Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and CompositionAt last, a mathematical explanation of how art works presented in a manner we can all understand. Kimberly Elam takes the reader on a geometrical journey, lending insight and coherence to the design process by exploring the visual relationships that have foundations in mathematics as well as the essential qualities of life. Geometry of Design-the first book in our new Design Briefs Series-takes a close look at a broad range of twentieth-century examples of design, architecture, and illustration (from the Barcelona chair to the Musica Viva poster, from the Braun handblender to the Conico kettle), revealing underlying geometric structures in their compositions. Explanations and techniques of visual analysis make the inherent mathematical relationships evident and a must-have for anyone involved in graphic arts. The book focuses not only on the classic systems of proportioning, such as the golden section and root rectangles, but also on less well known proportioning systems such as the Fibonacci Series. Through detailed diagrams these geometric systems are brought to life giving an effective insight into the design process. |
Contents
II | 6 |
III | 8 |
IV | 11 |
V | 12 |
VI | 18 |
VII | 20 |
VIII | 22 |
IX | 24 |
XXVIII | 56 |
XXIX | 58 |
XXX | 60 |
XXXI | 62 |
XXXII | 64 |
XXXIII | 66 |
XXXIV | 68 |
XXXV | 72 |
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Common terms and phrases
A. M. Cassandre Albrecht Dürer aligns Analysis angle architecture Art and Design artists Ausstellung axis Barcelona Chair base line Bauhaus beethoven berufsphotograph body proportions Braun Brno Chair carl schuricht center point Charles Eames composition construction diagram Constructivist Corbusier corner Courtesy create diameter divided in half Dover Publications Dynamic Rectangles Eero Saarinen elements encloses façade facial proportions front view geometric golden ellipse golden rectangle golden sec golden section proportions golden section rectangle Golden Section Triangle graphic design grid harmonic subdivisions horizontal Inscribed Jan Tschichold Josef Müller-Brockmann Jules Chéret karten kettle Le Corbusier leitung letter forms Majakovskij mathematical Max Bill module musica viva pentagon placement poster format proportioning system radius ratio reciprocal golden rectangle rectan regulating lines Rohe root 2 construction root 2 rectangle shapes sides smaller rectangles smaller root Spiral Growth Patterns square star pentagram tion tonhalle typography vertical Vinci Vitruvius vorverkauf width
Popular passages
Page 5 - ...sane judgement abhors nothing so much as a picture perpetrated with no technical knowledge, although with plenty of care and diligence. Now the sole reason why painters of this sort are not aware of their own error is that they have not...
Page 5 - ... sane judgment abhors nothing so much as a picture perpetrated with no technical knowledge, although with plenty of care and diligence. Now the sole reason why painters of this sort are not aware of their own error is that they have not learnt Geometry, without which no one can either be or become an absolute artist; but the blame for this should be laid upon their masters, who themselves are ignorant of this art.
Page 5 - Geometry is the language of man. But in deciding the relative distances of the various objects, he has discovered rhythms, rhythms apparent to the eye and clear in their relations with one another. And these rhythms are at the very root of human activities. They resound in man by an organic inevitability, the same fine inevitability which causes the tracing out of the Golden Section by children, old men, savages and the learned.