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DESIGN GLOSSARY

abstract, abstraction Theoretical rather aesthetic, aesthetics The criticism of than applied or practical; something taste. The sense of the beautiful. Of or considered apart from physical existence. In pertaining to the sense of the beautiful and art: An "abstraction" is a type of painting that the accepted notions of what constitutes uses representational shapes or forms as a good taste artistically. Having a love of point of departure but freely adapts or beauty. (Plural, aesthetics) A branch of subjugates these to the aesthetical purposes philosophy that provides a theory of beauty of the artist. The process of selecting and and the fine arts. In common usage, this organizing the visual elements to make a refers to the large and general sense of a unified work of art. Also a twentieth-century personʼs taste. Preferences of , form, style of art in which the particulars of subject content and scale add up to a personʼs matter are generalized in the interests of aesthetic. (From the Greek aisthetikos, of formal (compositional) invention. (See sensory perception.) nonobjective.) affect To influence or bring about a accommodation The ability of our eye's change in. To touch or to move the emotions. flexible to change shape in order to Also, a strong feeling that has active adjust between far and near figures. consequences. (See effect.) The muscle movements required are detected by the brain as an indicator of a afterimage A psychophysical spatial station. characteristic of vision in which an persists after the original stimulus has been achromatic Denotes the absence of removed. The of the image are the and refers to the neutrals of , , and additive complements to those originally gray. Achromatic are often called observed. (See simultaneous contrast.) "neutral colors." (See chromatic; neutrals.) ambiguous space A visual phenomenon actual grays Uniform value achieved by occurring when the spatial relationships the continuous deposit of drawing media, between positive and negative shapes are such as blended charcoal or ink wash. (See perceptually unstable or uncertain. (See optical grays.) figure-ground shift; interspace; positive- negative reversal.) acuity, visual (See distinctness.) ambiguity Doubt or uncertainty in The system of meaning. Ambiguous: capable of being . When the primary hues, , , and understood in two or more possible senses; are added together, the result is white equivocal. light. is seen when red and green are mixed; is a combination of analogous colors Colors that are green and blue light; , of red and adjacent, or near one another, on any hue blue. circle () and therefore have strong hue similarity. One set of analogous colors is aerial perspective Our understanding of yellow, yellow-green, green, and blue-green. the effects of the atmosphere on the (See analogous ; color distinctness, contrast range, hue, and purity scheme.) of colors. analogous color scheme A color arrangement based on several hues that are

1 adjacent or near one another on the color wheel. (See analogous colors; color asymmetrical balance Visual equilibrium scheme.) achieved by adjusting such qualities as the scale and placement of elements in different analogy An actual or an implied parts of a composition. (See approximate correspondence between things that are symmetry; symmetrical balance.) different in all other respects. Relationships may be based on any sorts of conceptual, asymmetry The principle of the seesaw formal (shape and structure), or perceptual transposed into pictorial form. Parts of a characteristics. composition, unequal in area (size), are balanced in visual weight on either side of an anamorphosis Optical imaginary fulcrum. The fulcrum is the center ordinarily in one direction or along only one of visual balance, not the center of the axis. Anamorphic drawings or paintings are picture. distorted that may be viewed undistorted from a particular or atmospheric perspective A means for with the use of a special instrument. achieving the illusion of three-dimensional space in a pictorial work of art. Sometimes angling The process of transferring called aerial perspective, it is based on the perceived angles in the environment to a fact that as objects recede into the distance drawing surface. their clarity of definition and surface contrast diminish appreciably. anomaly Deviation from the common rule or form; in particular, an irregular, abnormal, autonomic Spontaneous or involuntary. contrary, or missing element (or motif) in an otherwise regular field or sequence of axial symmetry (See bilateral identical figures. symmetry.) approximate symmetry A form of visual background The most distant zone of balance which divides an image into similar space in a three-dimensional illusion. (See halves but which avoids the potentially static foreground; middleground.) quality of -like opposites associated with symmetrical balance. (See balance A weighing device consisting of a asymmetrical balance; symmetrical horizontal beam with pans of equal weight on balance.) each end. A stable state characterized by cancellation of all forces by equal opposing artistic block The interruption of an artist's forces. A stable mental or psychological natural creative output. Often accompanied state. Equality of totals in the credit and debit by feelings of severe frustration and loss of sides of an account. Equilibrium of opposing confidence. visual weights, hues, or psychological and physical forces or a combination of these. assimilation A process by which a Our response to balance is intimately linked meaningful percept (a figure or an impression to our earliest childhood discoveries of our obtained by one or more of the senses) is bodies. We instinctively value balance compared to the vast body of personal because it is necessary to stand, run, knowledge and experience; placing things escape. From this primal physical reality we physically or psychologically in a familiar derive our general preference for balance in context. composition.

2 contrast to adjacent elements. A gray frame basetone The darkest tone on a form, on a gray wall will not separate a print from located on that part of the surface that is its environment as much as a frame, for turned away from the rays of light. (See instance. chiaroscuro.) brightness An ambiguous term behavioral conditioning A term that sometimes used to mean "purity," sometimes encompasses anything learned by "luminance"; more often used to refer to a experience and practice: observation, combination of these two dimensions of color. imitation, formal education, and any behavior modification due to reward and punishment. brilliance The vividness of a color. This concept is often generalized as "nurture" as opposed to "nature," which consists of cast shadow The shadow thrown by a innate or genetic characteristics. form onto an adjacent or nearby surface in a direction away from the light source. (See bilateral symmetry A form of design in chiaroscuro.) which elements repeat themselves as perfect mirror images along a vertical (or horizontal) center A point equidistant or at an average axis or bisector. distance from all points on the outer boundaries. The middle. A point around blind contour Line drawings produced which something revolves; axis. The part of without looking at the paper. Such drawings an object that is surrounded by the rest; core. are done to heighten the feeling for space A place of concentrated activity or influence. and form and to improve eye-hand A person or object that is the chief object of coordination. attention, interest or emotion. The ring circling a bull's eye of a target; a spot within blind spot The point where the optic nerve this ring. A familiar danger in drawing is to leaves the of the eye. As this area locate early marks dead center on the page, possesses no rods or cones, it does not creating a visual and emotional gravity that is respond to light or images. hard to escape. There's not much happening at the center of a seesaw. body color The "colored" appearance of any matter or substance (like a paint ), change A transition from one state to caused by differences in the molecular another, altered state: a movement from one structure of such substances. Molecular place to another place; a passage from one differences determine which wavelengths of moment in time to another; any sort of light are absorbed and which are reflected. transformation such as metamorphosis, Such colors are affected by the spectral growth, decay, and erosion. composition of the incident light. chiaroscuro The arrangement of light and boundary The outer limit, the edge of a dark as defined by light rays flowing shape, particularly as it stands in relation to over a three-dimensional form. Chiaroscuro an adjacent form or space. Boundaries defines volumes in two-dimensional pictorial separate a "this" from a "that," and a "here" works. Also, a style of pictorial art employing from a "there." A frame around a picture only light and shade without the use of separates the image from the space around contour lines. Refers to the gradual transition it. The frame is a boundary. The visual of values used to create the illusion of light strength of a boundary depends on its and shadow on a three-dimensional form.

3 The gradations of light may be separated into collaboration A joint intellectual effort. To six separate zones: highlight, quarter-tone, elaborate is to extend an idea; to collaborate , basetone, reflected light, and cast is to do so with partners. shadow. collage An artistic composition or chroma (See purity and intensity.) materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color. Originating chromatic Exhibiting a definite color or with the French word coller, to glue, a hue. Refers to color or the property of hue. composition of materials and objects pasted (See achromatic; hue.) on a surface, or portions thereof. Collage is frequently used as a verb, referring to the chromatic gray Gray created by adding process of arranging and overlapping various hue to a neutral or by mixing complements to parts to create a more powerful effect than achieve a neutralized color. Refers to grays these elements have as separate units. with a little color in them as opposed to neutral grays with no discernible hues. (See color A property of light, not of bodies or neutral.) pigments. As sensed by photoreceptors in the eye, our perception of color results from a chromatic sequence (See spectrum.) certain bundle of wavelengths of electromagnetic energy bombarding the cliché An excessively overused retina. Color has three "dimensions" or expression or image. characteristics. (See hue; luminance; purity) closure The act of closing or the condition of being closed. A finish; conclusion. A color climate Sensations of moisture or Gestalt principle that describes an innate dryness associated with the color perceptual tendency for us to perceive temperature of a hue. multiple objects as a group or totality; to close "gaps" and to make "wholes" out of color scheme An association of selected discontinuous lines, masses, or contours. We colors that establishes a color and have an innate desire to make sense of what acts as a unifying factor in a work of art. (See we see, and often start by distinguishing analogous, complementary, discordant, "inside" as distinct from "outside". To achieve monochromatic, and triadic color this we anticipate and complete a form. By schemes.) allowing the viewer to complete a form, an artwork establishes a link with the viewer, The sensation of who becomes part of the process. "warmth" or "coolness" associated with colors. There are two types: physical color cognitive dissonance An internal conflict temperature, which is measurable in degrees between one's beliefs and one's knowledge Kelvin; and relative color temperature, which or behavior or both, for example, the requires the presence of two or more colors opposition to the killing of animals and the (hues) for direct comparison. Though , eating of meat. It is a theory articulated by oranges, and are said to be "warm," Leon Festinger, which states that when belief and and are called "cool," there and behavior are in conflict, either one or the are cool and warm reds, cool and warm other must change. blues.

