting, modelling, schematics.
Again, what is design? The making of all things is the result of design; design is ubiquitous to human activity. Everything we make, with tools or our bare hands, requires, consciously or unconsciously, some precognition and forethought, a design process. How we go about it is often a mystery, but hopefully in this brief course we can review and apply the fundamental art/design elements and design principles so that we can understand something of how design happens in order to stimulate our own creativity.
Design is a template, a set of instructions, a process, a cluster of languages of sorts, associated with a cluster of design disciplines. When two or more people work together to design something, if they understand the language of design they can exchange or critique ideas and concepts with greater ease and clarity.
'Design is a verb as well as a noun'. While a finished object or entity can be considered 'a design', design also applies to the process of conceiving an object. This 'design process' might take place in your head, in a sketchbook, in careful technical drawings, or, more frequently these days, in a 3D design program. Design can still take place as you actually make an object with your hands, but efficiencies in use of material and time can be found by pre-conceiving your finished product. The final 'design' you arrive at as a part of a 'design process' is essentially a set of plans for the creation of the actual finished product to be made by you, another person, or a manufacturer. Here are a couple of definitions that cover design as verb and noun:
Design: (noun) a specification for an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of components, satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints.
Design: (verb) to create a design, in an environment where the designer operates.
Rational/Irrational
Intentional/ Intuitive
Procedural/Spontaneous
Methodical/Whimsical
Concrete/Flexible
Intellectual/Lyrical
Logical Thinking/Magical Thinking
Orderly/Randomly
Theoretical/Practical
What is Design?
We could actually go back to the beginning of everything, or the beginning of life itself to consider what design might be. Did a god intelligently and intentionally design all life and us? Or did we randomly evolve into existence? You might place the first proposition on the ‘left’ side of the above list with ‘orderly’, ‘intentional’, ‘rational’, and the second with ‘whimsical’, ‘spontaneous’, and ‘irrational’. Regardless of which of the above propositions you ‘believe’ to be true, either way represents a design process. If there were a god or an intelligent designer, it designed with intent and designed us and all the operational, reproducing life forms and ecosystems that surround us. But intention-less evolution is a design process itself; it is essentially an algorithm for replicating and evolving organic living systems. Or any system. Evolutionary design proceeds through trial and error, through a long process called random variable selection in which vast quantities of random occurrences either ’work’ or don’t work as well. If they don’t work as well they fail to replicate as rapidly as more successful variants and eventually become less prominent or disappear altogether. If they do work exceptionally well they replicate rapidly and become dominant. No intelligence, no sentience, no conscious intent is required for evolutionary design. There are already design processes that have been used by computers using evolutionary style algorithms to design. Both intelligent design and random variable selection evoke processes that we can utilize in our own design work. Sometimes you will find yourself willing objects intentionally into existence through a rational step by step work flow process. This sort of design process follows The Rational Model. But at other times ideas will just present themselves -pop into existence in your head - by the dozen in a kind of primordial soup from which you will make random variable selections. Your mind is working unconsciously, without obvious intent, according to a kind of architecture of thought. This design process is responsive and erratic and resembles the Action-Centric Model.
Both models of design have value, and might even be woven together in your design process. Whatever works best for you is best. I’ll be encouraging you to try both, and will encourage looking at design fundamentals from either of these two models.
So, in the world at large what constitutes ‘design‘? Many disciplines fall under the umbrella of design; here is a list copied from Wikipedia:
Applied arts, architecture, automotive design, benchmarking design, communication design, configuration design, engineering design, environmental graphic design, fashion design, game design, graphic design, information architecture, industrial design, instructional design, interaction design, interior design, landscape architecture, lighting design, process design, service design, sound design, systems architecture, systems design, systems modelling, transition design, urban design, user experience design, visual design, web design, biological design.
The list is in no way comprehensive, and each category might have sub disciplines within it. Wikipedia has actually listed sub disciplines for visual design and these apparently include:
Art director, animator, graphic designer, creative director, illustrator, industrial engineer, instructional designer, marketing communications, presentation, technical writing, visual arts.
Jewellery design is missing from the main list and the above sub-list. Where would we fit it? Visual design? Product design? Fashion design? Sculptural design? I would suggest all of the above. The skills you use to make and design jewellery can incorporate many aspects of art and design; drawing, sculpture, painting, modelling, schematics.
Again, what is design? The making of all things is the result of design; design is ubiquitous to human activity. Everything we make, with tools or our bare hands, requires, consciously or unconsciously, some precognition and forethought, a design process. How we go about it is often a mystery, but hopefully in this brief course we can review and apply the fundamental art/design elements and design principles so that we can understand something of how design happens in order to stimulate our own creativity.
Design is a template, a set of instructions, a process, a cluster of languages of sorts, associated with a cluster of design disciplines. When two or more people work together to design something, if they understand the language of design they can exchange or critique ideas and concepts with greater ease and clarity.
'Design is a verb as well as a noun'. While a finished object or entity can be considered 'a design', design also applies to the process of conceiving an object. This 'design process' might take place in your head, in a sketchbook, in careful technical drawings, or, more frequently these days, in a 3D design program. Design can still take place as you actually make an object with your hands, but efficiencies in use of material and time can be found by pre-conceiving your finished product. The final 'design' you arrive at as a part of a 'design process' is essentially a set of plans for the creation of the actual finished product to be made by you, another person, or a manufacturer. Here are a couple of definitions that cover design as verb and noun:
Design: (noun) a specification for an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of components, satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints.
Design: (verb) to create a design, in an environment where the designer operates.