Dimensional Design: Most Effective For The Ideas You Want To Express

Short Questions

Question # 1 Which form of balance is most effective for the ideas you want to express?

Question # 2 Which is the dominant form in your composition? Is its dominance conceptually justified?

Question # 3 What happens when an unexpected part of the design plays the dominant role?

Question # 4 Imagine that your design can be stretched or compressed in any direction. What are the advantages of a very tall, thin composition, compared with a short, cubic composition?



Question # 5 What would happen to your composition if you dramatically increased the amount of contrast?



Long Questions

Question # 1 What relationships between substance and space have you built into your design? What would happen if you substantially increased or decreased the amount of space? For example, would 70 percent space and 30 percent mass strengthen or weaken your design? How can space play a stronger role in your design?



Question # 2 How many textures can be created with the material you are using? What happens when a surface gradually shifts from a polished, smooth texture to a very rough texture? Can contradictory texture enhance or expand the idea you want to convey?



Question # 3 How can lighting direction diminish or accentuate the dimensionality of your artwork? Does your object require special illumination, such as an internal light source, fiber optics, or a video screen? How can light enhance the expressive content of your artwork? Can your object be redesigned to use light and shadow more effectively? If so, how?



Question # 4 Which will better communicate your ideas—a limited range of hues or a wide range of hues? Are all of the colors in your design similar in intensity? What would happen if you combined low-intensity colors with high-intensity colors? What is the proportion of warm and cool colors in your design — is it around 50/50, 70/30, 20/80? What would happen if these proportions were changed? What are the conceptual or symbolic implications of the colors you have chosen?

Question # 5 What strategies have you used to unify your composition? What gives your composition variety? Is the balance between unity and variety appropriate for the ideas you want to express? What would happen if your composition were constructed using a pattern or grid?