Design Principles Task 2

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

|| Leong Hui Xuan 0365793
|| 22/02/2025- 03/03/2025 (Week 3 - Week 5)
|| Bachelor of Design in Creative Media 
|| Task 2 : Visual Analysis and Ideation

Table of Content

 LECTURES

⭘ Visual Analysis
- Method of understand design (visual elements and principles).
- Explanation of visual structure.
- Better understand on the formal properties of ideas, cntent or meaning.
- Improved critical judgement skills and helps people observe information.
- Visual analysis is a skill that helps people read and critically interpret images in their daily life.

HOW IT WORK?
  • Observation
  • Analysis
  • Interpretation
Observation:
- Closely looking and identify visual elements, before read the information about the design.
- Looking, Thinking and Finding good language.

Analysis:
Think more about observations and combines the visual elements that identified to create design principles that complete work of design/ art. 

Interpretation:
- Fused with facts, think about the meaning and the purpose of the design.


 PROCESS WORK
Basically, we need to analyse the artwork that we choose in Task 1 with design principles and languages, then sketch 3 ideas that show how the chosen design could be improved and describe it with rationale.

Figure 1.1, Launching the Currach by James O'Halloran. (Source: HERE)

Title: Launching the Currach
Artist: James O'Halloran
Year: 2003
Size: 51 by 61cm., 20 by 24in.
Medium: Oil on Panel


Observation:

This artwork (F1.1) is a landscape format, showing a seaside scene with three humans and a boat. The central is a man standing in the water helping two other humans who are seated inside the boat. The boat is positioned horizontally, the background is a calm ocean with the horizon just visible and another small boat in the distance. For visual elements, the main colours are dominated by cool tones such as blue, turquoise and green. Warmer tones, such as yellow and brown. Overall, the loose brushwork and the harmonious colours have an impressionist style, especially the paint of water and sky, which gives the artwork a soft visual effect.

Analysis:

Figure 1.2, Label of principles

The emphasis is on the standing human in the foreground interaction with the boat is striking (refer to the F1.2, number 1 red colour). The colours of the boat and the humans contrast with the ocean and its focal point position (refer F1.2, number 2 light blue colour and number 3 green colour), focusing the viewer's attention on the boat and humans. There is a strong sense of the figure/ground principle (refer to the F1.2, number 4 indigo colour). The figures in the foreground are larger and more detailed, while the small boat and horizon in the distance fade into the background with softer and lighter tones showing the distance. The repetition of blue hues in the water, sky and the reflected light of the boat and humans creates unity (refer to F1.2, number 5 purple colour). Lastly, the standing human in the foreground is positioned close to the left vertical third of the painting, while the right side human figures in the boat is at the right vertical third and the boat is placing at the middle of the horizontal thrid which show the rule of third (refer to F1.2, number 6 yellow colour).


Interpretation:

The artist James O'Halloran born, in 1955, is an Irish painter known for his oil-on-panel (Web, 2017) artwork that captures intimate moments of light and colour in domestic and coastal environments. The painting "Launching the Currach" captures a moment in Ireland's seafaring tradition. The Curatchee (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025) is a traditional Irish boat that has been an integral part of Ireland's coastal communities for centuries. In this artwork, James O'Halloran paints the collaborative effort of launching a currach, emphasising themes of cooperation and tradition. The description of the characters working together to keep the boat afloat highlights the collective effort necessary for seafaring activities.

MOODBOARD:
Figure 1.3,Moodboard
Sources:
SKETCHES:


Sketch 1:
Figure 1.4, Sketch 1

Sketch 1 (F1.4) is a top view of a boat floating on a lake surrounded by lotus leaves. The boat is the focal point placed in the centre of the canvas, the ripples of the water guide the viewer's eyes to the focal point, and the lotus leaves help enrich the content.

Sketch 2:
Figure 1.5, Sketch 2

Sketch 2 (F1.5) is a peaceful sea scene with the two humans on the right side of the boat watching the fish jump out from the water, besides the boat, there is a lighthouse on the left side. The composition creates a sense of asymmetrical balance. 

Sketch 3:
Figure 1.6, Sketch 3

Sketch 3, (F1.6) the boat as an abandoned ship, is in a sea of flowers. The inspiration comes from the blue and green colour of the chosen artwork, which reminds me that the plants also have similar colours. The compositions of the artwork create a strong figure/ground principle.


 FEEDBACK
Week 4: 
General Feedback: Continue on task 1 and edit the photo mention that where is the principle for viewer to understand.
Specific Feedback: Add on principle rule of third, and mention the in-text citation in analysis text with "refer to F1.2, number 1".

Week 5: 
General Feedback: Sketches acceptable, need to edit the sketch 1 composition of boat and lotus leaf.
Specific Feedback: The Lotus leaf is bigger than the boat so the perspective is wrong need to be smaller than the boat and put the reference images link.


REFLECTION

Experience:

For task 2, we need to create 3 sketches about the improvement with the principles mentions in the selected artwork and our analysis. Based on what we have learnt in the lecturer's video and in the past, we need to understand which part of the work the design principles can help the art work to be more interesting, combine them to create different visual effects. 

Observation:

After browsing a lot of artwork online, I got some inspiration from references on the combination of principles and how to apply different principles to improve the selected artwork. Finding and understanding these artworks allowed me to quickly understand the application of design principles and the visual effects they brought to the creation of sketches. I used the references and the selected artwork as inspiration to create a new sketch, but some elements of it are still related to the selected artwork.

Findings:

Design principles and elements can make the artwork look more logical, whether it is the Gestalt theory in the design principle, highlighting the foreground, middle ground and background to make them look more real, or the principle of harmony, combining the principle of similar colours to make the picture look harmonious, enriching the colours, and making the picture look not monotonous. I need to apply the principles more carefully and make sure it is in the right way.





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