4 color wheel Used as an aid in painting, a - arches support weight, inverted arches color wheel is a circle with primary and imply weight secondary hues located at points equidistant - equal amounts of figure and ground confuse from one another. The most prevalent version the eye is based on one proposed in theories advanced by Louis Prang (1876). (See hue compression The actual or implied sense circle.) of forces pressing inward. The engine cycle during which gas or vapors are compressed. Hues that are In the visual arts, compression can be used directly opposite one another on any hue to pack energy into a composition. Like a jack circle (color wheel) and represent the in the box, loaded and ready to spring, a strongest hue contrast, such as red and picture plane or sculptural space can be green, blue and , and yellow and "loaded" with ingredients that press against . (See complementary color each other to create an exciting energy. scheme.) cones Photo receptors in the eye that complementary color scheme A color provide visual detail and detect color. There arrangement based on hues that are directly are three types, each capable of opposite one another on the color wheel. discriminating between very narrow (See color scheme; complementary wavelengths of light: one for red, one for colors.) green, and one for blue. Concentrated in and around the fovea, numbers decline rapidly complex The natural range of moving outward, peripherally, around the hues of some objects that, under normal light, retina. Cones respond primarily to bright light create the overall impression of a dominant levels. local color. (See local color.) cone of vision A conical volume that composition A putting together of parts or constitutes the three-dimensional field of elements to form a whole; a combining. The vision. Its apex is located at eye level; its overall pictorial pattern or arrangement. base lies within the imagined picture plane. Gestalt psychology as applied to visual (See picture plane.) phenomena identified the fact that humans see the whole before we see the parts, connection Something that connects. To suggesting that we have a natural tendency connect means to join, fasten, link, unite, or toward completeness or harmony. In visual consider as related. Connections may language, following rules of composition provide a logical ordering of ideas, establish should be seen as a stepping off point, a common interests, conjunction, or minimum standard. (See design; form.) coincidence. Connections of the narrow kind A few of the rules of composition: establish visual relationships between - avoid placement at dead center internal pictorial elements within a - symmetry tends to promote stability composition, or establish associational - diagonals are more active than horizontals pattern similarities between works in a series. - proximity creates tension Connections of the broad kind are specific - sameness is frequently boring references that join a work of art together - regularity creates rhythm with elements in the world at large: typically, - contrast exaggerates an effect the environment, society, culture, politics, or - placement in corners creates awkward the sciences. These stimulate more creative tension

5 solutions to visual problems and also subliminally extend lines and forms to seek enhance . the largest, most unified whole. Continuity is the appearance of a logical and anticipated consonance Agreement, conformity, sequence. A little discontinuity might create harmony. (See rhythm.) interest, but too much will tax believability; our need for order is easily offended. Also, constancy (See perceptual constancy.) more broadly, continuity means to carry forward in natural order. In film, television, constellation The grouping of points in a slide presentations, and storyboards or multi three-dimensional space to form a flat panel art, it is a natural flow of events in configuration or image. chronological sequence. consumer behavior A marketing term that contour The outline of a figure-object or refers to the study of factors that motivate mass; a line that represents such an outline; human behavior. It concerns the general a surface, especially of a curving form. The public's response to products, services, term commonly refers to the shape of a subjects, or sets of circumstances as three-dimensional body as represented on a determined by statistical research. two-dimensional surface. When drawing, the outer edge of an object is rendered as a line. content The meaning or significance of a Contour lines do not exist in nature, any more literary or artistic work, as distinguished from than lines of latitude and longitude exist. Just its form. The meanings inferred from the as lines have a visual speed, we scan an subject matter and form of a work of art. This object often by traveling along its contours broad term refers to the message, narrative, skimming along the surface. This process is meaning or subject of a work. The question quick or slow depending on texture, often asked of artists, "Where do your ideas complexity, angles and edges. come from?" is probably referring to content. contour line A line of varying thickness- context That which leads up to and follows and often tone and speed-used to suggest and often specifies the meaning. The the three-dimensional qualities of an object. circumstances in which a particular event Contour line may be applied along as well as occurs; a situation. Context becomes within the outer edges of a depicted form. important in evaluating function, materials, size, etc. It's sometimes more appropriate to contour map A two-dimensional change a context than to modify an element. representation of topographical data derived Just as we sometimes need context to help from any kind of three-dimensional surface. define a word, physical context is appropriate in evaluating design. The question, "Is it contrast To set in opposition in order to good?" should usually be rephrased, "Does it show or emphasize differences; a striking resolve the need here?" dissimilarity between things being compared; the use of opposing elements such as colors, continuity A Gestalt principle of forms or lines in proximity to produce an organization that states that perception tends intensified effect. Contrast clarifies and to move in one direction. Thus, we can easily heightens an effect. To make a white paper follow the path of a single line, for example, brighter, place a black mark upon it. even in a maze of many overlapping lines. Punctuate muted tones with a spot of intense Continuity is an uninterrupted succession, an color. Contrast is used to draw attention to an unbroken course. Like closure, we area, to provide stability or clarity in a

6 composition, and to affect the figure/ground relationship, either by clarifying or confusing cropping Using a format to mask out parts it. Contrast can exist in many realms at once. of an image's subject matter. A thick, jagged, curved black line contrasts with a thin, smooth, straight red line. We can cross-contour lines Contour lines that simultaneously experience contrast of scale, appear to go around a depicted object's value, shape, direction, and surface. surface, thereby indicating the turn of its form. convergence In the system of linear perspective, parallel lines in nature appear to cross-hatching The intersecting of converge (come together) as they recede. hatched or massed lines to produce optical gray tones. (See hatched lines; optical cool colors Psychologically associated, grays.) for example, with streams, lakes, and foliage in the shade. Cool colors such as green, cubism A style of art developed by Pablo blue-green, blue, and blue-purple appear to Picasso and Georges Braque that is recede in a relationship with warmer colors. characterized by figure-ground ambiguity, (See warm colors.) flattened perspectives, and multiple points of view. craft Skill or ability in something, especially in handwork or the arts; proficiency, cue A sign or signal that prompts someone expertness. In its first sense, craft refers to to do something. In psychology, it is a the quality of anything that is made. A perceived signal for action that produces an painting, a building or a meal may be well operant response. crafted. Usually excellent craftsmanship is the result of talent, training, and experience. decorative Serving to decorate; The pleasure of good craftsmanship is ornamental. Often used in the pejorative universal, transcending language, culture, (negative) sense of unnecessary and time. embellishment, arbitrarily applied to an object without regard to its form. Decorative critique A critical review or commentary, additions are frosting on a cake: sometimes especially dealing with art; a critical used to camouflage mistakes in what lies discussion of a specific topic; the art of beneath, and sometimes appropriate criticism. A critique, or crit, for short, is a additions that elevate what was good to staple part of an art education. It is a chance something outstanding. to examine work in a unique situation, pulled out, or separated from usual experience for delimit To establish limits or boundaries. this focused evaluation. Because criticism is largely (but not entirely) based on density, density factor (D) Density in comparison, critique must take place within a design is related to the "darkness" of a color, context. To say, "This is good" begs the that is, its relative light reflection, which is a question, "Compared to what'?" or "Good for subtractive measure. This can be directly what?" We critique, say, Michelangelo's related to the deposit of pigment or ink upon paintings and find them to be good, within the a reflective surface in design and is often unspoken parameters of Western ideals of expressed in percent, as, for example, a 50 the human figure, a Renaissance percent black (a middle-gray tone). A number understanding of Christianity, and the 2 gray designers' color is a D 2.0. In the 11- confines of his medium. step luminance scale, density is expressed in

7 D factors like 2.0, which are directly discrimination The ability, act, or power to convertible to percent by moving the decimal make fine distinctions, that is, to separate one place to the right. (D factors may be things by observing or distinguishing very converted to Munsell "values" and vice versa, small differences; differentiation; simply by subtracting the original number discernment. from 10. Thus, the two systems are compatible.) dissonance Harsh or inharmonious in sound; discordant; disagreeing or at variance. density gradient A perceptual depth cue If the effect of harmony is to create a sense in which objects and the spaces between or resolution, beauty, and order, the result of them become smaller and smaller as they dissonance (its opposite) is to create tension, recede into the distance. contrast, and lack of resolution. design To conceive, invent, contrive; to distinctness The ability to resolve very form a plan for; to draw a sketch; to have as fine detail in any visual field; visual acuity, a goal or purpose, to intend; a visual sharpness, or clarity; also, a relationship or composition, pattern; a reasoned purpose, ratio between things such as hard and soft intention. Creation of pattern. Human-made edges, wide and narrow luminance ranges. order, structure, and form. This word is both noun and verb. When we attempt to arrange Divisionism A technique developed and parts in a way that is most efficient, attractive named by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac and/or meaningful, we are engaged in the that attempted to apply the scientific concept process of design. The result of the activity, of optical fusion to painting. The works were which may be an intellectual property as well characterized by an overall pattern of tiny as a sketch or model, is also called a design. dots of pure colors. The term Pointillism is (See composition; form.) more commonly applied to these works, but in a manner that often distorts the painters' diagrammatic marks Those marks and objectives. lines artists use to analyze and express the relative position and scale of forms in space. dominance Preeminence in position or prevalence; ascendancy; the tendency for dialogue A conversation between two or one element or group to command greater more people; an exchange or ideas or attention than another. Possessing the most opinions; lines in a play. In a work, dialogue influence or control; surpassing all others; might refer to cross-reference between paramount. When something is dominant, elements - a texture, hue, value or shape there must also be subordination. Dominance might indicate an association or relationship can be achieved by size, value, color, shape between parts. or position. If several of these factors are combined the effect will be more pronounced. diminution In linear perspective, the A large bright object in the middle of a page phenomenon of similarly-scaled objects will dominate most everything else. If these appearing smaller as they recede. factors are used in contradiction (a large dynamic shape overlapped by smaller, less discordant color scheme A color interesting ones) the result could be an arrangement based on hues that compete or appealing tension or a confusing irritation. conflict. (See color scheme.) dominance principle A perceptual characteristic that establishes psychophysical

8 equilibrium in human beings. It is a rippling other marks on the page. Marks near the pattern of behavior in which first one thing, edge split their allegiance between other then another, is seen to dominate our field of marks and the edge itself; they know where view, mental state, or priority of action, the paper ends. Center equates with stability, preventing the sheer mass of sensory data edges with instability. from overwhelming us. effect Something brought about by a dynamic Pertaining to energy, force or cause or agent; also, to produce a result. Do motion related to force; characterized by not confuse with affect, which means continuous change; energizing, vigorous, "influence." forceful; variation of intensity, as in a musical sound. A composition that implies movement, The entire that is, a dynamic composition, is more likely range of electromagnetic waves from very to grab our attention than a static one. short, high-frequency vibrations, such as cosmic rays, through (in the order of dynamic line Dynamic line is a line quality decreasing frequency) gamma rays, Xrays, that is characterized by velocity, rhythm, and ultraviolet radiation, visible light, elasticity. It emphasizes a sense of radiation, , and radio waves to movement and creates strong directional very long, low-frequency vibrations, which forces. Dynamic line is a responsive kind of include heat waves and electric currents. line much like the gestural line used in life drawing classes. Dynamic line has an emotion Any strong, generalized feeling; intensity about it that attempts to catch the subjective responses such as love, hate, or spirit of the thing you are drawing. fear that involve physiological changes as a preparation for action. eclectic To choose the best from diverse sources, systems or styles. The challenge of emphasis Special importance or an eclectic style lies in defining what's best, significance placed upon or imparted to determining the particulars of arrangement, something; stress applied to a syllable, word and bringing the results to a physical reality. or passage by the use of a gesture or other In the truest sense of the word, this describes indication; force or intensity of expression, the task of the arts: to select, assemble, and feeling or action; sharpness or vividness of arrange the best parts of all that there is. outline, prominence. Emphasis is a kindly hint from artist to viewer, a clue that assists in economy The careful use of resources; understanding a work. It follows that it is less the management of the resources of a necessary in obvious compositions and more country, community, or business. In addition necessary in subtle or complex ones. to the usual association with money this word means "the functional arrangement of entropy A measure of the capacity of a elements within a structure or system". system to undergo spontaneous change; a Economy is a matter of getting the most from measure of the randomness, disorder, or given resources while keeping the house in chaos in a system. This is in a way the order. reverse side of gestalt, which refers to the human tendency to visually assemble parts edge A rim, brink or crest; a dividing line or into a coherent whole. Order in the arts point of transition; a margin, a border. In a (representation, precision, control) is two-dimensional composition, marks at the evidence of our apparent control over chaos. center are locked into relationships with the Others will argue that art is at its best when it

