| Subject: Re: Balance |
Author:
Tina Biddle
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Date Posted: 09:41:03 02/09/02 Sat
In reply to:
Damian
's message, "Balance" on 14:29:59 02/03/02 Sun
I found the discussion of symmetry and color interesting. When I thought of symmetry I always thought more about the shape, not the color. I never thought of color or texture as having “weight”. Of course, it is obvious when pointed out. The different kinds of symmetry were interesting. Radial symmetry, although common enough, never had a real name or vision for me.
I was struck by the number of techniques there are to lead the eye to a focal point. Not only color, contrast, symmetry, asymmetry and size, but lines, size or ever subject matter (a face, eyes, a glance in a direction). This works in reverse, also. You have to be careful not to use lines or color, etc. that would lead the eye to areas of the page that are not so important.
A Disney page is a good example of many of these features. (disney.com)
The page is rather symmetrical as a whole with the buttons on top and bottom and what I will refer to as the “big graphic” in the center. The graphic displays radial symmetry – the central focal point is the oval in the middle. The islands (also vaguely oval in shape) show a contrast of bright colors on them. The use of lines (the roads) always brings you back to the middle oval (which contains ads, of course). Your eye easily roams around the page, following these lines from colorful island to colorful island. The graphic itself is an oval on a blue background. The border around it is a thin light blue line. You don’t really notice it, but it forms a border. Your eye is really drawn where the designers want you to go through color, repetition of shapes and lines.
http://www.sgi.com/
This site’s home page is a very good example of the use of color and balance to lead the eye to a focal point. The page has a graphic on the left and text in a right column. Your eye is immediately drawn to the graphic. It is large and uses bright colors. The colors have “weight”. The graphic itself is interesting. When you open the page your eye immediately goes to the man’s face. He is pointing to screen he is holding (bright colors on the screen) and your eye follow him finger to the screen. There are two circular graphics above the screen. A small figure of a man (vertical line) leads you to the circle to the right. Your eye follows to the left and back to the man again). The focal point seems to be the screen. Color, size, and lines make your eye follow. I never would have noticed this before.
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