Design Principles / Final Compilation & Reflection

8.24.2021 - 11.23.2021(Week 1 - Week 14)

Audrey Gracia Djohari / 0348120
Design Principles
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor’s University

Design Principles: Final Compilation & Reflection

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INSTRUCTIONS

• Exercise 1 : Elements, Principles of Design, Contrast, Gestalt Theory
• Exercise 2 : Balance, Emphasis, Repetition, Movement
• Exercise 3 : Harmony, Unity, Symbol, Word & Image
• Project 1 : Self-Portrait
• Project 2 : Sense of Place
• Project 3 : Visual Analysis
• Final Compilation & Reflection

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EXERCISES

08.24.2021 - 9.28.2021 (Week 1 - Week 6)

1) Contrast Exercise

Figure 1.0: "Innocent Love", Final Outcome in JPG (Contrast Study), 08.31.2021

Figure 1.1: "Innocent Love", Final Outcome in PDF (Contrast Study), 08.31.2021

2) Gestalt Exercise

Figure 1.2: "Africa", Final Outcome in JPG (Gestalt Study), 08.31.2021

Figure 1.3: "Africa", Final Outcome in PDF (Gestalt Study), 08.31.2021

3) Repetition Exercise

Figure 2.0: Repetition Final Outcome, 09.06.2021

Figure 2.1: Repetition Final Outcome in PDF, 09.06.2021

4) Balance Exercise

Figure 2.2: Balance Final Outcome, 09.06.2021

Figure 2.3: Balance Final Outcome in PDF, 09.06.2021

5) Unity Exercise

Figure 2.4: "Picnic Date", Unity Final Outcome in PDF, 09.21.2021

Figure 2.5: "Picnic Date", Unity Final Outcome in PDF, 09.21.2021

6) Word & Image Exercise

Figure 3.0: "Indomie Goreng", Word and Image Final Outcome in JPEG, 09.25.2021

Figure 3.1: "Indomie Goreng", Word and Image Final Outcome in PDF, 09.25.2021

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PROJECT 1: SELF-PORTRAIT
10.05.2021 - 10.12.2021 (Week 7 - Week 8)

7) Self-Portrait

Fig 4.0: "The Not-So-Modest Girl", Final Outcome in JPG, 10.15.2021

Fig 4.1: "The Not-So-Modest Girl", Final Outcome in PDF, 10.15.2021

• Title: The Not-So-Modest Girl

• Medium: Digital Painting (ProCreate)

• Concept:

Title:  "The Not-So-Modest Girl". 

I came up with the design concept after doing research on some 1800s European oil paintings. And I wondered, what if I combine them with my own modern style in drawing human character? And that's how I decided to make myself as a 1800's royalty dressed in ball gown and sitting in my mansion while holding my corgi. But I also added a modern touch: spray paint (a symbol of rebel). For the color scheme, I kept it bright but I also payed attention to the emphasis, that's why I made dark purple as the dominant color of the painting and I colored the background wall with soft pink.

The story behind this portrait is my hidden negative trait that nobody really knows. It's so scary to expose something so personal, in fact, I've thought over this idea so many times. But finally,  I decided to let my hidden self take over this painting, I want to be honest and I want this self-portrait to express something new about me that nobody realized before. 

Paintings are meant to be shown off, and that's exactly how my negative self wants to be (metaphorically) in this self-portrait, which is Narcissism. I like showing off my work and my achievement, thus I become the painting. The painting's frame is a symbol of me being trapped in my own reality, not being able to free myself from my bad trait. And there's the painting description below that says "The Modest Girl", it depicts how people tend to see me, but that's not how I see myself. So my hidden self decided to hijack the painting and write down how she truly feels about herself, thus there's the spray paint that says "Vanity", which is the exact opposite of modesty, and the worst product of Narcissism. Furthermore, the spray painted crown symbolizes pride. And the fact that I self-painted the crown (instead of other people) on my own head  symbolizes how I have excessive pride of myself.

Narcissism in psychology means "selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration, as characterizing a personality type". And I realized that this negative trait could lead me to vanity and hypocrisy. And of the seven deadly sins, theologians and philosophers reserve a special place for pride (aka vanity), meaning it's the deadliest.

• Design Elements and Principles Present:

1. Balance: Symmetry, Asymmetry
2. White Space: the wall as the background.
3. Emphasis: The painting of me is emphasized thanks to the white space around it and a darker color that I used compared to other parts.
4. Unity: It is shown by how the whole picture of me is united in the picture frame.
5. Harmony: I tried making the colors as harmonious as I can. I ended up with the color palette of pink, purple and creamy beige.
6. Texture: I used canvas-like texture for the painting. And I made the wall rough with Currawong brush. A different texture can also be seen on the corgi, it looks furry and fluffy.
7. Symbol: There are many symbols that can be found in my self-portrait. I've written the description in the symbol part.
8. Golden ratio & Rule of Thirds: Used in the painting
9. Word & Image: It can be found in the painting and painting description below the frame.

