One of the purposes of Design is to stimulate and engage the viewer/user, especially if you have a product to sell. Wouldn’t you rather a customer who appreciates your effort and loves what you do? Someone who admires and uses your work for years to come? I know the things I love always have a kind of mystery about them, perhaps a little something left to the imagination. They stretch my expectations in some way, and I love that they’ve come through someone else’s inventiveness, skill, and hard work.

 

Continuing my series on the Elements and Principles of Design, this post is about the element of Size. This is really such a simple element to play around with, and yet it can be used to incredibly dramatic effect. It is not just whether something is tiny or large, it is also about the relationships between the objects in your composition or design. The final purpose of the design is also relevant. And it is important to remember that size is a relative thing – compare a grain of sand to a seashell, or a seashell to a whale.

Try these.

‘lilypond’ fabric design by uzumakijo via spoonflower

 

What a stunning print this is. This segment of the fabric repeat is fat quarter size (21″ x 18″, or 53cm x 48cm), so you can imagine how striking this would be in a full length. If the repeat were much smaller, it may start to lose its details, and most certainly it would lose its impact.

 

‘succulent cactus’ photography by FacingTheLens

 

Size can be used for impact though comparison. By showing a full flower head, and then only a portion of another, we get drawn off the top of the frame and are encouraged to use our imaginations. When we look back at the image (as we inevitably do, to investigate further), we are then more inclined to notice the small leaf-like bits on the stalk – another nice big-small thing happening in this image.

 

‘knit stools’ by Claire Anne O’Brien

 

Using unexpected shifts of scale, as in these super-size knit stools, is another way of engaging and confronting the viewer. What is also so engaging about these is their fabulous tactile quality – they look so squishy and soft!

 

‘ladybug stacking ring’ sterling silver & 14k rose gold by PatrickIrlaJewelry

 

A tiny bug on a little ring intrigues because of its sweet delicacy. If the ladybug were much larger, it would start to look pretty kitsch.

 

‘bee & sagura blossom’ photography by MurrayBolesta

 

Besides size (being a little bee on a big flower), there are other elements and principles at work in this image – a sense of symmetry and balance, beautiful contrasts of textures in the flower itself and on the bee covered in pollen, and the intriguing detail of the almost-unnoticed bee in the background to the left. There is also a lovely tension between the bee and flower – we know they’re just about to connect.

 

This beautifully humorous piece relies on a sense of space as well as scale to convey the Kraken’s enormity. Note also the simple flat colour, and soft layering of hand-cut shapes which add to its sense of whimsy – those long and sinuous arms are not threatening, they’re waving.

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Keep watching this space! My next post in this series will be about the use of tone (or maybe perhaps shape…. or direction?)

Cheers, Julie x

(P.S. – Each of the images link back to that shop – just click on them to be taken there.)