The Key Elements of Design: CRAP

The outline given through this week's lesson is no different from the ideology of color theory, the perspectives of foreground and background, and the creative use of space as taught in an academic art setting. Good design conveys information clearly and purposefully.

Contrast is what defines the foreground from the background. High contrast results in sharper imagery, while low contrast can be fuzzy and difficult to perceive as there is less definition seperating the background and foreground. oure White on black and pure black on white are the epitome of high contrast because no two "colors" could get further away from eachother on the gradation scale.
          
           Believe it or not, color doesn't always produce contrast since some colors are exactly the same gradation. Place one scale of bright reds that gradiate down to a dark red next to another scale of bright blues that gradiate down to a dark blue, put them in greyscale, and they become exactly the same color of grey! The color gradation is shown below next to their respective greyscales.

Repitition of organization is another method to make sure the information is being clearly conveyed to the reader. If all of a sudden, my oranizational paragraphs become sporatic, it may place stress on the reader and compromise my original intention to instruct. Repitition produces strong design because it can provide consistency and clarity. Andy Warhol used this idea of repetition to define popular culture and its relativity to mass production.

Andy Warhol, 1962, Marylin Prints, screen printing

Alignment should also be clear to the viewer. Words are usually read left to right, while imagery is viewed beginning at the left in a clockwise manner. Knowing this will help us as designers create works that cater to these tendencies so that meaning is easily discovered without too much effort. Foreground and background are additional routes used to appeal to more visual methods. If foreground and background are easily distinguished, perspective can be mastered and the viewer can have a sense of where they are in relation to the piece. If objects in the foreground appear closer and in the background appear further, there is no confusion from the viewer. Artists like Julian Beever can skew perspective, making them appear clearer in one angle, but greatly skewed at another.

Proximity ensures appropriate associations. The text that is to be read together need to be close together, but not too tight as to make it difficult to read or clumsy-looking. Like the body can control our breathing without our concentration, design also needs to be intuitive.