• Symbols and Meaning:

1. A painting installed in muesum: A painting is meant to be shown off, and that's why I become the painting. Because that's what I'm doing here: showing off what I got.
2. A picture frame: The frame depicts how I'm trap in my own reality, my own judgement of myself. This self-portrait shows a hidden bad side of me that I reflected on (which is narcissism that leads to vanity), and I realized how I often could not get out of that negative trait.
3. Letter A on the corners of the frame: In addition to the details, I placed letter A as a symbol of my name.
4. The gown and the hoodie: Metaphorically, the gown symbolizes my achievement or something I'm proud of. But I'm also wearing a hoodie to cover the gown a bit. It can be a modest move, but in fact, I'm sill showing off my gown in the painting, so it can be a symbol of hypocrisy if I see it with a negative point of view. But with a simpler view, hoodie is just my favorite, it's my go-to outfit (people see me most often in a hoodie). And I always like big party gowns from the 1700s and 1800s, they're beautiful.
5. A corgi on my lap: My dog is my cheerleader, my stress ball and my side-kick. He's been in my life for a few years, so he truly deserves the spot in my portrait. Besides, he's a corgi, Queen Elizabeth II's favorite dog breed, so he completes this royal painting vibe. However, the queen is me!
6. The background: They might be blurry, but the elements show a bit of my life's background story. (I described every hidden elements in the symbols part)
7. The mirror on the background: It shows a scene of myself while sitting at my living room and making this digital self-portrait. The mirror symbolizes self-reflection. Because I found out a lot of things about myself while making this project, and it's both incredible and scary.
8. The peacock: The symbol of pride, self-confidence and dignity, in other scarier and more extreme word: Vanity. Peacock is also one of the most beautiful animals in my opinion, I've done several paintings with peacocks in it.
9. The flower motifs on the chair: They are roses in a vase. It depicts my strong relationship with flowers as a florist.
10. The painting description: It says "The Modest Girl", which is the exact opposite of vanity. A modest person doesn't call for attention despite being successful. And that's how I want everybody to see me, but deep inside, I know I'm not that modest.
11. Spray painted "Vanity xoxo": My true self is the person behind those spray painted words. She's usually hidden somewhere in me, but this time, she decided to expose herself, and even hijacking the whole painting by writing "Vanity xoxo" which means she loves it. She's in the mood of being brutally honest right now.
12. Spray painted crown: The crown is a symbol of pride and and the fact that this self draws the crown and put it on her own head by herself represents what vanity means. 

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PROJECT 2: SENSE OF PLACE

10.12.2021 - 10.26.2021 (Week 8 - Week 10)

8) Sense of Place

Figure 5.0: Final Outcome in JPG, “Pantjoran House”, 10.31.2021

Figure 5.1: Final Outcome in PDF, “Pantjoran House”, 10.31.2021

Figure 5.2: Final Outcome Animated GIF, “Pantjoran House”, 10.31.2021

Figure 5.3: Final Outcome Animated Video with Audio, “Pantjoran House”, 10.31.2021

• Title: Pantjoran House

• Description: 

I simply want to capture Pantjoran House's mood and atmosphere in this artwork which has a strong 1950s Indonesian-Chinese culture vibe and a homey feeling. This place reminds me so much of my grandma's house ambience which I couldn't visit anymore. The whether is cool (expressed by the blue color, dominant on the left side of the frame) but it's also a warm place at heart (expressed by the yellow, orange and red colors) because I feel at home when I went to Pantjoran House. 

And it's not Pantjoran House when there's no smell of delicious Chinese Food. The freshly cooked dim sum and the vintage 'rantang' at the top of the wooden cabinet. Ahh, also the Chinese-style furnitures and those decorated ceramic tiles (the history of this ceramic goes back to when Indonesia was occupied by the the Netherlands), what a mood. The main goal of this artwork is to create the visualization of my culture in the form of place, which is an Indonesian-Chinese antique old house. And Pantjoran House is the best representation of it, makes me want to go back to grandma's house.

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PROJECT 3: VISUAL ANALYSIS

11.02.2021 - 11.23.2021 (Week 11 - Week 14)

9) Visual Analysis

Figure 6.0: Final Outcome in JPG, "The Myth of Raja Ampat", 11.28.2021

Figure 6.2: Final Outcome in PDF, "The Myth of Raja Ampat", 11.28.2021

Figure 6.3: Final Outcome in Animation, "The Myth of Raja Ampat", 11.28.2021

• Title: The Myth of Raja Ampat

• Description: 

"The Myth of Raja Ampat" is a visual product of how I picture the legend that has been told from generation to generation in Papua. I want to make it like a conceptual environment design, or a design for a movie/game scene. Because it's pretty seldom to find a modern illustration inspired by Indonesian traditional culture, especially from Papua island. The main idea of creating this is to make a place or a situation even more dramatic and magical, bringing an imaginary utopia to life.

