This material has not presented in a meaning of tutorial. Is just a list of important points in designing, planning or judging a planned design. It is important for me to act accordingly to those principles.
Hope that it will be a good review for anyone who works with designing jewelry.
Through my entire career as a designer I had a lots of books; one that I loved and used the most was: Handbook of Decorative Design and Ornament by Mary Jean Alexander., from which I have extracted some definitions.
Design- and -
Decorative design- are not the same.
Design means the creation of a plan for the making of any object that is intended to have aesthetic merit and if necessary, function properly. Two aspects are involved: the utilitarian and decorative.
Decorative design , is not a thing in itself - it decorates something else.It requires space and choice of line, form ( used two-dimensionally), and sometime color or value, arranged in a pleasing and orderly manner.
Decoration and ornament should be used only when they add to the appearance of whatever they are intended to decorate. It should strengthen and emphasize the original design idea and never compete with it.
Decorative design is divided in two categories:
1. Decorative motifs
2. Systems of arrangements or patterns.
The aim of a designer is to make a good design.
Good design is achieved on the basis of principles and elements commons to all art.
Anyone who works with design , must know and thoroughly understand them , and to be able to apply them correctly
They are: unity, harmony, emphasis, subordination and dominance, contrast, variety, rhythm, balance , scale and proportion, line and form; the importance of value.
Unity - is achieved by a choice and an arrangement of parts that produces a single, orderly whole.
Every part is disposed to unite with the whole that it may thereby escape its own incompleteness.
Each part must be essential in itself, and at the same time add to the total effect. A definite center of interest that sets the character of the design will help to assure a unified design. repetition and similarity will often create unity, but to much of either can make a design uninteresting or monotonous.
Harmony - means the restful relationship of parts to one another and requires a balancing of straight, curved and diagonal lines when used together.
Emphasis - including Dominance and Subordination.
Emphasis- requires that one idea of design theme be dominant. Dominance is the effect of superior importance.The design should be planned so that the eye is irresistibly drawn to the basic theme, with the rest of the design seen in order of importance. Emphasis is imperative to unity. Subordination is the effect of inferior importance.
When working out a design, a good method is to start by evaluating the material to be used in order of importance, and decided the beginning what it will be the center of interest. Then determinate how important each subordinate part will be.
Contrast - the purpose of contrast is to make one line, form,value or color stand out more sharply when using against another, giving more emphasis.
Variety - is the lack of sameness - a combining of different ideas and qualities.It used to furnishing vitality, and sometime excitement to a design.
Rhythm -is a disciplined movement, with a recurrence of strong and week elements - the measured repetition of accents. Rhythm results when all parts of a design are perfectly coordinated.
There are three general ways of achieving rhythm in design:
1. through the repetition of the line, form pattern,value or color;
2.through progression of size or shape
3. by means of a continuous basic line.
Repetition is marked by a recurrence of patterns or accents, separated by space or different patterns.
Progressive rhythm requires a gradual increase or decrease in the size or shape of a design
Continuous line rhythm is made mainly of curves and usually gives a flowing effect.
Balance -denotes the equilibrium of elements. in design requires a harmonious arrangement of parts around a center or central axis, giving the appearance of equal distribution. lack of balance gives a feeling of restless which make the viewer uncomfortably , although he may not realize why. It is the quality that people react to instinctively. it is absolutely essential to unity. There are two kinds of balance: symmetrical or formal and asymmetrical or informal. Symmetrical balance requires the equal division of form, size and arrangement of parts. Asymmetrical balance- also called optical or occult, creates a sense of equilibrium by the arrangement of two sets of forms of different size and shape - or value or color- on either side of an axis, so that they seem equal in importance.
Scale and Proportion- relative qualities -are easiest to understand if taken together.Scale indicates a size relationship, proportion a shape relationship.Good scale requires that the sizes of all parts of design be related in a satisfying way. Good proportion has areas sufficiently alike to have something in common and still different enough to be interesting.
Line and Form -line and form , with color and value, provide the basic components of decorative design.
Any design- flat or three-dimensional, requires space; line supplies the simplest element of design.
Form is the shape of an area or three-dimensional volume, as defined by the lines that give it a distinctive appearance. An object is recognized and identified by its form.
Value- When color is used, its value influences the total design effect. value is the degree of lightness or darkness in a color.
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