Chapter 2 unity

Design Principles
Chapter 2: Unity

Introduction: Harmony
Unity – When elements in an
image look as though they
belong together.
 Unity is synonymous with
Harmony.
 Unity can exist with either
representational imagery
or abstract forms.
Representational – Images
that look like something
that actually exists. Wayne Thiebaud. Paint Cans. 1990. Lithograph, hand-worked
proof, 75.7 58.8 cm. DeYoung Museum (gift of the Thiebaud
Family, 1995.99.12). Art ｩ Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by
VAGA, New York, New York.

Creating Unity
 Unity is created by repetition
of similar shapes, lines,
patterns and colors.
 When you do this it creates
forms that are repetitive,
further enhancing the feel of
unity.
 An image that is
monochromatic is one way
to create a sense of unity.
Damon Winter, personal photograph from Iceland,
Communication Arts, May/June 2005.

Where Does Unity Come From?
“Unity of design is
planned and controlled
by an artist.”
Composition – the
organization of
elements in a design.
(Composition is another
term for design)
Alex Katz. Black Jacket. 1972. Oil on aluminum (cutout),
5’ 25/8” ’ 1/4” (159 © Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York,
New York

Visual Unity
“The whole must be predominant over the
parts. You must first see the whole pattern
before you notice the individual elements.”

Exploring Visual Unity
Collage - An artwork created by assembling and
gluing a variety of materials onto a two-
dimensional surface.
Karl Blossfeldt. Pumpkin Tendrils. Works of Karl Blossfeldt by Karl
Blossfeldt Archive. Ann and Jurgen Wilde, eds.,̈ Karl Blossfeldt: Working
Collages (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001), p. 54.

Intellectual Unity vs. Visual
Unity
Intellectual unity – elements have common
theme; they have unity of idea.
Example: a scrapbook page. It is unified by
theme but not by visual composition.

Visual Unity
Visual unity – elements have a similarity to
the eye. Similar shape, size, etc…
 The designer creates unity for the viewer.
 They create a pattern of similar shapes, lines,
and colors that help organize the idea or
‘Intellectual unity’ into visual unity.
 The viewer is instinctively looking for visual
organization and patterns.

Example: Visual Unity
Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Sentinel Font.

Visual Perception:
Gestalt – the theory of visual psychology, or
the study of perception.
 The viewer tends to group objects that are
close to one another into a larger unit.
 The viewer will also tend to group like
objects.
 Negative (or empty) space also seems to be
clearly organized.

Negative Space
 The space and shape
created between 2
objects.
The white diagonal is as
obvious as the two
groups of rectangles.

How We See Unity:
 Our brain looks for
similar elements
 We group objects of
similar shape together
 And try to make them
into something else.

Ways to Achieve Unity:
1. Proximity – Make separate elements look
as if they belong together by putting the
elements close together.
 Simplest way to achieve unity
Example: We use proximity to create words. If
the letters of a word are far apart it becomes
very difficult to read.

Ways to Achieve Unity…
2. Repetition - Repeat
design elements to
create harmony.
Repeat:
 Color
 Shape
 Texture
 Direction
 Angle Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Composition with Circles Shaped by Curves. 1935.
Gouache on paper, 1' 1 ⁄ ” x 10 ⁄ " (35 x 27 cm). Kunstmuseum Bern
(gift of Mrs. Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach).

Example:
Joe Miller’s Design Co. Logo design for space 47. 47 East William Street, San José, California 95112.

Ways to Achieve Unity…
3. Continuation - Literally
means “something
continues”
 The design carries the eye
of the viewer through and
around the picture.
 The main figure’s limbs or
forms can intersect with an
object or they can point at
it, which leads the viewer’s
eye to and through the
composition.
Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola). The Living Room.
1941 ﾐ 1943. Oil on canvas, 3 ﾕ 81/2 ﾓ 4 ﾕ 93/4 ﾓ . The
Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Continuation continued…
 Continuation can be subtle
or deliberate.
 Continuation can be used in
three-dimensional design.
 The lines of the shapes can
lead to other shapes.
Examples:
 In a car the sweep of the
window can lead to the
curve of the hood.
 In sculpture the curve of a
hand or arm can lead to the
curve of a hip. 2003 BMW Z4 Roadster. Courtesy BMW of North America, LLC.