9 connects with the randomness of life, those qualities when attributed to other figure- describing it by yielding to it. objects: flowers, for instance, or type styles. (See masculine; stereotype.) Note: Mixing envisioned images Depictions that are perceptions of gender characteristics based wholly or in part on the artist's (masculine/feminine) can produce a imagination or recall. girl/woman who is a tomboy, a feminist, or a businesswoman, for example; or a boy/man equilibrium A Gestalt principle of who is sensitive, aesthetic, an artist, or a Don organization that states that every Juan. Pushed to extremes, mixtures transmit psychological field tends toward "excellence" meanings of homosexuality to the viewer. or precision, that is, the most regular organization possible. The concept reflects Fibonacci numbers A geometric physical activity of natural forces that strive progression in which the Golden Section ratio for balance. A water drop changes into a 1:1.618 is a constant factor. Each sphere as it falls; water seeks its own level; subsequent number in the series is obtained and so on. by adding together the two that precede it, for example, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, equivocal Capable of being interpreted in and so on. more than one way; ambiguous. field A space or ground on which expressionism A type of artwork in which something is drawn or projected or that which the artist permits his or her emotions to is perceived as such. dominate the character of the color, structure, and imagery (if any). As this is a highly figure Any shape or form perceptually personal, subjective experience, the enclosed by a boundary line (perimeter) or communication aspects of the art may be contour line that is seen as separate from the sacrificed totally or subordinated to such ground or background. Ground is neutral; "expression." There are two types: figurative figure is not. The term, as used in science, expressionism, sometimes called "German psychology, and in this text, does not expressionism," in which representational necessarily imply a person as in the common forms are subordinated to the artist's expression figure drawing. The aesthetical motives; and abstract representation of a recognizable object or expressionism, which is nonobjective in nonrepresentational shape (such as a tree, a character. letter of the alphabet, or a human figure), which may be readily distinguished from its eye-level The height at which your eyes visual context in a drawing. are located in relation to the ground plane. Things seen by looking up are above eye- figure/ground Figure: The outline, form, level (or seen from a “worm's eye" view); or silhouette of a thing; Ground: A things seen by looking down are below eye- surrounding area; background. Figure/ground level (or seen from a “bird's eye" view). refers to the relationship between what stands forward and what recedes in a fatigue illusion (See optical dazzle.) composition. Whatever circumscribed area we look at is interpreted as figure and feminine (stereotype) Qualities commonly advances while everything else in the field of associated with the feminine gender - beauty, vision becomes background and recedes. softness, sensuality, romance, weakness, The degree of tension or harmony between hesitancy, indecisiveness, and so on; also figure and ground contributes significantly to

10 the effect of a work. The three-dimensional counterbalancing of one mass against equivalent of figure/ground is another. positive/negative. Through understanding and use of unusual figure/ground foreground The closest zone of space in a relationships, artwork is generally made more three-dimensional illusion. (See background; interesting. If the amounts of figure and middleground.) ground are approximately equal, the effect can be confusing to the eye, which jump" foreshortening In foreshortening, the back and forth between two conflicting longest dimension of an object is positioned options. at an angle to the picture plane. figure-ground shift A type of ambiguous form The shape, structure, and volume of space that combines aspects of interspace actual objects in our environment or the and positive-negative reversals. It is depiction of three-dimensional objects in a characterized by "active" or somewhat work of art (as opposed to their matter or volumetric negative areas and by the substance). In the arts, the term is used perception that virtually all the shapes are broadly as a synonym for design or slipping, or shifting, in and out of positive patternmaking; and it includes all aspects of (figure) and negative (ground) identities. (See composition, organization, and structure. ambiguous space; interspace; positive- (See shape.) negative reversal.) formal Refers to an emphasis on the figure-ground stacking A sequential organizational form, or composition, of a work overlapping of forms in a drawing, making the of art. Pertaining to the essential form or terms figure and ground relative constitution of something, in the same sense designations. that "structural' refers to structure, in discussions of art, this refers to information fixed viewpoint Refers to the depiction of received on a visual level, as distinct from an observed object in accordance with its issues of content or meaning. Form, like appearance from one physical position. structure, is usually a fundamental aspect of a solid object. You can paint a grapefruit, or focal point The dominant point or area in suspend it by a thread, or set it in the middle any visual or pictorial field wherever the eye of a stadium but it will always, formally, be a is directed or impelled to look. sphere. Because of this, form is important to all design, a common denominator that folk art Art by the common folk, that is, by separates the average from the exceptional. persons who lack any formal art training or Superb decoration, craftsmanship, and experience; sometimes called naive art, such exquisite materials on a mediocre form will works are characterized by a lack of yield a disappointing result. sophistication in drawing and painting, and they often depict nostalgic subjects in a formal balance (See symmetry.) simplistic manner. Images, however, may be powerfully evocative and display an innate format The overall shape and size of the sense of beauty in patternmaking. Graffiti drawing surface. could be considered a form of folk art. form-meaning That aspect of content that force lines Lines used to reveal the is derived from an artwork's form, that is, the structure of a form by indicating the character of its lines, shapes, colors, and

11 other elements, and the nature of their genetic makeup of an organism. These are organizational relationships overall. often called innate. Genetic memory in humans is generally allied to what we call form summary A simplified form "instinct" in lower animals and is often description of a complex or articulated object, generalized as "nature" versus "nurture." usually for purposes of analysis or to render a (See behavioral conditioning.) In this text, subject's three-dimensional character more every reference is to genetic characteristics boldly. all human beings share, NOT to individual or family traits. fovea A tiny depression in the center of the retina densely packed with cones. The fovea gestalt An observation of a unified visual is responsible for visual acuity, that is, sharp, field perceived in its totality; a total mental vivid, detailed images. picture, or conception, of a form. A unified physical, psychological or symbolic fragment A part broken off or detached configuration having properties that cannot from the whole; something incomplete; an be derived from its parts. This concept is odd bit or piece; to break up into fragments, borrowed by the visual arts to describe the fragmentize. In order for an object or form to phenomenon that images are perceived as be perceived as a fragment there must be a unified wholes before they are perceived as clear sense of a whole. Fragment implies a parts. Our need for wholeness is so great that passage of time ... Then it was whole, now it we assemble elements into as large a unit as is in pieces. possible. We will see a row of dots as a dotted line rather than a collection of small frequency The number of times that one marks. When confronted with an image or wavelength of electromagnetic energy form that lacks unity, a viewer finds the effect passes a fixed point in space in one second. unrelated, busy or disturbing. function The natural or proper action for Gestalt psychology A branch of which a person, office, or mechanism is fitted; psychology originated by the German to serve in a proper or appropriate manner; psychologist Max Werthheimer around 1912. something closely related to another thing Gestalt psychology emphasizes that behavior and dependent upon it for its existence, value cannot be analyzed into independent units or significance. An obvious use of function in but must be studied as organized "wholes." design is as a solution to a specific problem. Things are not a sum of their parts. Gestalt But function can change depending on psychologists see relationships, patterns, and context. groupings as the primary elements of perception and have established a futurism An early 20th-century Italian art psychological basis for spatial organization movement that focused on the violence, and graphic communication. speed, force, and efficiency of modern society and on the mechanical energy gesture A motion of the body made to exhibited by automobiles, trains, and express thoughts and emotions, or to industrial manufacturing. emphasize speech; to show, express or direct by movements. Gesture combines our genetic, genetic memory Pertaining to given physiognomy with our learned the biology of heredity; physiological body movements - the length of our arm with the processes or characteristics, mental or boldness of our stroke. Gesture is similar to physical predispositions, or actions due to attitude. Gestures can be coarse, abrupt,

12 soothing, angry, and so on. Medium affects gray scale A series of stepped gradations gesture. A loose spontaneous gesture might from white to black; a luminance scale (see be best captured in paint. The same gesture luminance); a range of to darkness might be diminished-starved to death-by a in any color system. This text recommends . A physical gesture is the collection of conforming to the ISCC-NBS (Munsell) movement, form and pace. In the visual arts, standard consisting of 11 steps, white, nine we can use the same word to describe the grays, and black. It also recommends subtle but essential qualities that result from converting the additive notation value scale to a particular action by a particular person at a a subtractive density scale, which is specific time. consistent with the majority of applications in design, painting, and applied art. (See gesture drawing A spontaneous density.) representation of the dominant physical and expressive attitudes of an object or space. grisaille The arrangement of an image into varied steps of gray values. glaze A thin, medium-rich application of transparent color over an underlying drawing grid A framework of parallel or or painting in order to add, alter, blend, crisscrossed bars; gridiron. A pattern of enrich, or unify colors. It is a means of horizontal and vertical lines forming squares creating transparency and luminosity in works of uniform size on a map, chart, or aerial of art. Glazes may be used to alter any of the photograph" used as a reference for locating three dimensions of color: hue, luminance, points. A pattern of lines commonly at 90° to and purity. Glazes may be worked over dry one another like a checkerboard. Grids, grounds or applied with a wet-in-wet however, may employ diagonal lines, circles technique. and arcs, or arbitrary or freely chosen configurations. Grids are a series of Golden Mean A term often used as a alignments and intersections that can be synonym for the Golden Section. In this text, used to assemble, organize, or separate the term mean is used to identify a method of elements. They can be seen or inferred. dividing any rectangle into proportions that Grids are categorized as regular when they approximate the Golden Section. consist of geometric arrays of lines and as arbitrary if they consist of random or irregular Golden Rectangle A rectangle in which lines. the ratio of length to width - and all subsequent divisions of interior space to ground The background against which infinity - will exactly conform to the ratio figures are perceived. The actual flat surface 1:1.618. of a drawing, synonymous with a drawing's opaque picture plane. In a three-dimensional Golden Section A ratio of 1 to 1.618, and illusion, ground also refers to the area behind the geometric progression or proportions an object (or figure). Grounds are fluctuating associated with this ratio. (See Fibonacci entities depending on whatever in the visual numbers.) field is the focus of our attention. Note: The term is also commonly applied to any of gradation A progression of change in several materials, like gesso, applied to a natural order, with discrete or blended steps; support in preparation for painting or drawing. a flowing transition in which adjoining parts are similar and harmonious; modulation. ground plane A horizontal plane parallel to the eye-level's plane. In nature this plane

