Task 1a - Elements of Design

For task 1a I was asked to research the elements of design then choose four of the elements to look into further. Whilst carrying out my research I found that four of the elements are Line, Colour, Texture and Pattern amongst others. The four mentioned elements of design are the elements that I chose to look into further. The way I displayed the research for these elements of design was through a mood board for each of the elements using images collected form library books, images I found on the internet, images from magazines and found materials.

This is the mood board I created for the element of design 'colour'. This mood board clearly displays this element as each image used in this mood board includes vibrant colours which show off the element of design

This is a mood board which i created for the element of design 'Line'. Each of the images in this mood board displays the element 'Line' in its own way. The way in which 'line' is displayed is more obvious in some of the images than others. For example, the image of the yellow lines on the road obviously shows two bold yellow lines whereas the drawings which have been included in this mood board such as the drawing of Minnie Mouse is less obvious to represent this element of design as there are no clear bold lines running through the image. However, images like this one still represent this element of design as 'line' can be defined as linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge where two shapes meet. This means that drawings and paintings also fit into this element of design even if the drawing or painting is not solely made up of drawn/painted lines.

 This is a mood board that I created for the element of design 'Pattern'. I found all of the images that I used for this mood board from the internet and magazines. I find this mood board the most aesthetically pleasing out of all of the mood boards which I created, this is because I am drawn to to vibrant colours and and array of shapes which I have used within this mood board.

This is a mood board which I created for the element of design 'texture'. This is the only mood board out of the four which i created which I used materials which had been found within it as this mood board includes a piece of crumpled blue plastic film. I added this to the mood board as I thought it would be a nice touch to actually add some texture to the mood board which would represent texture as an element of design. When I was researching the elements, i found texture the most challenging as i was not quite sure what 'texture' meant but i soon realised that capturing texture within art meant photographing or painting images which would feel different to each other if you were to be confronted with them in real life.

After I had researched four of the elemnts of design, I was then asked to photograph at least 5 of my own images which captured each element of design, here are the Photographs I took.

Element of design - Colour

Element of design - pattern

Element of design - texture

Element of design - line

Out of the photographs I took for the element 'colour' this is my favourite. This is a photograph of a selection of coloured pencils displayed in a straight line. This photograph shows off a wide range of vibrant colours and I feel that because of this, 'colour' as an element of design is shown off to its fullest potential. If I was to re shoot this image, I would sharpen each of the pencils so that the lead of each pencil is more uniform and I would also try to close the gaps between the pencils. Between the dark magenta coloured pencil and the red coloured pencil there is a white streak which looks as though there is a gap between these pencils, however there was no gap between these pencils and the white streak was created by the flash on my camera, if i was to re shoot this this image I would try to find a way around this as it distracts from the image slightly.

 Out of the photographs I took for the element of design 'line' this is my favourite. This is a photograph of a park bench which was made up of cylindrical metal bars. The cylindrical metal bard of this bench form perfect lines throughout this photograph meaning this photograph is a good representation of this element of design. I chose this photograph as my favourite as I like the way the background which can be seen through the armrest of the bench is visible yet out of focus and the main focus is on the bench itself. As this was not a new bench, the signs of wear and rust are visible. When photographing, I did not try to hide the fact that the bench was rusted and worn as I felt that this added to the appeal of the photograph and it gives the photograph some texture meaning a second element of design is incorporated in the photograph.

 Out of all of the photographs I took for the element of design 'pattern' I chose this one as my favourite. This is a photograph of the raised paving stone found at the side of the road to signal where a crossing lies. I chose this photograph as my favourite because I like the way each of the raised spots lies equidistant to the others forming a simple yet effective pattern. I found when out photographing the elements of design that 'pattern' was the most difficult to capture with photography as perfect pattern rarely naturally occur and I felt that photographing purely printed materials (such as the perfume box which I also photographed) would be cheating slightly as these patterns were already digitally generated.

Out of all of the photographs I took for the element of design 'Texture' I chose this one as my favourite. This is a close up photograph of a tree with moss and ivy growing on and around it. I feel that this photograph displays 'texture' very well as there are three different textures being displayed within the same photograph rather than focusing on only one texture as I have done with the other photographs I took for this element of design. In this picture, you can see the difference in texture of the hard, rough tree back, the soft moss and the smooth leaves of the ivy. Although some contrasting textures may not work well together, I feel that this image ties itself together nicely as the contrasting textures somehow fit together to create an aesthetically pleasing photograph. This photograph is my favourite out of all of the photographs which i took for this part of my project.