Design Principles: Final Compilation and Reflection

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03.02.2025 - 17.03.2025 | Week 1 - Week 7

Maisarah binti Mohd Sufian | 0358458

Design Principles | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Final Compilation & Reflection
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INSTRUCTIONS

Task 1: Exploration



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SUBMISSIONS

Task 1: Exploration

03.02.2025 - 17.02.2023 | Week 1 - Week 3

Marlene Dumas, Oh, Oh, Oh, Not Again, 1996/2001; Ink and metallic acrylic on paper, 13 ¼ x 10 in. Retrieved from National Museum of Women in the Arts.
No Man's Land Online Exhibition

I chose this piece of artwork because I was initially drawn to the aesthetic style of the piece. It appears to be simple, yet it evokes a dramatic and serious feel. I was intrigued by the illustration as it is clear enough to be a woman's face, yet the details of each feature is so vague you could hardly tell what it is when looking at them individually. As they're placed together I can clearly discern what I am looking at, but there is still an air of mystery as to what expression the women is making and what object it is that appears to be just below her mouth. The name of the piece can also be up to interpretation, is it simply an innocent depiction of a woman looking back at a mistake with her finger placed against her lips? Or could it be something more sinister, which the overall distortion and obscurity of the piece could suggest? Overall, I think the composition and use of art medium is very smart and interesting.

Design Principles:
Asymmetry
- Visual attention on the right-hand side
Contrast
- Contrast between the background and subject
Emphasis
- Visual attention is on the facial expression
Harmony & Unity (Harmony, Proportion)
- Proportions allow it to be visualised as a women's face, the harmony is in the use of colours and shapes with similar forms.

Task 2: Visual Analysis & Ideation

17.02.2025 - 03.03.2025 | Week 3 - Week 5

Marlene Dumas, Oh, Oh, Oh, Not Again, 1996/2001; Ink and metallic acrylic on paper, 13 ¼ x 10 in. Retrieved from National Museum of Women in the Arts. No Man's Land Online Exhibition

This artwork is in a portrait format. The only subject is a woman, who's head takes up all of the space on the canvas. Her face is viewed at a 45° angle, and her features are small, two round eyes, a slim nose and mouth agape to show two front teeth. At the bottom right, just below her teeth there is a long indiscernible object which is touching her bottom lip. The visual elements in this piece are the colours, white, grey and black. Those are the only colours seen, most likely different concentrations of ink. The head is it's own organic shape, with a clear distinction of colour from the background. Space placed between the facial features give the illusion of the angled face looking to the side.

As for the principles, this artwork has a strong emphasis on the face of the woman, where there are no other clear details or bordering lines in the composition. The features are painted in contrast between the head and the background, varying greatly in value. This piece is also asymmetrically balanced as most of the visual attention is placed on the right-hand side of the canvas. It is harmonious, in that the use of colours compliment one another, yet the bleeding edges of the face provide variety from the clear edges of the head. The proportions of the composition is realistic, with the width between the facial features contributing to it's recognizability. 

This artwork was created in 1996, by South African artist Marlene Dumas. The artist's goal was to paint what we cannot see (nmwaadmin, 2016), and I find that the artwork does reflect a more spiritual aura, with the piece giving off a dramatic energy. It is not to see, but to feel, and the artist has a achieved that goal through an abstract approach, her use of medium allowing the viewer to associate with different feelings and emotions. Personally I imagine that the woman is looking back at someone with a mixture of fear and confusion, And whoever this person is has clearly invaded her space and has put her in a position where she is unable to speak up for herself by instilling a presence where she feels that in order to keep herself safe, she must silently accept. The 1990s was also a time where artists tended to look at current issues such as exploration of gender and identity (Art of the 1990s, n.d.), which I think the piece resonates with as well.

References: 
nmwaadmin. (2016, November 15). National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts. https://nmwa.org/blog/nmwa-exhibitions/no-mans-land-fragmented-bodies/

Art of the 1990s. (n.d.). Artsy. https://www.artsy.net/gene/1990s

Sketches

Sketch #1



Rationale: I shift the angle of the head so that it is facing forward, placing all the features along an axis for symmetrical balance. I will also add flowing lines and shapes to add movement to the piece, using different textures. Organic lines would be placed on the bottom right and top left corner, moulding into shapes under the principle of similarity. This, with the movement on top will add a sense of unity and maintain the balance. These lines represent different external energies.


Sketch #2



Rationale: This is a more graphic design approach, where the woman serves as imagery for added text. The text may be about the feelings of a woman in society, where the information will be arranged in vertical alignments with a hierarchy. The text and image are placed in a way to balance the composition, with added white space in the middle to give rest to the eyes from reading the lines of text. I would keep the image almost true to the original artwork with minor changes in detail. In correlation to my personal views towards this piece the text should be about the internal monolog of a woman who has been placed in a position where she is not able to speak her mind to fend herself or speak up against her perpetrators in fear of worse consequences towards her retaliation. 


Sketch #3



Rationale: Creating the shape of the head by blocking in the background (Principle of Closure), and emphasising the facial features, eyes and mouth. They are placed along a point on a 3x3 grid, applying the Rule of Thirds. The eyes and mouth are drawn out of proportion, adding further contrast and visual interest. The motive behind emphasizing the eyes and the mouth is that these are one of the most expressive parts on our face, you could tell the emotions of someone just by their eyes and their mouth allows them to speak, the strongest tool in conveying thoughts. In the artwork the eyes clearly express more than the mouth, as the mouth is being covered by something which is stopping her from truthfully speaking her mind. This is the message that I want to convey, women are commonly put in situations where they are not able to say what they want due to old fashioned prejudice. Some people believe the words of a woman is inferior. This has led to most women having a silent way of communicating through their eyes, they are almost able to understand what each of them are feeling without needing to utter a single word. 


Task 3: Development & Design

04.03.2025 - 17.03.2025 | Week 5 - Week 7

Rationale

My artwork depicts a young woman's portrait. Her eyes are big and wide, and her lips are small and smudged. The artwork has a dramatic and almost gloomy mood. I made it this way to show my own internal feelings when I am placed in awkward positions. This goes for a lot of women, we have strong opinions but sometimes we are placed in situations where we are too afraid to speak them out due to societal pressure, the stereotype that women are less intelligent and fear of being dismissed and shut down. This leads to a lot of women developing some form of guarded communication, where their eyes could say something entirely different from their mouth. I illustrated this on a 3x3 grid, placing the facial features on points of the grid to apply the Rule of Thirds. The eyes are drawn out of proportion, and both the eyes and lips have contrast against the rest of the artwork to draw in the eye's visual interest. This combined give emphasis to these parts of the face. The smudged lips and flowing hair give a sense of movement. Overall, the artwork is done in harmony in the use of textures and colours.

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REFLECTION

I have learned a lot about how to break down and analyse designs into smaller concepts. Learning about the principles in design has helped me gain a better understanding of what to look out for and notice in my work. I enjoyed carrying out the final task the most, as design principles can not only be seen in graphical design work but as well as illustrations and abstract art, which I analysed and challenged myself to make an artwork of. I can't pinpoint anything I didn't enjoy in this module, as the learning pace was comfortable and the information was easily digestible. Through this module I learned that I am capable of stepping outside of my comfort zone and create something new. I have changed the way I view art as not only do I view it as a whole, but I can understand the deeper meaning behind them and the little details. My personal taste has not changed, as art can be subjective and I believe every art has a purpose and meaning. My aspirations are to work a comfortable job, preferably one where I decide my own rules without having to hold back my creativity.

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