13 may correspond, for instance, to flat terrain, a brush or a specially lettering pen (nib), or it is floor, or a tabletop. constructed with drafting instruments as an outline and filled in. grouping An organizational principle of Gestalt psychology. The act or process of hierarchy A clearly defined relationship arranging in groups; a collection of objects between things that establishes differing arranged in a group. Understanding how levels of dominance, emphasis, or influence, grouping takes place perceptually enables with each level subordinate to the one above the artist to improve the unity of compositions it. A body of elements arranged according to and their structure. Artists use grouping to rank, authority or capacity; a body of entities convey subtle messages and to guide a arranged in a graded series. Overall patterns viewer through a piece. Elements are with equally emphasized figures are commonly grouped by: similarity (size, color, sometimes called "nonhierarchical designs." shape, textures, etc.), proximity (close, In the visual arts, hierarchy is the touching, overlapping), or orientation (visual presentation of certain elements as more or psychological). important than others. By conveying a clear sense of hierarchy an artist provides stability, halftone After the highlight and quarter- sequence, and movement within a design. tone, the next brightest area of illumination on Hierarchy can be established by any of the a form. The halftone is located on that part of devices in the artist's repertoire-position, the surface that is parallel to the rays of light. value, form, contrast, rhythm, etc. The time- (See chiaroscuro.) honored tricks to test hierarchy are to either turn a composition upside-down, or stand harmony Agreement or consonance back and squint. Though apparently childish, between forms, shapes, colors, concepts or these devices show the eye not what it ideas, and so on; a perceptual understanding "thinks" is most obvious, but what really is identified by the Gestalt psychologists as the most obvious. principle of similarity. Agreement in feeling, approach, action, disposition; sympathy; high key design A composition in which accord. The pleasing interaction or the overall or prevailing luminances are all appropriate combination of the elements in a above middle gray. whole; a mutually beneficial relationship between parts; the effect of various parts highlight The brightest area of illumination supporting, augmenting or complementing on a form, which appears on that part of the each other. From the Greek word for joint, surface most perpendicular to the light connoting the way parts are joined together. source. (See chiaroscuro.) A lack of harmony is described as being "out of joint." history painting A picture that is usually painted in a grand or academic manner and hatched lines Massed strokes that are represents themes from history, literature, or parallel or roughly parallel to each other. even the Bible. Used to produce optical gray tones. (See cross-hatching; optical grays.) horizon line The line formed by the apparent intersection of the plane established heavy line A line (or bar) that is very thick by the eye-level with the ground plane. Often and bold, many times the thickness of a described as synonymous with eye-level. single stroke of pencil or regular brush. It is usually produced with a large, thick, or wide

14 hue The traditional color "name," such as incandescence A type of original (prime) "red," which is attached to a specific light source created by a burning body. The wavelength of visible light (electromagnetic is an incandescent light source as are energy). Red, for example, is 700 common items such as light bulbs, candles, nanometers (nm). If 700 nm is the dominant campfires, kerosene lamps, projector bulbs, wavelength in the reflection of light from an and carbon arc spotlights. One of two broad apple, our brain interprets the hue of the categories of light. (See luminescence.) apple to be "red." The dimension of color that refers to a scale of perceptions ranging from incident light Light received directly from red through yellow, green, blue, and a prime light source (like the sun) rather than circularly, back to red; A particular gradation light reflected from a surface. Sometimes the of colors; tint; shade. The term chromatic is term "ambient" light is used, meaning merely sometimes used to refer to the property of the light that is around us. hue. (See chromatic.) Most commonly, hue refers to the "color" of a color, that which, for inference The act or process of drawing a instance, we call red. The hue is then conclusion from evidence or premises. modified by saturation, value, tint, or shade, Inferences are not necessarily the result of as in bright red, dull red, and so on. It is often step-by-step logic but often are a useful to speak of the temperature of a color. consequence of deduction and supposition (a This might have a reference to genuine kind of sixth sense) that sees similarities or temperature, such as red, which is the color relationships between dissimilar things, or glowing embers and is a hot color, but activities, or mechanisms. mostly it is an intuitive scale that identifies an optic quality that is different from value and installation art A form of mixed media, saturation. multidisciplinary art that interfaces with the architectural space or environment in which it hue circle A circle composed of primary, is shown. secondary, and intermediate hues in any color-mixing system. (See color wheel.) integration The resulting whole made by bringing all parts together; unification. The icon An image, representation; a simile or organization of organic, psychological or symbol. An icon is a graphic symbol of almost social traits and tendencies of a personality universal nature - a visual shorthand that is into a harmonious whole. Desegregation; a understood by most members of a successful relationship of elements. Parts community. Icons enlarge communication can relate through their differences (contrast) within the community of viewers who as well as their similarities (harmony). In understand them ("A picture says a thousand society, integration is achieved not when all words") but alienate those who do not. cultures have given up their uniqueness, but when all elements can celebrate what sets illusion A perception that fails to give the them apart. Similarly, a composition does not true character of the object perceived; an seek to homogenize all its elements, but to unreal or misleading image presented to our create an environment (structure) that will vision; a deceptive appearance. accommodate the unique contributions or each. imbrication The overlapping of edges in a regular fashion like roofing shingles or fish integrity Rigid adherence to a code of scales. behavior. To remain consistent with larger, often moral, dictates; the state of being

15 unimpaired; soundness; completeness; unity. space in which negative shapes have been The thousands of decisions that go into the given, to a certain degree, the illusion of creation of a work of art or design must mass and volume. (See ambiguous space.) eventually be tested against some form of measurement. A field test of integrity asks: If l interval A space between two objects, remove this does the piece suffer? In a fully points or units; the temporal duration integrated design there is nothing between two specified instants, events or extraneous. In the same way that moral states; an intermission. The amount of spatial integrity means staying true to a philosophy, or chronological separation between things visual integrity is the result of remaining such as lines, figures, colors, areas, spaces, consistent to a concept or approach. or points in time. Intervals are regular when spacing is all the same and progressive when intensity The saturation, or purity, of a the spaces change in natural order whether color. (See purity.) based on a simple numerical progression or on a geometric ratio. An interval is the visual interference An interaction of waveforms equivalent of a "rest" in musical notation. If whereby the overlap of two sets of waves the interval is too large, the elements drift weakens some waves but reinforces others. apart and create an unresolved composition. If one peak coincides with another, the wave If it is too small, the effect is compressed is reinforced; if a peak coincides with a space, often with a corresponding tension. trough, the waves cancel out one another. Light wave interference is responsible for the intuition Direct mental insight without the iridescent colors we see in soap bubbles, use of rational processes; immediate record grooves, and some butterfly wings and cognition; a sense or something not evident birds' feathers. (See moiré.) or deducible. A deep-rooted, subconscious response to any specific stimulus that is intermediate colors Hues that are mixed produced by the sum total of each person's from one primary and one secondary hue to life experiences up to that point, including form a hue that is "in between"; also, more instinctive responses like emotions (genetic broadly, any color or hue perceived to lie components). Also, a capacity to make between any two others. inferences from incomplete or missing data. Contrary to popular belief, our intuitive intersection A place where two or more faculties draw on all assimilated knowledge roads cross; the point common to two or and, therefore, can be developed and more geometric figures. The crossing point of enhanced. Intuition is, the saving grace that two lines, forms or movements. Typically a prevents art from being reduced to formula. It stable point. Intersections can be actual or is the charming stumble, the rebellious anticipated. Two sloped lines climbing a page bellow, the step off into the dark. Intuition is might not actually cross, but we extend them what we know automatically, without having in our imagination to create an intersection. learned it. We can improve our ability to listen There is likely to be a sense of completion or to intuition and to trust it. Intuition is the tool resolution associated with this subconscious that lets us cross-reference our senses. activity. Through it we know how to cool down a hot color or quiet a noisy composition. Intuition interspace Sometimes considered can't be shared but it can be communicated. synonymous with negative space. In many works of modern art, however, it is more iridescence An effect produced by the accurately described as a type of ambiguous interference of light waves in which materials

16 or surfaces, like soap bubbles, appear to reflect all the hues of the spectrum. (See light A small portion of the electromagnetic interference.) spectrum capable of stimulating the photoreceptive cells (cones and rods) in the irradiation A perceptual illusion in which of our eyes. The band of visible light our brain makes a dark edge darker and a extends from about 400 nm to 700 nm. (See light edge lighter in order to clarify and electromagnetic spectrum.) strengthen the formation of the edge. Some psychologists call this "contrast"; the term line The locus or a point having one irradiation avoids confusions with the broader degree of freedom. Theoretically a closely meanings of the word contrast. spaced series of points; a thin, continuous mark, as that made by a pen, pencil, brush, isometric perspective A form of parallel or other writing or drawing instrument applied line perspective in which no construction lines to a surface. Also, any conceptual, are parallel to the picture plane. Three faces intellectual, or theoretical correspondence to of an object are viewed simultaneously. this figure. There are lines of vision, lines of motion or movement, contour lines, and so Join Putting or bringing together, uniting or on. In the visual world, lines are generally a making continuous; putting or bringing into shorthand for edges. We perceive objects close association or relationship; the way because of the dozens of ways they differ elements are attached to each other. Joinery from their surroundings. We abbreviate these always asks the question, "Should these differences by drawing a contour line. elements be joined?" The root meaning of "Shaded" lines go from thick to thin and "art" is "to join, or fit together." Joinery create a subtle illusion of space'. Thin areas imposes a relationship. Picture the difference recede while thicker sections advance. between a book set upon a table and a book Types of Lines: nailed to a table. Long / Short Kinds of Joins: Thin / Thick permanent - temporary Solid / Broken obvious - subtle Straight / Curved familiar - exotic Uniform / Irregular integral - superficial Neat / Sloppy organic - mechanical Planned / Random Vertical / Horizontal kinetic Moving; pertaining to motion; produced by motion. linear Situations or compositions in which line is the dominant element, as compared, layout The placement of an image within a for instance, with plane, form, or surface. two-dimensional format. Things in a line or in an obvious sequence; a process that moves logically from point to lens In reference to the eye: a flexible, point. oval-shaped transparent body behind the iris, which changes shape to bring near or far linear perspective The representation of objects into focus on the retina. things on a flat surface as they are arranged in space and as they are seen from a single leveling Making things more alike; point of view. A method of encoding a two- emphasizing similarities; commonly a dimensional surface to create an illusion of stereotyping procedure. three-dimensional figure-objects. The term is

