In this unit of familiarizing myself with the concept of design, one of the tasks was to review elements of design found in this document, before setting out to find examples of these elements in practice. Below are pictures I took that represent my understanding of various elements of design.

Color

Color is used in design to convey purpose, focus and mood. In the case of this picture, the red signs are functioning with the purpose of keeping vehicles to try and drive in their direction. The color red is conventionally associated with words such as “stop” and “no”. The use of red in these signs are effective because even if a driver can’t read the words on the tallest sign, they still get a very clear message that reads “don’t go this way”. Additionally, this bright red stands out in the neighborhood background of blues, greens and browns, making the signs almost impossible to miss.

Typography

The University of Mary Washington emphasizes the importance of the acronym ASPIRE, which stands for accountability, scholarship, personal and institutional integrity, inclusive excellence, respect and civility, and engagement. ASPIRE represents the core principles that the university strives to uphold, and it shows itself in the design of this banner. The multicolored letters are all capitalized, placing visual importance to them. The letters also overlap, showing how all these concepts carry value and must coexist. Lastly, the full meanings of these letters being jumbled around the acronym in different sizes and directions fill up some of the empty space on the white background.

Rhythm

The element of rhythm is seen through patterns, repetition and alteration. In this example, the path is made of bricks that are cut the same way, with each pair of the same orientation forming a square. These squares are then alternated in a checkerboard fashion, thus creating a pattern. This pattern moves literally as we ourselves walk along the path, and every step we take lands us on alternating directions of identical brick.

Dominance

Dominance is exhibited in design as the object that our eyes are naturally drawn to first. In this instance, the windchime is the focus of the image, despite all the details that surround it. Everything revolving around the windchime is of organic matter, contrasting the metallic and geometric build of the chime. Additionally, the center of the image is where the light is brightest, while the edges fade darker. This allows for emphasis to be placed on the center of the image, further drawing attention to the windchime, which seems almost out of place in this setting.

Reflection

This assignment had me thinking a lot about intent and effect when it comes to design. There are a lot of things that can make a design effective, and how you use the various elements of design will determine just how effective your design will be for whatever purpose it’s made for.