Visual Harmony

Unity
 The presentation of a unified image, is perhaps as close to a ‘rule’ as art
approaches.

 The artistic skill of organization (or design) produces a unified pattern.

Ways to Achieve Unity

 Proximity
 Repetition
 Continuation
 Unity
 Unity or harmony is an essential factor for any visual design which implies that a
congruity or agreement exists among the elements in a design; as if, they belong
together, as though some visual connection beyond mere chance has caused them
to come together.

 The designer’s job in creating unity is not necessarily difficult. In fact the viewers
look for some organization, something to unify the different elements free from
unrelated chaos and some coherent unity in a design

 The challenge is truly more in the organization of elements into a composition. The
idea or theme, or even absence of one does not limit one.

 The artistic skill of organization (or design) produces a unified pattern.

The units of this design have characters in common despite obvious differences in
appearance. Different sizes are obvious, but the shape remains consistent.
Barbara Hepworth. Maqette, theme and Variations.1970.Bronze, 113/8: 261/8”
Shapes that have no literal meaning to the viewer but all of them contain the same half
circle shapes.
 An important aspect of visual unity is that the whole must be predominant over the parts;
one sees the whole pattern before the individual elements in a design unit. Each item
may have a meaning and certainty add to the total effect, but viewer sees the pattern as a
whole rather than simply a collection of unrelated bits and pieces.

 Do not confuse intellectual unity (conceptual unity) with visual unity.

 Visual unity denotes some harmony/consistency/agreement between the items that is

apparent to the eye. To say that a bulletin board is unified because all the items pinned
up in it have a common theme, is unity of idea and not observable by the eye. A unifying
idea will not necessarily produce a unified pattern.
Unified Idea & Unified Visual
Pattern
Visual Rhythm & Harmony
Unity with Variation

Paul Klee, Composition

Director’s Office
Walter Gropius (1983-1969)
1923, The Bauhaus, Weimer, Germany
The Gestalt Principles

Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual
perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to
describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when
certain principles are applied. These principles are:
 Similarity
 Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as
a group or pattern.

 The example above (containing 11 distinct objects) appears as a single unit because all of
the shapes have similarity.
 Unity occurs because the triangular shapes at the bottom of the eagle symbol look similar
to the shapes that form the sunburst.
 When similarity occurs, an object can be emphasized if it is dissimilar to the others. This is
called anomaly.

 The figure on the far right becomes a focal point because it is dissimilar to the other
shapes.
 Continuation
 Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue
to another object.

 Continuation occurs in the example above, because the viewer's eye will naturally follow a
line or curve. The smooth flowing crossbar of the "H" leads the eye directly to the maple
leaf.
Closure
 Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If
. enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the missing
information.

 Although the panda above is not complete, enough is present for the eye to complete the
shape. When the viewer's perception completes a shape, closure occurs.
 Examples

Figure and Ground

 The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is
naturally perceived as figure (object), while the surrounding area is perceived as ground
(background).
 Balancing figure and ground can make the perceived image more clear. Using unusual
figure/ground relationships can add interest and subtlety to an image.
Figure
.  The word above is clearly perceived as figure with the surrounding white space ground.

 In left image, the figure and ground relationships change as the eye perceives the form of
a shade or the silhouette of a face.
 The image at the right uses complex figure/ground relationships which change upon
perceiving leaves, water and tree trunk.
Ways to Achieve Unity
 Proximity
 Repetition
 Continuation

Proximity
To make separate elements look as if they belong together – or simply putting these
elements close together.
El Greco. The Vision of St.John.1608-14
 There is a large amount of stormy, though
essentially negative, empty space.

 The smaller nude figures however do not

float haphazardly in the turbulent
background. Instead, they are grouped
together; making a horizontal unit across
the painting.

 Arms and legs reach out to touch

adjoining figures so that the bodies come
together .

 The drapery on the ground also unites the

saint’s figure with those behind.
 Paul Worner’s painting is an interesting collection of still-life objects that are essentially
isolated from each other.

 Notice how the very careful placement and the strategic use of shadows visually tie the
elements together by proximity. The viewers’ eyes move smoothly from one item to the
next.
 Proximity
 Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a
group.

 The nine squares above are placed without proximity. They are perceived as separate
shapes. When the squares are given close proximity, unity occurs. While they continue to
be separate shapes, they are now perceived as one group.

 The fifteen figures above form a unified whole (the shape of a tree) because of their
proximity.
 Repetition
 A most valuable and widely used device for achieving visual unity is repetition.
 As the term implies, some thing simply repeats in various parts to each other. The
element that repeats may be almost anything-a colour shape, a texture, a direction
or angle.
 When we look beyond the subject matter in art, we begin to recognize the artist’s
use of repetition to create a sense of unity.

Repetition of shapes/images welds the entire pattern

into a coherent composition
 Continuation
 A more subtle device than proximity or repetition, which are fairly obvious in a
visual design otherwise.
 Continuation – means something maybe a line, an edge or a direction from one
form to another. The viewer’s eye is carried smoothly from one to the next.