17 usually meant to describe Renaissance appears to emanate from "inside" a color perspective (vanishing point perspective) area. wherein parallel straight lines appear to converge on the distant horizon. However, masculine (stereotype) Qualities usually there are other types of linear perspectives, attributed to the male gender-strong, forceful, including isometric, oblique, and muscular, bold, hard, mechanical, cold, orthographic, in which parallel lines remain insensitive. Also, similar qualities as applied parallel. The latter forms have been to figure-objects like or type styles. commonly employed by cultures other than (See feminine.) our own and are especially important in 20th century art. mass Any body of matter perceived to be unified but without regard to specific shape; local color The color of figure-objects seen any cohesive group of objects so perceived. independently of shadows, reflections, The weight or density of an object. The major atmospheric effects, unnatural part of something; majority. In science, the conditions, or any other variable. (See body effect of gravity as registered on an object or color; complex local color.) particle. The total accumulation, as in a numberless crowd; the masses. Visually local value The inherent tonality of an related to the bulk of an object-the object's surface, regardless of incidental accumulated sense conveyed by its external lighting effects or surface texture. dimensions or surface. This often translates to the presence of a work, its ability to low key design A composition in which dominate the space it occupies. This sort of the overall or prevailing luminances are all perceived mass is not measurable like below middle gray. physical mass but it is an important aspect of design. luminance An index of the amount of light reflected from a surface viewed from a mass gesture A complex of gestural particular direction. It relates to the lightness marks used to express the density and or the darkness of reflected colors and is weight of a form. compared to a gray scale. The term luminance is able to accommodate a gray meaning In this text, the term is used in its scale based on density, a subtractive most generic sense: to refer to perceptual measure. (See value.) recognition, naming, or identification of a figure-object. The term, as used here, does luminescence (loo mi NES' enz) Any not necessarily imply message. (See prime light source not attributable to message; assimilation.) incandescence, that is, all non thermal lights such as those produced by chemical, measuring A proportioning technique biochemical, or electrical processes, using a pencil to gauge the relative sizes of including fluorescence and the longest and shortest dimensions of an phosphorescence. Do not confuse this term object. with luminance (LOO' mi nans). melds A variety of artistic devices that luminosity Certain visual effects achieved merge figure with ground by exploiting through color or tonal interaction, for Gestalt "continuity" - for example, extending example, the effect of an illusion of light that figure contours, colors, or textures, into the negative space or ground (particularly at

18 sharp changes in contour); softening or self-contained unit that performs a specific "blurring" edges; retention of normally task. There is a modern feeling to this word; it invisible construction (compositional) lines; is used to convey an industrial notion of and so on. A leveling procedure, melds add repeatability and versatility. Furniture and homogeneity and unity to works. housing are often modular. message A correlation of "meanings" in a moiré The "beat" or visual reinforcement specific context or structure for the express created by the overlapping (superimposition) purpose of communication - transmitting a of the same or similar wave patterns or purposeful thought, concept, or idea. periodic patterns. (See interference.) A pattern like that of watered silk, which results metamorphosis A transformation, or from laying one pattern on top of another evolutionary change, from one form into (such as the stripes of a zebra seen through another - appearance, character, structure, or the bars of a cage). Moirés may be observed function. (See serial.) in overlapped window screens, curtains, and so on. metaphor A figure of speech in which one object is given attributes characteristic of monochromatic Consisting of one color. another object from which it clearly differs in Possessing only one hue, though possibly order to suggest or to point out likenesses varying in luminance and purity; consisting of between them not ordinarily observed; a only one wavelength of light. In addition to a visual equivalent to this literary form. single hue, schemes commonly include white, grays, and black. middleground The intermediate zone of (See polychromatic.) space in a three-dimensional illusion. (See background; foreground.) monochromatic color scheme A color arrangement consisting of value and intensity model A preliminary pattern, prototype, or variations of one hue. (See color scheme.) design, especially an example to be emulated. The term paradigm is preferred. vision Vision that uses only (See paradigm.) one eye, and therefore only one cone of vision, to perceive an object. Modernism An historical movement initiated in the mid-19th century and motif A design fragment, reduced to its continuing to the present day. Modernist art most simplified form or configuration, that is is largely characterized by the conviction that used as a basic theme in a work of art. The content resides chiefly in artistic form. repetition of a visual element, such as a line, Modernist art, often abstract or nonobjective, shape, or unit of texture, to help unify a work recognizes the autonomy of the art object. of art. The motif may be repeated (See Postmodernism; abstraction; rhythmically, fractionalized, enlarged, and nonobjective.) elaborated on; however, its presence always helps to provide coherency and unity in the module A part of a construction used as a work. standard to which the rest is proportioned. A sub-unit that goes to make up a whole, motion The action or process of change of generally through repetition of similar or position; a meaningful or expressive change identical units. A uniform structural in the position of the body; the way in which a component used repeatedly in a building. A body moves; gait; a prompting from within; an

19 impulse or inclination; to signal or direct by making a gesture. Real physical motion has nonobjective A style of art in which the direction, speed and duration. Visual motion imagery is solely the product of the artist's is usually implied through shape, value, and imagination and therefore without reference lines. In composition these are used to lead a to things in the real world. "Pure" abstraction, viewer through a piece, or back into the that is, pictures that make no reference or implied depth. bear no resemblance to the forms of nature or the natural world or to manufactured movement The visual act or appearance objects or structures; nonrepresentational. of change. The progression of events through time and space or across a two-dimensional normal value (See natural luminance.) surface. Visible displacement in space. When we observe movement it is called direct or Based on knowledge; factually simultaneous; when it is too fast or slow to be presented without influence of, or regard to, observed, it is called inferred or implied. (Sec emotions, supposition, or personal prejudice. kinetic.) Also, things viewed dispassionately; the opposite of subjective. Munsell, Albert H. Inventor of the first practical color notation system. His system is one-point perspective In one-point now incorporated into the ISCC-NBS System perspective, a rectangular volume is centered adopted by the U.S. Bureau of Standards. on the line of vision, thus causing all receding (horizontal) parallel lines to appear to nanometer One-billionth of a meter (10 converge, or meet, at one point on the ¯9); approximately 0.000000039 inch. horizon line. Formerly called a "millimicron," this unit of measure is applicable to wavelengths in the Op art A contraction of optical art. An art visible light band. movement of the 1950s and 1960s that employed optical illusions, optical dazzle, natural luminance Every pigment, when simultaneous contrast, and other perceptual compared to a gray scale, has a luminance phenomena as a basis for their works. ordinarily associated with that specific pigment. For example, Cadmium Red Light is optical color Refers to the eye's tendency a middle gray, D 5.0. to mix small strokes of color that are placed side by side or overlapped. natural order In regular or normal order or sequence: hues according to their spectral optical dazzle A type of pulsating, sequence (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, shimmering, and dazzling optical effect ); even steps of gray from white to black attributed to the fatigue of photoreceptor cells or vice versa; and so on. Such sequences (rods and cones) in the retina. Generally, are psychologically comfortable, natural, strong contrasts of black/white or easy, fast, and so on. (See unnatural order.) complementary hues are required. negative shape The pictorial, flat optical grays The eye's involuntary counterpart of negative space in the real blending of hatched or cross-hatched lines to world. Neutrals Refers to black, white, and produce the sensation of a tone, (See actual gray. (See achromatic; chromatic gray.) grays; cross-hatching.) negative space (See ground.)

20 optical fusion The blending in the eye of design, or style; the power of independent two or more discrete elements in any visual thought or constructive imagination. One of field so that each loses its separate identity. the hardest tasks in design - or in life for that For example, if we spin a disk half white and matter - is to deal with excessive freedom. In half black at high speed, we will see a shade the absence of a limiting context, design of middle gray, not black or white. The variety becomes movement without direction, fickle of colors on a TV set are created by the and unproductive. optical fusion of tiny triplet patterns of red, green, and blue phosphors. Orphism One of several similar styles that were characterized by surface patterns order A condition of logical or composed of dashes, dabs, or dots of paint, comprehensible arrangement among used as a means of endowing the works with separate elements; a condition of methodical a poetic quality. Objectives were very or prescribed arrangement to achieve proper different from those of Divisionism. appearance or function. Sequence; the customary procedure. Tidy, precise, an orthographic Characterized by orderly arrangement. We each have a need perpendicular lines and right angles. A form for order (a threshold of tolerance for of linear perspective in which multiple views disorder). One description of art is that it is of a solid object are presented as if they were humankind's attempt to impose order on the all in the same plane - the "plan" view used universe. This could be given as a definition by engineers and architects. of science as well. Order is often a prerequisite to communication. Order implies outline Usually a mechanical-looking line a pre-existing structure. Things rarely fall into of uniform thickness, tone, and speed, which order by accident. serves as a boundary between a form and its environment. organic Related to growth in nature or representative of that process; simple, basic, overall image The sum total of all the and close to nature; having properties shapes, positive and negative, in a drawing. associated with living organisms; an integral part of something; fundamental; overlapping An effective way to represent constitutional; structural. Pertaining to living and organize space in a pictorial work of art. things or the attribution of the characteristics Overlapping occurs when one object of living things to inorganic, nonobjective, or obscures from view part of a second object. conceptual design forms. The word organic is usually associated with rounded forms paradigm A model or a blueprint, (snowdrifts, beach pebbles, plant forms) but especially one perceived to be definitive. because nature often works with geometric precision (such as crystals) the term is more paradox A true, but apparently accurate when describing a process. contradictory, statement, circumstance, or image. Also, what is illogical, inexplicable, or orientation Alignment or positioning of contrary to accepted opinion or expectations. anything with respect to a specific direction, reference system, or axis; also, familiarizing parameters Fixed limits or boundaries; oneself or adjusting to any situation. characteristic element; the outside dimensions, boundaries, particularly in originality Pertaining to the beginning of reference to a task, a brief. Design often something; initial; first. Freshness of aspect, starts by determining parameters, or by

