Lessons · Teaching · the principles of design, which are what you do with them
The principles are what you do with the elements
The principles of design are balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, proportion and unity. They are the verbs: how the elements are arranged so the work holds together and leads the eye.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
Every display board you make for the next thirty years uses these whether you name them or not, and naming them is how you teach a child to improve a piece rather than to redo it. 'Where does your eye go first' is a question about emphasis, and a seven-year-old can answer it.
How to think about it
Pair each principle with the question it answers. Balance: does one side outweigh the other? Emphasis: where does the eye go first? Contrast: what is different enough to notice? Movement: where does the eye travel? Unity: does it look like one thing?
Worked example
Symmetrical balance is a mirror; asymmetrical balance is different weights that still settleBoth are balance. Asymmetry is not imbalance, and that is the distinction the paper tests.
Emphasis is the focal point, made by contrast, isolation, or placementAsk a class where their eye went first and they will find it without the word.
Pattern is repetition; rhythm is repetition with a beat to itThe same relationship as in music, which makes it the easiest cross-subject link there is.
Proportion is size relationships; scale is size against something knownA giant teacup is a scale decision, and children find scale hilarious and memorable.
Your turn
Name the principle that answers 'where does your eye go first'.
The focal point of a work is its
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Treating balance as symmetry. A composition with a large pale shape on one side and a small dark one on the other is balanced without being symmetrical, and options exploiting that appear on every paper.
Now you try
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