I applied design principles I've learned throughout this semester to create this artwork. And for the colors, they are combination of green, light blue and brown, inspired by the atmosphere in Raja Ampat itself. With all of those things combined, I'm trying to bring the feeling of bravery, heroicness and at the same time amazement from this scene. It's sort of like the introduction of the second protagonist in a movie (the mysterious girl holding a weapon). And here's the story behind this illustration:

According to the legend, Raja Ampat is the island of kings, and it all started with the 6 dragon eggs that were found by the locals. In this artwork, I visualize how the myth occurs in the form of conceptual             illustration art. The setting takes place in the Papuan beach where there are 6 small rock island which turns out to be 6 hatching eggs. Waikeo, who is searching for food in the forest near the beach heard a sudden huge crack. The local Papuan boy then rushed to the source of that mysterious sound and found something so surreal he could never believe his own eyes. A scary-looking gigantic yellow eye is staring at him from the hatched island. Waikeo froze, he just realized that turns out he lives in an island full of dragons all along! Just before the dragon manages to chase him, a Malukuan girl appears out of nowhere and she is ready to fight the dragon without hesitation using her magic weapon, Parang Salawaku. Little did they know that the other 5 eggs are hatching as well. And it is the legendary beginning of how the island meets its rulers. Later, the dragon eggs brought 4 boys and a girl. One egg did not hatch. The clothes they wore indicated that they were descended from royalty. And the 4 boys become kings. And that's how the island is named Raja Ampat, meaning: The Four Kings:

1. The King of Waigeo was War
2. The King of Salawati was Betani
3. The King of Lilinta (Misool) was Dohar
4. The King of Waigama (Batanta) was Mohamad

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REFLECTION

What have I learnt in this module?

This module enabled me to have deeper understanding of the design basics and the reasoning when making a design composition. By learning the design principles, I observed that I could have better judgement on my work (and other people's work). In other words, it helped me see what i never saw before. And the best thing about having better judgement is being able to improve my own work. For a very long time, I got pretty confused on how to consider an art is really good or bad (in a professional way). Not that I couldn't see a good artwork, but I just felt that art is always subjective and I didn't know what are the bases of judging it. However, now that I know about composition, harmony, rule of thirds, balance, etc. I could finally know what I should analyze in an artwork. Other than that, I observed that this module made me explored many art genres that I never knew about.

What did i enjoy the most?

I really enjoyed feedback time during class. It's very helpful and it gave me extra time to complete my project. I could also see how my friends are doing and analyze if my work is already good enough.

What did I not enjoy the most?

To be honest, when I first started this semester I had so much fun doing the first exercises because we were free to make anything that we wanted and the principles that needed to be applied looked pretty simple. However, when I got my first mark for the exercises, I realized that Design Principles were way more difficult than I thought, it was so hard to create a design that hits the target and suitable for the lecturer's expectation. Most of the projects were pretty abstract so I found it difficult to create something suitable.

What have I learnt about myself through this module?

Firstly, I found myself having a better judgement when analyzing an artwork, I could finally understand what is needed when making a design. Secondly, I just realized that all this time I'm quite sensitive when receiving critiques from other people about my artwork, but through this module I learnt that asking other people for feedback and suggestions actually helped me to grow and become a better designer. Lastly, I learned that turns out I'm pretty good in creating environmental design (thanks to sense of place & final project). I felt like I could create a mood and determine the right colors when designing a place. I also learned that I truly love digital art, because everything is possible in the digital world. I could produce better colors, more effective process, and I could erase and sketch as often as I want. 

What has changed and what has not in my learning journey?

Many things have changed through this semester. I've become more open to critiques and feedbacks because I already realized that it's needed and super crucial for me to be better in designing. I've also mastered some new design softwares like Adobe Illustrator, Mental Canvas, Adobe Photoshop, etc. thanks to these projects. One thing that still hasn't changed is my love for ProCreate, I think it's still the best app for illustrating.

What could be improved on this module?

I think design principles is one of my favorite class. I felt that both Dr. Charles and my classmates were very supporting in this class, so I enjoyed this class so much throughout this semester. One thing that i think can be better is how the lecturer explain the assignments. We only got the project details from lecture videos and MIB, I think it would be better if the lecturer could explain the assignments further in class time, so that students can have clearer understanding in what they should do. But, overall, I think the class is very fun and insightful.

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Exercise 1 : Elements, Principles of Design, Contrast, Gestalt Theory
Exercise 2 : Balance, Emphasis, Repetition, Movement
Exercise 3 : Harmony, Unity, Symbol, Word & Image
Project 1 : Self-Portrait
Project 2 : Sense of Place
Project 3 : Visual Analysis

Final Compilation & Reflection