21 testing their flexibility. A mediocre designer perceptual accentuation That quality might settle for the limitations as given, but a each individual brings to a figure, object, great designer pushes the limits of concept, and so on, that causes it to stand conventional thinking. In design this term out or assume unusual importance; the result refers to the restrictions and challenges of a of past life experiences or perceptions; a given project. It might include materials, size, factor in psychological weight. cost, or many other factors, all of which will impact the decisions. Some parameters are perceptual constancy A human being's visual (must be bright, must have a flat understanding that certain things remain the surface) and others are related to function same regardless of the changing image (must have no sharp edges, must stand up to sizes, shapes, and light qualities on our handling). retina. It is part of the brain's mechanism to stabilize our environment. For example, we pattern An archetype; an ideal worthy of have no doubt that a person seen in the imitation. A plan, diagram or model to be distance is of average height, five to six feet followed when making things. A tall, even though the image on the retina representative sample; specimen. To cover appears smaller than that of a hand held up or ornament with a design. Patterns, or beside. This is size constancy; among others, recurring activities and responses, are the we also have object, color, and shape very stuff of science. There is no doubt about constancy. the importance of visual pattern, or that our ability to perceive pattern matures as we perceptual imperative An autonomic widen our experience of the world. It takes a psychophysical drive to find meaning in every while to discover the finer differences visual field or, more broadly, to derive between shapes, colors, and textures that will meaning from all sensory data. become the building blocks of pattern. Geniuses, particularly in science and perceptual selectivity or set A process mathematics, are often credited with the allied to assimilation. We see what we look ability to discern patterns that the rest of us for, that is, what we expect to see, while miss. Pattern recognition is a large part of the remaining unaware of things we do not business of being human. Pattern gives us expect to see. control-or the appearance of control. periodic Recurring at regular intervals. perceived color The observed modification in the local color of an object, periodic patterns (or structures) which is caused by changes in lighting or by Patterns of lines, dots, or other simple the influence of reflected colors from elements spaced at equal intervals or at surrounding objects. geometrically progressive intervals. When a periodic pattern of vertical lines is overlaid on percept A more or less single impression itself at right angles, the result is called a grid. in the mind of something perceived by our (See grid.) Periodic patterns are inherently senses. rhythmic. perception An awareness of everything perspective A mechanical system to around us obtained through our sensual represent three-dimensional objects and organs: Sight, hearing, smell, touch, and space relationships on a two-dimensional taste. surface. The relationship of aspects of a subject to each other and to a whole.

22 Subjective evaluation of relative significance; each has its own distinctive hue. Cadmium point of view. Aerial perspective exploits the Red Light is a pigment, orange-red is a effect of the atmosphere on perception, as for generic hue. instance when distant mountains appear lighter and less distinct. We use the term to planar analysis A structural description of describe a specific impression, referring a form in which its complex curves are intuitively to the understanding that when we generalized into major planar zones. move around we change the view in front of us. Perspective also implies a larger, more plane Any flat or level surface. A level of comprehensive view, as in "Let's put this development, existence or achievement. In problem into perspective." the visual arts, an imaginary flat surface that unifies or at least describes a series or photo receptors Light-sensitive cells in points. A picture plane is the flat surface of a the retina of the eye: the rods and the cones. drawing, print, or painting. In this instance the picture plane is real but the illusion of physics The science of matter and energy space within that plane is false. "Planar" does and of the interactions between the two. not necessarily refer to flat, though that is the common usage. It is sometimes thought that physical Pertaining to the body as an opposite of "planar" is "organic," but distinguished from the mind; pertaining to crystals prove this to be incorrect. matter and energy. Pointillism (See Divisionism.) physiological Pertaining to the biological science of life processes, activities, and polychromatic Consisting of many colors. functions. (See monochromatic.) pictorial Refers to a picture, not only its Positive/Negative Positive: Moving in a actual two-dimensional space but also its direction of increase, progress or forward potential for three-dimensional illusion. motion; explicitly or openly expressed, irrefutable. Negative: Indicating opposition or pictorial space Illusionary three- resistance; a thing or concept considered to dimensional space as observed from depth be the counterpart of something positive. In cues encoded on a two-dimensional surface. three-dimensional work, "positive" refers to the space that is materially occupied (the picture plane The actual flat surface, or wood, stone, metal, etc.) as distinct from the opaque plane, on which artists draw or paint areas of open space that are delineated by as bounded by the edges of the material (the the positive areas. A in a donut is an canvas, board, or frame) or by a line that example of a negative space. The two- circumscribes the area in which the artist dimensional equivalent of negative/positive is composes a design or picture, length by figure/ground. By understanding and width. It also refers to the imaginary, manipulating the interaction of positive and transparent "window on nature" that negative areas, an artist is able to activate a represents the format of a drawing mentally composition, making it more interesting and superimposed over real-world subject matter. unusual. pigment A substance (mineral or dye) used positive-negative reversal A visual as coloring matter in paint and other artists' phenomenon occurring when shapes in a materials. Pigments are not hues although

23 drawing alternate between positive and slow, interesting or boring, simple or negative identities. (See ambiguous space.) complex. Some of the techniques used to direct this movement are rhythm, value, positive shape The pictorial, flat scale, and proximity. The effect, however it is counterparts of forms in the real world. achieved, is called progression.

Postmodernism A movement initiated in proportion The relative size of part to part the mid-20th century in reaction to and part to whole within an object or Modernism in which emphasis on subject- composition. Parts as related to a whole; matter meaning displaced the modernist wholes as related to one another with respect artist's preoccupation with form. (See to length to length, width to width, girth to Modernism.) girth, and so on, or when compared in quantity, magnitude, or degree. Proportional positive space (See figure.) relationships establish geometric ratios mathematically. pragmatics That part of language that exhibits interrelationships with the reader, proximity Being near or next to; listener, or viewer- the existence of shared closeness; referring to the closeness of knowledge. elements. In Gestalt psychology, the principle in which things spatially close together in a primary colors The irreducible number of visual field join to make perceptual wholes or hues in any color system from which figures. (See tension.) Proximity functions in theoretically all other colors may be mixed. design like the force between two magnets. The three fundamental colors - red, yellow, When far enough apart they have no effect and blue - that cannot be produced by mixing on each other, but when they come close other hues or colors. When mixed in pairs or together the pull is so strong they become combined in admixtures containing all three, one unit. In between there is a place where the primaries are the source for all the other the tension of attraction is strong. A similar hues on the color wheel. (See secondary visual tension can exist between elements in colors.) a composition. Proximity is dependent on the physical action of the eye and brain, and is Principles of Design The means by which probably influenced by our physical size. The artists organize and integrate the visual speed with which the eyes can lake in a elements into a unified arrangement, composition will determine whether the including unity and variety, contrast, elements are read as a unit or separately. emphasis, balance, movement, repetition, Three dots scattered on a page have almost rhythm, and economy. no relation to each other, but if they are placed close enough together (or if you stand progression Movement toward a goal; far enough away) they will be perceived as a development. Steady improvement; a triangle. This effect is the result of proximity. movement from one tone or chord to another; a succession of tones, chords, etc. Course or psychological Pertaining to the mind or lapse or time; passage. Even though most the emotions. visual art is stable, a sense of movement is created as a viewer experiences the work. psychophysical A term used by The way a viewer's eye is led into and psychologists to indicate a response that is through a composition is part of the effect of dependent on combined physical, biological, a work. Like any journey, this can be fast or and mental processes.

24 rectilinear Formed or bounded by straight purity One of the dimensions of color that lines at 90° angles. identifies the monochromatic quality of any hue, that is, its relationship to light of a single reflected light The relatively weak light wavelength. This relationship establishes a that bounces off a nearby surface onto the scale ranging from the most vivid hue shadowed side of a form. (See chiaroscuro.) physically possible to neutral gray. There is no universally accepted term or description reflection Light waves bounced back to for this dimension. Although some persons the eyes from any surface. use the term purity, other persons prefer intensity, and still others prefer saturation. The bending of light waves as Some say intensity and saturation mean they pass through one transparent medium different things, and both terms are required; into another, for example, a lens or a of some persons prefer the term brightness, but water. it is a term most frequently used to describe a combination of dimensions rather than a relative position A means by which to single one. In the Munsell system, this represent and judge the spatial position of an dimension of color is called chroma. No term object in a three-dimensional illusion. is accepted by a majority of persons. The Generally, the higher something has been term purity, as noted above, is easily tied to depicted on a surface, the farther away it will monochromatic light of a single wavelength appear. giving it a precise meaning. relative scale A means by which to push-pull Spatial tension created by color represent and judge the spatial position of an interaction. object in a three-dimensional illusion. Generally, things that are larger in scale quarter-tone After the highlight, the next seem closer; when there is a relative brightest area of illumination on a form. (See decrease in the scale of forms (especially if chiaroscuro.) we know them to be of similar size) we judge them to be receding into the distance. radial symmetry or balance Mirror images on either side of both a vertical and a Renaissance A period of revived horizontal axes or along any even number of intellectual and artistic enthusiasm from equally spaced radii. roughly the 14th century to the 16th century; also, pertaining to the styles, characteristics, ratio Relation in degree between two and attitudes of that period. similar things. In design the mathematics are less important than the sense or relationship, repetition The use of the same visual which is critical to a design-in fact, maybe the effect a number of times in the same essence of design. It's not so much the parts, composition. Repetition may produce it's their arrangement that counts. The dominance of one visual idea, a feeling of quantities and intervals of those harmonious relationship, an obviously arrangements are ratios. In the arts they are planned pattern, or a rhythmic movement. usually arrived at intuitively rather than by calculation, but they are no less important, resolution Having determined to do even if they seem automatic. something, to be resolute. The process of separating or reducing something into its constituent parts. An explanation, as of a