The circular shape of the bather’s hips is divergent to the same shelf edge, that at the first
glance the arrangement seemed casual and unplanned only adds to our admiration of the artist.
 Continuation is a standard device employed by the graphic designers planning layouts
for books, magazine editorial pages, advertisements browsers, and so on.

 In each case the artist must somehow create a sense of visual unity from the very
dissimilar elements of printed headlines, blocks of copy, photographs, and trademarks.

 Lining up various shapes with a continuation of edges is the most practical and
satisfactory solution.
 Unity with Variety

 Unity without variety can result in a monotonous design. A harmonious pattern or

order established among the various elements. However, it is possible to make a
pattern so highly unified that the result, instead of being visual satisfaction, rather
quickly becomes visual boredom.

 Emphasis on Unity
 Emphasis on Variety
Unity with Variety

 Mondrian’s painting in many ways resembles the checkerboard, but how much
more visually interesting it is for an application of the unity with variety principle.
Observe:
 the varying sizes and shapes of the rectangles
 the subtle changes in the thickness of the backlines
 the irregular placement of a few coloured shapes
 the delicate variations of horizontal and vertical emphasis.
Notice how the lines of stitching reinforce the units theme and in effect, create
countless other shapes.

Is the principle of unity with variety a conscious, planned ingredient

supplied by the artist or designer, or is it something that a confident
designer produces automatically?

The principal can be seen in art and design every different period, culture, and
geographic area.
 Kandinsky’s painting is titled Several Circles.

 The decision to create a composition unified by the repetition of circles was clearly an
initial and deliberate choice by the artist.

 The changes in size and tone of various circles must also have been purposeful
because these changes provide the interest of variety to the painting.
Unity with Variety

Wassily Kandinsky. Several Circles. 1926

 The use of unity with variety displayed by the piece of Tapa cloth done by the native
of Samoa suggests a more intuitive approach.
 Since many such designs employ traditional motifs, the method was undoubtedly
“learned” but not at an art school or from a textbook. Yet the design illustrates the
principal so clearly.
 Each horizontal band contains similar linear elements, with triangles and arrows
repeated over and over.
 But sizes vary, and each area combines the elements in a different manner.
 The idea of related variations seems to provide a basic visual satisfaction that can be
arrived at without theoretical discussion of aesthetics.
 In the Prayer Hall; Santiniketan Ashram, or the Little Moreton Hall, England, which
are considered to be visual delights, a very obvious use of principal is not a
drawback either.
 Each steps of the structure, gives us new patterns, new motifs, and slight but
definite variations.
 This unity didn’t just happen; it was certainly carefully planned, and the result is
magnificent.
 Emphasis on Unity
 A design must contain both the ordered quality of unity and the lively quality of variety
 Unifying element of repetition can be emphasized.
 Variety could be present but admittedly in a subtle, understated way.

The correct balance between control and spontaneous freedom- varies with the
individual artists, with the theme or purpose, and eventually with the viewer.
British School. The Cholmondeley Sisters, 17th.C
Such perfect repetition is unexpected, so we proceed to search for the tiny differences
and the variety we know exist in nature and, hence, in art.
 The repetition in Warhol’s painting
is constant; there are a hundred
repetition of precisely the same
image.
 But the repetitive, unrelieved
quality is basic point and dictates
the design.
 Work contains a serious comment
on our taken for granted daily life.
 The design reflects life today, where
we are bombarded with insistent
repetition of the same commercial
images over and over.

AndyWarhol.100 soupCans.1962
 Emphasis on Variety

 Life is not always orderly and rational. Often life brings surprise, the unexpected, and
experiences that seem chaotic and hectic.

 To express this phase of life, many artists have purposely chosen to underplay the
unifying aspects of their work and let the elements appear, at least superficially,
uncontrolled and free of any formal design restraints.

– The examples in the following slides show works where the element of variety is
paramount.
 Richard Hamilton.Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes
So Different, So Appealing? 1956

 The immediate impression of Richard Hamilton’s Just What Is It That Makes Today's
Homes So Different, So Appealing? is one of the haphazard conglomeration of
incongruous images.

 The collage is as widely eccentric as the disjointed, fragmented images we see each
day (and take for granted) on our newspapers.

 The many commercial image included mock the importance of such elements in our
society .Again, the theme has dictated the design.
 Chaim Soutine.1921

The subject matter could be anything but this particular painting creates almost a non
objective image of pure tone and texture, uniform and moreover consistent in its
language.
Jackson Pollock 1950

Jackson Pollock’s conveys similar texture and tonalities but makes no pretense of
relating to a natural scene.
 Conclusion
1. Without unity a visual design is chaotic and not quickly readable or communicative.

2. Without some elements of variety, a design is lifeless.

3. Neither utter confutation nor utter regularity is visually desirable.

4. Beyond general guideline, the options of the visual designer are very broad.