Quicklinks to all course lessons: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Lesson 14 Sections: 14-1 14-2 14-3 14-4 14-5 14-6 14-JFF
Lesson 14 Sections: 14-1 14-2 14-3 14-4 14-5 14-6 14-JFF
A14-03: Principles of Art and Design: Variety
Objectives:
- Learn what the principle of variety is in art and design.
- Explore examples of artists using variety.
- Get inspired to include the principle in your own designs!
Learn:
Variety: Variety is the use of several elements of design to hold the viewer’s attention and to guide the viewer’s eye through and around the work of art. "Variety means "to change the character" of an element, to make it different. Variety is the complement to unity and is needed to create visual interest. Without unity, an image is chaotic and "unreadable;" without variety it is dull and uninteresting. Good design is achieved through the balance of unity and variety; the elements need to be alike enough so we perceive them as belonging together and different enough to be interesting. Varying the elements creates variety. Ways to vary elements include:
An effective way to integrate unity and variety is by creating variations on a theme. Just as a composer can repeat and vary a musical theme throughout a composition, a designer can repeat and vary an element throughout a design." (Source) |