Repetition, Unity and Variety, Emphasis and Subordination

Chaos

Chaos

Chaos

Chaos

UNITY

• The feeling that a composition holds together well visually and is designed to be experienced as a whole.

GESTALT

• An aspect of cognitive psychology developed in the early twentieth century by German psychologists and philosophers investigating hw the mind seeks unity and closure. The “gestalt” of an artifact is the general feeling it evokes in viewers-the sense of a whole, complete object.

PROXIMITY

• The relative distance between elements in an artifact.

REPETITION

• Use of any element or object more than once in an artifact in order to structure a viewer’s experience of that work.

Monotony

Monotony

VARIETY

• Visual diversity to avoid an unintended monotonous composition and to hold the viewer’s interest.

RHYTHM

• The movement, fluctuation, or variation marked by a regular recurrence of related elements.

IRREGULAR RHYTHM

• A rhythm that omits expected stresses or adds unexpected stresses.

PATTERN

• A systematic repetition of an element in a work.

EMPHASIS

• Arrangement of elements of art to make some areas the primary focus of a viewer’s attention.

SUBORDINATION

• Arrangement of elements of art to make some areas the primary focus of a viewer’s attention.

FOCAL POINT

• An area of an artifact that grasps and holds a viewer’s attention.