Syllabus

Relationship(s) between the elements of design and principles of design. 11 ATAR, 12 GEN, 12 ATAR

Background

We have been learning about the elements and principles of design.

If we look at them separately, they mean very little.

The relationship of how they work together is everything.

Why are some people better at designing than others? There are several answers to this question.

• Answer 1. It is because someone is naturally a very good designer, or they have a 'good eye' for design.
• Answer 2. It is because they have had training and with practice, they get better and better results. Especially if exposed to a lot of designs by other people, along with discussion of what works and what doesn't work, and why.

See below for more details about Answer 2.

Details

 Example 1 - Student X

Has been asked to make a poster to promote a school event.

Has been given criteria such as;

• needs to be about athletics,
• minimal text,
• Olympic theme to it,
• fun on it somewhere

Student X starts by getting some photos and starts to place these on the poster. Adds some text and some funny looking cartoons from clipart. Adds more pics as desired and then hands it in for marking.

Example 2 - Student Y

Has been asked to make a poster to promote a school event.

Has been given criteria such as;

• needs to be about athletics,
• minimal text,
• Olympic theme to it,
• fun on it somewhere

Student Y looks around the school at other posters to see which ones have got some good ideas to use.

Thinks of the elements to use and where best to place them for the best effect.(this is the relationship)

Makes a sketch plan (or 2) of what it may look like.

Shows the sketches to friends and the teacher explaining why items are in the poster. Asks for feedback on this.

Starts to make the poster.

Asks for feedback from a friend or teacher.

Makes changes based on the feedback, or not.

Finalises the image and then does self evaluation.

Asks for evaluation from a friend. If time and final feedback is valid, then make changes. If not, then no  changes would be needed.

Submits the poster for assessment.

 For You To Do

1. Are you more like Student X or Student Y? Why?
2. How would you make a poster 'balanced' if you were using 2 large trees or shapes?
3. What colour would you use to get the feeling of warmth in your poster?
4. How would you get the principle of  unity - repetition into a poster?
5. Which compositional rule helps the most when trying to make many elements line up in an organised way.
6. Given the idea of reading gravity (reading from left to right), where would you generally place text. Why?

Found an error or enhancement? Please fill out this contact us form.