Think About Composition
Closure or Visual Grouping Early twentieth-century German gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer investigated how humans see form, pattern, shape, or total configuration in terms of group relationships rather than individual items. He discovered that several factors, such as proximity and size, help objects relate visually.
Closure, or visual grouping, is the tendency humans have to complete or unify incomplete patterns and information by bringing together the elements in their mind. Visual closure occurs when isolated elements are identified and recognized, even though a piece is missing or incomplete. Color assists in closure.
Approximate Symmetry The poster for the film Wolfsschlucht demonstrates approximate symmetry, a composition in which elements that are not identical have the same apparent weight. The diagonal color blocks are not equal. The green, however, is balanced by the hue’s complement in the form of a solid red figure on the right. Format Design
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The phenomenon occurs when a designer provides minimal clues, yet the viewer brings the gestalt, or “whole effect,” of closure, creating recognition and meaning in the pattern. Closure is illustrated when the halftone dots in fourcolor-process images pull together in a viewer’s mind to create recognition. For Wertheimer, closure helped explain how artists create structural organization in their work.
Asymmetrical Balance Also known as occult balance, asymmetry is the most emotionally active form of compositional balance, as seen in this poster for an AIGA Los Angeles event about typographic evolution. Dissimilar elements, with no clear center point, are pulled together to create a pleasing off-kilter unity. Color plays a large role in the connectivity of the image, particularly with the background being a unifying gradient orange hue. 88 Phases
Job:08-82654 Title:RP-Color Design Workbook C33087 #175 Dtp:116 Dtp:119 P Page:81