About Continuation:
Use a line, an edge, or a direction to carry
the viewer’s eye from one form to another.

Unity with Variety
The Grid
 Was used by The Masters
 Start by drawing a series of lines to create a
format or template.
“A point to remember is that, with a great deal
of variety of elements, a simple layout idea
can give needed unity.”

The Grid
A series of vertical and
horizontal lines on a
page. (Think of graph
paper.)
 You can use a grid to
create similarity
between pages
 You can control
spacing within units

Serial Design
Designing multiple units as a whole.
Creating several designs that somehow must relate to
each other.
(Serial design is also related to the concept of
‘branding’)
Example: Books, catalogs, magazines, and
pamphlets designed for the same company should
exhibit ‘serial design’.

Grid Design on the Internet
 The grid is an intrinsic part of designing
web sites for the Internet.
 However, this is not necessarily a
guarantee for a successful layout.

Unity with Variety – The Grid
The image is
organized in a grid,
but each design is
unique.
Awa Tsireh. Animal Designs. c. 1917 ﾐ 1920. Watercolor on paper
sheet, 1 ﾕ 81/16 ﾓ 2 ﾕ 21/8 ﾓ (50.9 66.2 cm). Smithsonian
American Art Museum Washington, D.C., Corbin-Henderson
Collection (gift of Alice H. Rossin).

Varied Repetition Adds
Interest:
Elements that can be
repeated and varied to
create unity:
 Curves
 Columns
 Size
 Shapes
Eva Zeisel. Classic Century: oil pourer, sauce boat, salt and
pepper. Ceramic. Produced by Royal Stafford, England.

Emphasis on Unity
The ‘rules’ in design are not rigid on the
use of unity and variety. There are
countless ways to achieve them – all that is
required is experimentation.

Example: Unity through
Repetition
Loretta Lux. Sasha and Ruby. 2005. Ilfochrome print.

Emphasis on Variety
Use variety in:
 Form
 Size
 Color
 Gesture
Life is not always orderly or
rational.
Elizabeth Murray. Painter’s Progress. Spring 1981. Oil on canvas, 19 panels,
9' 8” x 7' 9". Acquired through the Bernhill Fund and gift of Agnes Gund
(271.1983.a-s) Location: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York.

Assemblage – Unity with Variety
An assembly of found
objects composed as a
piece of sculpture.
Visual Unity is at work
in the strongly formed
cross shape and
limited range of
colors.
George Herms. The Librarian. 1960. Assemblage: wood
box, papers, brass bell, books, painted stool, 4 ﾕ 9 ﾓ 5 ﾕ
3 ﾓ 1 ﾕ 9 ﾓ (1.4 m 1.6 m 53 cm). Norton Simon
Museum, Pasadena (gift of Molly Barnes, 1969).

Chaos and Control
“Without some aspect of unity, an image or
design becomes chaotic and quickly
unreadable. Without elements of variety,
an image is lifeless and dull and becomes
uninteresting.”

 A conflicting jumble
of graphic images
causes overload and
leaves us confused by
chaos.
 Your eyes cannot
focus on any one
thing.
Signs create a visual clutter along old Route 66 in Kingman,
Arizona.

 “Without some elements
of variety an image is
lifeless and dull and
becomes uninteresting.”
Example: Large blocks of
identical apartments or
houses are boring to look
at and often boring to live
in. They quickly become
aesthetically unpleasing.

Unity at Work: Figurative And
Nonobjective
The elements of the
composition can be
simple or complex.
Unity through use of
Analogous colors - the
use of a palette or a
selection of colors that
are adjacent (next to) to
each other on the color
wheel.
Pablo Picasso. Harlequin. Paris, late 1915.
Oil on canvas, 6' ⁄ ” x 3' 5 ⁄ " (183.5 ° x
105.1 cm). Acquired through the Lillie P.
Bliss Bequest. © 2009 Estate of Pablo
Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. 76.1950.
Jean Léone Gérome. The Duel after the Masquerade. 1857–
1859. Oil on canvas, 1' 3 ⁄ ” x 1' 10 ⁄16" (39.1 x 56.3 cm).

“An appreciation of unity is a
simple and immediate sense of
connections resonating
throughout a composition.”

Chapter 2 unity

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