25 problem or puzzle; a solution. In patternmaking process. Shapes or motifs or magnification, acuity or sharpness; focus. may be repeated in their entirety, The word is often used in art as an alternative fractionalized, compressed or expanded, and to "finished", brought into focus. A so on, throughout a work. Repetition, which is composition is resolved when its elements related to rhythm, creates the opportunity for are well chosen, well-placed and of a color interval and rhythm. These in turn can create and texture that best serves the needs of the pattern, harmony, dissonance, and a sense work. Once it is resolved we can still ask if it of movement. Rhythm can be regular, is good. progressive, alternating, or syncopated. Rhythm requires multiplicity; one element response A reaction or reply to a specific cannot have rhythm. Rhythm is widely used stimulus; all behavior that results when sense in art, but predominantly in those branches of organs are stimulated. Motor responses decorative arts that supply the sense of our occur when muscles are activated; glandular day-to-day life-fabric design, wallpaper, responses, when glands are activated; architectural detail, and landscape. Remove conscious responses are awarenesses that from that list all examples or rhythm and you result when the brain is activated. (See will have stripped the world of most or its subconscious.) ornament. retina A multilayer, light-sensitive rods The most numerous light receptors in membrane lining the inner surface of the the retina of the eye; important to vision at eyeball that is connected by the optic nerve low levels of illumination. They are essentially to the brain. The retina contains the eye's color-blind. photoreceptor cells. saturation A term originally referring to the retinal fatigue Overloading of the retinal amount of pigment or dye a substance (textile system commonly experienced when viewing or photo emulsion, for example) could absorb contrasty linear patterns or hues of high (soak up) as reflected in the vividness of purity. It may be a result of eye tremors colors that resulted. The term is now also slightly shifting the image on the retina, applied to color purity factors (intensity) in TV causing photoreceptors to signal on/off, thus picture tubes and computer monitors. (See sending a heavy load of confusing signals to purity.) the brain. The effects may also be due to the fact that once a photoreceptor has "fired," scale A system of ordered marks at fixed it is momentarily blind, and a sensation of the intervals used as a reference. An instrument additive complementary color appears. (See or device used in such measurement. A afterimage.) calibrated line, as on a map or architectural drawing. A progressive classification of size, rhythm Any kind of movement amount, importance, or rank. Relative characterized by the regular recurrence of proportion, degree. A visual relationship strong and weak elements; nonrandom drawn between differing figures according to variation, especially uniform or regular some easily recognized standard such as the variation in a process. The effect or recurring human body. In art, where the usual or repetitious lines, colors, forms, etc. In comparisons are less helpful, the artist or music, the specific arrangements of accents designer can provide a comparison and and the relative duration or sounds. Visually, thereby create scale. We have a tendency to repetition of any component - interval, shape, make size comparisons based on relationship color, or motif (figure) - in a regulated to human scale. Return as an adult to a place

26 known as a child and it seems so much development, and picture stories (like comic smaller. Scale can be used to direct a viewer strips) are serial presentations. through a site or image. shade A color darkened by adding black. scattering Random or deflection of light from any surface, shape The outline or characteristic surface substance, or airborne particle. configuration of a thing; a contour; form; developed, definite or proper form; something scumbling A technique in which paint is used to give or determine form, as a mold or stippled, dabbed, or rubbed on with a very pattern. The overall outline or contour of any "dry" brush, dauber, rag, fingers, or anything perceived unit, figure or ground, particularly else in a controlled application of opaque when related to a two-dimensional surface. A pigment over a darker color. In this way, a flat area with a particular outer edge, or variety of textures may be developed with the boundary. In drawing, shape may refer to the underlying paint layer or ground showing overall area of the format or to the subdivided through speckles of the scumbled color. areas within the format. "Shape" typically refers to a two-dimensional unit; "form" is a secondary colors Hues mixed by parallel term for three-dimensional units. combining any pair of primary colors; the Shape is the result of a line that travels back three hues - orange, purple, and green - that to its beginning, an enclosed space. (See are each the result of mixing two primaries. form.) semantics In the grammar of any shape aspect The shape of something language, the recognition, tagging, or naming seen from anyone vantage point. of a word or "figure" - its fundamental meaning. shape summary Recording the major areas of a three-dimensional form in terms of sensual Pertaining to the senses or sense flat shape, usually for purposes of analysis. organs; referring to the gratification of the senses and sexual appetites. Artists and sharpening Making things less alike; designers rely on the senses of viewers to emphasizing differences between things - collect and sort the stimulation provided by contrast. their work. The biology of the senses defines the boundaries of art. Sensuous can refer to similarity The Gestalt psychology principle any physical sense but usually applies to the that states that like elements perceptually join intellectual or aesthetic enjoyment of the arts, to form wholes or figures. music, and nature. Sensual is generally restricted to bodily sensations and to the simultaneous color contrast The satisfaction of physical appetites particularly enhancement of contrast between two sexual. Most art today appeals to the mind, different colors that are placed together. The which ha, no sense organs but contains psychophysical effect of our visual memories of the senses. mechanism where the stimulus of any color on our retina generates a subtle sensation of serial Arranging in or forming a series or its opposite, additive complementary hue. sequence in natural order. Serial The presence of red will make blue appear development is the process of engaging in greener along common edges; blue will such an activity. Animation is serial cause the red to appear to contain more yellow-to look orangy. The principle is this:

27 The perception of a color moves toward the two dimensions-it is a menial construct that additive complement of the color that is next does not really exist. Equal parts of figure to it or surrounds it. The maximum color and ground create an ambiguous space. (See effect occurs when complementary hues of pictorial space; picture plane.) equal luminances are placed together causing "vibration." (See optical dazzle.) spatial attitude The position of any body relative to its normal or innate vertical axis, size The physical dimensions, proportions, usually a position that takes the physical magnitude or extent of something. effects of gravity into account. Every figure- Considerable extent, amount or dimensions. object possesses three axes about which it To arrange, classify or distribute according to may rotate. size. Beyond the obvious measurable aspect of size, the term refers to relative measures- spatial configuration The flat shape or our automatic response to an element as image produced by connecting various points "bigger than" or "smaller than" something in a spatial field. else, usually whatever is closest. Size is always relative. To prove it, answer this spatial gesture The gestural movement question: "Is this big enough?" Experience implied by a perceived linkage of objects has taught us that size is often related to distributed in space. time. Plants, animals, and people increase in size as they get older, up to a point. This spectrum More specifically, the color intuitive link between size and time is unique spectrum: the distribution of hues in natural among design elements. We do not assume order according to their wavelengths. Also, that color, proportion, texture, etc. change as the colored image formed when light is time passes. spread out after passing through a . Spectral sequence or chromatic sequence space The intuitive three-dimensional field describes hues in prismatic order. of everyday experience characterized by dimensions extending indefinitely in all station point In the system of linear directions. An interval or area between or perspective, the fixed position you occupy in within points or objects; an interval of time; relation to your subject (often abbreviated period, while. In the environment, space may SP). be defined as area, volume, or distance. In drawing, space may be experienced as either stereoscopic vision Normal perception a three-dimensional illusion or as the actual using two eyes. In stereoscopic vision two two-dimensional area upon which a drawing slightly different views of an object-two is produced. Space in a composition can separate cones of vision-are combined to allow entry and movement as the eyes "read" produce a single image. or travel through a work. If this space is cramped or vast, the experience of the work stereotype A vastly oversimplified model, will be affected. Space, in both two- concept, opinion, or belief in which things dimensional and three-dimensional work can typify or conform in an unvarying manner and become charged or loaded with heightened without individuality. power because of form, scale, proportion and other factors. If two marks are set on a page structure A complex entity; that which is with a small gap between them, the space constructed; a combination of related parts between draws our attention more than other such as a building or ; the position or spaces on the same page. Flat space has arrangement of parts; constitution; make-up.

28 Natural processes such as organic growth, possible to confirm scientifically. Also, an crystallization, erosion, and sedimentation individual personal experience or response have been refining structural systems since not necessarily like, or even similar to, those the planet was formed. These offer valuable of any other person; the expression in the models for artists, architects, and crafts- arts of any such experience, response, or people. Sometimes structure dominates a attitude; the opposite of objective. form (the Eiffel Tower) and sometimes it less obvious (a cloud). If a surface or ornament is subjective color Refers to arbitrary color faulty it can be removed without affecting the choices. Such arbitrary color choices can be structure. If the structure is at fault, no used to convey emotional or imaginative amount of superficial correction will set it responses to a subject and to compose more right. intuitively or expressively. stylize To make conform to a style or subliminal Below the level of conscious mode; to conventionalize. Stylization refers to awareness. It is a term commonly used to a nonspecific or generalized presentation. It describe affective responses in an individual can be achieved through: from stimuli (images or words) hidden or Exaggeration: Cartoonists often overstate concealed in any sort of visual or audio physical features to create an image that materials - a secretive influence. does not read as a portrait of the person but as a symbol representing the person. The basic form of color Simplification: An oval with wings on the mixing and viewing we experience with paint, side and a thin triangle of a beak at one end ink, and most . Pigments is understood to be a bird, though it lacks absorb (subtract) certain wavelengths of enough detail to tell the species. Most white light. The color we perceive consists of children's drawings are stylized in this way. only the reflected or transmitted wavelengths. As powers of observation and skill at The primary hues are yellow (white light representation improve, drawings become minus blue); magenta (white light minus more detailed. green); and cyan (white light minus red). subconscious Below the level of successive contrast (See afterimage.) conscious awareness. Subconscious responses are those usually associated with surreal Derived from a literary and artistic our autonomic nervous system, like movement launched in 1924 based on the breathing. (See autonomic.) Also, referring liberation of the unconscious. An attempt to to deep-rooted psychological (perceptual) express the workings of the subconscious responses related to negotiating our world - mind. Surrealism is an artistic style that uses instinct. peculiar juxtapositions to trigger unexpected or irrational associations. In this way it subject matter Those things represented resembles dreaming, where impossible in a work of art, such as a landscape, portrait, things happen as if they are normal. Some or imaginary event. surrealist artists compose through a conventional, rational process while others subject-meaning That aspect of content prefer to conjure up images through mind- derived from subject matter in a work of art. altering activities like hypnosis, sleep deprivation, or drugs. Surrealism asks subjective Existing only in the mind of the fundamental questions about reality by person having the experience; therefore, not

29 suggesting that "real" means more than the symmetrical arrangement of parts; due or physical world around us. right proportion. Generally symmetry creates harmony, balance, and order, but risks being symbiotic, symbiosis Relating to the boring. "living together" or the living in close union of Kinds of Symmetry: Horizontal uses an dissimilar organisms usually where such imaginary horizon or left-to-right line as the association is necessary or advantageous to divider, top and bottom sections mirror each the survival of both. In the arts, connections other. A landscape reflected in a still pond is of the narrow kind, that is, the consequences an example of horizontal symmetry. Vertical of a variety of means by which dissimilar uses a top-to-bottom line as a meridian, with elements are unified and brought into identical images on either side of the line. harmonious relationships in a composition. Radial, through radiant, implies an outward direction. Radial lines are just as likely to symbol Something that represents draw attention inward, as for instance in a something else by association, resemblance, mandala. Intuitive symmetrical images or convention; a printed or written sign used approach symmetry but are not exactly the to represent an operation, element, quantity, same on the opposing parts. They feel quality, or relation. A figure or a sign that symmetrical, but aren't. The human face is a "stands in" for something else; something good example. that represents an entire idea or concept. A kind of "shorthand" that may be used to synectic Relating to the merging of indicate an operation, quality, relationship, different and incompatible things into a new and so on. An icon is a pictorial symbol; to cohesive and unified whole; that is, to know the object is to understand the symbol. synthesize. A stylized picture of a hand will carry its meaning as a pictogram. Other symbols need synesthesia A subjective sensation or to be learned: mathematical functions like + event in which the responses of one sensory or - for instance. Some symbols are simple organ are linked to those of another; a icons (cross, swastika, etc.), but symbols can phenomenon in which one type of stimulation be complex and dynamic. A symbol is evokes the sensation of another, as the defined by what it does, not what it is. hearing of a sound resulting in the Symbols direct or confine a work of art to an visualization of a color; crossover between audience. sensual perception. The use of terms from one domain to describe the effect of another, symmetrical balance Symmetrical as in "hot colors" or "bright sound". The use balance is achieved by dividing an image into of cross-over descriptions not only makes for virtually mirror-like halves. Exact repetition or more interesting language, it can lead to correspondence of shapes on opposite sides untried solutions. When you have identified a of an axis or a point. When correspondence shape as "quiet" you might more clearly is not exact, but still similar, it is called create its opposite by imagining a "loud" "approximate" symmetry. (See approximate shape. symmetry; asymmetrical balance; bilateral symmetry; radial symmetry.) syntax Language structure, that is, the way in which words, sentences, or images symmetry An exact correspondence are put together to form phrases or between the opposite halves of a figure, form, sentences - visual "strings" - in relative line, or pattern; beauty or harmony of form agreement and position sequentially resulting from a symmetrical or nearly according to rules of grammar.

