Lines and Dots Play!!!

What is a point? 

What is a dot?

In design, a point becomes a dot when it has dimension. A point does not give meaning to the space but a dot does define the space.

What is a line?

" A line is a dot went for a walk."- Paul Klee

And then lines come together to make a shape. Shapes coming together to make a form that has space and forms coming together to make a structure.

I have studied these in my architecture school but the way Kuntal connects with every other aspects of daily life, the study of elements of design becomes more engaging.

Very rightly said by him that designing is like cooking, like you add masalas, let it fry, taste, then decide what is lacking, let the veggies boil or cook according to the quality of those veggies.

We had to play with lines and dots measuring 35 mm with 2.5 mm thickness and a dot with with 5 mm diameter.

Chaula and Shubhra mentored us all through the process of learning composition. We were meeting twice daily atleast daily in our group to show our thumbnails and discussing out the principles of design and how to make each and every thumbnail better. What is lacking... how the lines and dots are interacting, we were encouraged to be bold and bring out our boldness to paper. The experience was so enriching.

The whole week was the most productive and it was fun to see ourselves grow, absorbing the design vocabulary.

Following image is the first bunch of exploration i did, which was just rough as dots are not in scale.

The next day, Anshul pointed out the correct lineweight of the elements. Then almost everyone re-worked on their thumbnails as the whole feeling would change with increasing thickness.

Shubhra asked us to do derivatives of one composition so that we can ourselves design and refine and that was exactly the same thing I was doing at that very moment.

I was trying out Rhythm in the following three thumbnails.

 

I was thinking third one to be point of interest but it wasn't fully defining the space of 20 cm x 20 cm.

Practicing some more rhythm compositions...

I was trying to explore patterns, but my idea was to have a dynamic pattern, such that people perceive it in motion, hence i played with the negative space.

Like Chaula said, use the challenge boldly, what if you cannot increase the lineweight of line, BUT ALWAYS CAN PLAY WITH THE NEGATIVE SPACE TO CREATE THAT MUSIC.

One cannot fly without opening up one's wings.

More thumbnails....

I was little bit confused initially, between whether I should have minimalist approach or maximalist approach. But later i understood that it was just not playing with the two elements but playing with the two elements within the space.

These two elements should come together to give meaning to the space in an abstract way.

The final six compositions in ink on paper:

Symmetrical Balance along the diagonal

I cannot just think in isolation about one principle, I believe having rhythm makes one's life lively, the same way, rhythm induces liveliness in the composition. Hence, I thought to take the bunch from what I was exploring in pattern to create something along the daigonal of the space.

I prefer working along the diagonal, because it gives me more space than the sides or the middle. Eventually, the composition lets one travel from one end to other traversing a path.

The eye movement lets one understand the relation between lines, dots and the space.

Asymmetrical Balance

I believe visual design as well as architecture is frozen music, the fall of the lines gives spirit to the space, my aim was to let the viewer feel the space as a square even if we remove it from the composition.

I was so happy when Chaula Ma'am called after our meeting on Nov 18, (even after the course was officially finished) to guide me on how rhythm could be possible in this. I think that almost justified what Chaula told about using optimum no of lines, not less, not more and also what I wanted to show.

Rhythm 1

Whirlpool Whirlpool!!!

I though initially that I wouldn't be able to justify this with not touching the lines or intersecting, but then I thought, lets just give it try, I think it shows the movement!!!!!

Contrast 1

I was not able to think about contrast initially due to preconceived notions about contrast. But then I felt I was such a fool to just put dots together and lines together, sometimes we just  ignore simple things.

Contrast 2

After having done the first contrast,and two three others as thumbnails, I said myself just think in a simple and easy way and do it. Hence, i made this, contrasting no. of bunch of lines and dots.

Rhythm 2

Like I said before, Chaula encouraged us to be bold to use the challenge of not intersecting the black lines with making use of the negative space to create the illusion of movement. From again a complex composition, I eliminated unnecessary elements to form an aesthetically peasing rhythm.

 

Rhythm 3

This isn't the end, but a new beginning to understand that simplifying, but keeping the essence intact comes from practicing, practicing makes our concepts clear in mind, and when we are clear of all the clutters, we can produce strong compositions that communicate to the viewer well!!!