30 structures in flux; unresolved, about to tactile Perceptions gained directly from or happen. It is important not to confuse tension through memories of the sense of touch. with agitation or chaos. Tension is present in the quiet before the storm. Tension results tangent A shape touching another or an from a dynamic opposition of formal edge, creating a point of emphasis usually, elements, and suggests unresolved an undesirable effect except in formal design. relationships. taste The power to determine what tertiary colors Colors made by mixing a constitutes beauty or excellence and the primary and an analogous . expression of that power. Mixing red with orange, for example, produces the tertiary red-orange. template A pattern or gauge used to convey a correct shape. Often made of a texture The appearance of a fabric durable material, so in this sense it retains or resulting from its woven arrangement or perpetuates a shape. A template conveys fibers; a grainy, fibrous, woven, or information about size, shape, and location, dimensional quality as opposed to a uniformly and in this way can span time and distance. flat, smooth aspect; surface interest; the A template often contains important representation of the structure of a surface as information that is not otherwise easily distinct from color or form. available. The template might be more Three categories of texture: valuable than the finished piece. In computer 1. Literal texture that is the result of the software a template is a generic version upon surface of a material or object. We know the which a customized program can be built. texture of the skin of an orange by feeling it. We generally use the term to indicate rough tension The condition of being stretched texture. tight; mental strain; intense nervous anxiety; 2. Remembered or implied texture such as a force tending to produce elongation or when we see a photo of an orange. We don't extension; strained relations between physically experience the texture by touching persons; uneasy suspense. The interaction of the photograph, but we nevertheless figures that tends to draw them together distinguish the surface of the orange as being ("magnetic attraction") visually - a factor in different from the table on which it sits. Gestalt proximity. In general, the closer the 3. We also use the term conceptually to refer figures, the greater the tension; the further to a complex or vague pattern, particularly the figures are apart, the less the tension up when considered abstractly or from a to the point where figures are perceived to distance. We might refer to the texture of an have no relationship at all. Tension sets up argument, or piece of music. stress points within a work of art that increase a sense of movement, direction, and texture gradient (See density gradient.) dynamism. Physical tension is the result of pulling in opposite directions. Visual tension three-dimensional space The actual can result from disparity in media and space of our environment, or the content, symbol and message, or pattern and representation of it, through a pictorial form. An example of the latter is camouflage, illusion. in which tension between real forms and painted shapes create so much visual three-point perspective The kind of linear ambiguity that the eye prefers to "not see" the perspective used to draw a very large or very object. Tension describes situations or close object. In three-point perspective, the

31 object is positioned at an angle to the picture once the clay becomes a pot or sculpture we plane and is seen from an extreme eye-level, don't tend to see it as a lump of clay. In some with the result that both the horizontal and the compositions the parts dissemble; the work is vertical parallel lines appear to converge, or dynamic and seems to coalesce into an meet, respectively at three separate image, then dissolve away. This makes the vanishing points. viewer part of the transformation process. time A nonspatial continuum in which transition The process of changing from events occur in apparently irreversible one form, state, activity, or place to another; succession from the past through the present passage from one subject to another; (music) to the future. An interval separating two a passage connecting two themes. points on this continuum, measured Transitions happen as we view any object. essentially by selecting a regularly recurring Artists and designers manipulate them to give event, such as sunrise, and counting the the work direction, pace, and structure. number of its occurrences during the interval. Transition occurs along lines of movement A suitable or opportune moment or season. and in a direction, as in "horizontal, slow, left- In music, the beat; the pace of the rhythm. to-right" or "radial, two-dimensional and Time is the fourth dimension - just as every rapid." object must have a measurable height and width and depth, so everything can only exist triadic color scheme A color arrangement in time. To say it another way, as physical based on three hues that are equidistant from beings we cannot imagine the absence of one another on the color wheel. (See or the absence of time. scheme.) tint A color lightened by the addition of triangulation Angling between a set of white. three points on the picture plane to accurately proportion the overall image of your drawing. tonal key The coordination of a group of values in a drawing for purposes of two-dimensional space The flat, actual organization and to establish a pervasive surface area of a drawing, which is the mood. Tonal keys may be high, middle, or product of the length times the width of your low. paper or drawing support. Synonymous with the opaque picture plane and flat ground of a topographical marks Any marks or lines drawing. used to analyze and indicate the surface terrain of a depicted object. Cross-contour two-point perspective In two-point lines and hatched lines used to describe the perspective, a rectangular volume is inflections of planes are both topographical positioned off-center-that is, it is not centered marks. on the line of vision-thus causing the receding (horizontal) parallel lines of each transformation To clearly alter the form or face to appear to meet at two separate points appearance of a thing; to change the nature, on the horizon line. function, or condition; to convert. In one sense, this is the primary description of what unity The state of being one; singleness. an artist does - canvas and pigments become The state, quality or condition of accord or a portrait; a lump of clay becomes a cup. agreement; concord. The combination or Intangible ideas are translated into tangible arrangement of parts into a whole. The ability objects. Some transformations are one-way - of a composition to coordinate its various

32 parts into a stable whole. The quality of any When we see a photograph, work of art that pulls it together and forms we are seeing the world rendered exclusively one whole as opposed to a random as value, as the colors without the hues. association of parts. Unity is the effect of the whole exerting a greater force than would be value shapes The major areas of light and expected from a simple collection of the shade on a subject organized into shapes, parts. When you taste the ingredients in food, each of which is assigned a particular tone that's analysis. When you sit back and savor, that is coordinated with the values of other that's unity. Unity defies formulation but will shapes in the drawing. often include careful attention to hierarchy, rhythm, and balance. Unity is the positive vanishing point In linear perspective, the effect of establishing a sympathetic point on the horizon line at which receding relationship between parts. The more diverse parallel lines appear to converge, or meet. the parts, the greater the challenge - and the reward. veridical Pertaining to the properties of things considered objectively such as can be unnatural order Any arbitrary sequence determined by measurement and without like 7, 1, 5, 9, for example, or orange, blue, dependence on viewing conditions. and red. Typical affective responses are "unnatural," slow, disturbing, jarring, and viewfinder A homemade device that chaotic. (See natural order.) functions as a rectangular "window" on your subject. It is a useful aid for proportioning and value The relative lightness or darkness of layout. color in a picture. That aspect of color by which a sample appears to reflect more or visual attraction The quality of less of the incident color. Black, white, and "difference" in a visual field, observed the gradations of gray tones between them, uniqueness or novelty of any kind. or the lightness or darkness of a color when Differences may be related to any form of compared with a gray scale. A Munsell change such as motion or metamorphosis. System term for lightness/darkness using additive notation (white is 10.0; black 0.0 - visual elements The means by which the absence of all light); the obverse of the artists make visible their ideas and responses luminance density scale. (See density; to the world, including line, value (or tone), luminance.) Value can be used to organize a shape, texture, and color. composition: by placing areas of changing value strategically, a viewer's eye is guided visual field Essentially anything we see into and around a picture plane. The degrees before us although, in specific instances, a of contrast and relative amounts of value will visual field may be conceptually limited by give movement and speed to the work. perimeters such as a picture frame. In that Because distant objects appear lighter in case, it may be called a pictorial field. nature, value creates the illusion of depth. In painting and drawing, value is usually created visual literacy Comparable to literacy in with media (black paint; gray paint). In language, it is the ability to understand and to graphics such as typography, value is usually use effectively all characteristics of the visual created by density (tightly grouped, loosely language. grouped). In three-dimensional work value is usually the result of hollows or cavities that visual weight The potential of any create shadows, or "hold onto the light". element or area of a drawing to attract the

33 eye. The degree of attention or sustained to achieve balance (if that's what's wanted). interest that any single figure-object (or Two large black shapes on opposite sides of mass) commands related to all other a page are an equal distribution of weight, but elements in any visual field. are boring. Alternate elements with the same visual weight would be a better solution. visual weight volume The overall size of an object and, by extension, the quantity of weighted line A line that varies in three-dimensional space it occupies. thickness (width) throughout its length usually a gradation from thin to thick or a variation of volume The size or extent of a three- luminance from light (gray) to dark (black). dimensional object or region of space; broadly, the capacity of such a region or of a working drawings The studies artists specified container; a large amount. This make in preparation for a final work of art. word traditionally refers to an interior space, particularly a space that is contained. A bowl has volume, as do a lake, a coffee cup and a cathedral. This is a first cousin to mass; both words refer to the overall size of a form, but mass is generally concerned with outside dimensions, while volume refers to a measure of the interior. warm colors Psychologically associated, for example, with sunlight or fire. Warm colors such as red, red-orange, yellow, and yellow-orange appear to advance in a relationship with cooler colors. (See cool colors.) wavelength The distance between any two similar points on a given wave; usually specified as the center of one wave crest to another. weight A measure of the heaviness or mass of an object; the gravitational force exerted by the earth or another celestial body on an object; influence, importance, authority. In addition to their measurable weight, objects have visual and psychological weight. A black smear on a white field has visual weight. Physical weight can be measured, but psychological and visual weight cannot. Weight can help to give structure to a composition because it commands a viewer's attention. In the same way weights are used to balance a scale, units of varying visual weight can be arranged within a composition

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