Keywords: regular visual aesthetic creation
Since the declaration of the Bauhaus Declaration in 1919, the concepts of plane composition, color composition, and three-dimensional structure have been established, enlightening the imagination of modern design, and in particular bringing a form or spatial freedom to printing and graphic design. Although designers today are not completely copying Bauhaus's inherent design path, their designs can still explore the spiritual origin of the Bauhaus model.
In today's world, due to the development of photography and printing technology, replication is made possible. Computers give designers more design and production tools. The cover design, as a small branch in the visual field, has entered a new era. This paper discusses the two major elements of the cover design - "planar composition" and "color composition", and discusses the principle of composition in binding design.
One, flat composition
Although the natural forms are numerous and complex, they can be summarized as geometric forms such as points, lines, and surfaces. In art activities, points, lines, and faces are the most basic visual elements. If we use the dialectical method to observe their changes, we can find that there is an intrinsic link between them and that they can be transformed into each other under certain conditions. The shape of the concrete image contains abstract elements; the abstract shape can become part of the figurative shape. The figurative form has been widely used in book binding, and will not be described here.
1 The use of "points" in cover design
In the graphic design, "point" is the most basic modeling element. It is unpredictable. If we want to define the element category of a certain dot, we must first see whether the area occupied by it is appropriate in the composition of the picture. Otherwise, it may be defined as the shape of the surface. The simple dots can display the shape features of the "dot" and highlight the "dot" transformation under the overlapping and combined state. The even spacing of the "dot" produces a sense of order. The cover of “New Concept of English Almighty†(electronic publishing house) uses the “not connected†structure of “pointsâ€. Many small dots are arranged in the same space at a constant position, and a regular and neat effect emerges. Gives a visual sense of order.
The composition of "points" with different intervals is often used by us in the cover design. The printed dots of the photos are not very clear because of the very small particles, but we see many examples of their use in the cover design. The enlarged photograph clearly shows that the "points" of the arrangement show a change of shade tone due to the difference in density, and have a three-dimensional sense of depth.
The smaller text on the cover features "dot." If the arrangement of the words is not connected and there is no rule, the text forms a small dot, and the arrangement in sequence will produce the effect of a dotted line, giving people a sense of movement. This method is used on the cover of Duncan On Dance Art. Horizontally arranging the text in the appropriate space for dance enhances the overall horizontal movement of the cover.
With the continuous development of the commodity economy, the cover design has become more and more popular for books. In order to quickly convey the content of the book to readers, they often directly put some content directly on the cover, breaking the monotonous sense that appeared only in the book titles, authors, and community names, and become the elements of the cover design. Books with Nordic style treat the text as "spots". The text or bold characters, or small, or slanted arrangement, are used as characters to convey the contents of the book.
2 The composition of the "line" in the cover design
"Line" is the trajectory of "point". "Line" has the same visual function as "dot". In the process of creation, the artist is inseparable from the “lineâ€, and the designer’s understanding of the “line†is more far-reaching.
Lines are thin and long compared to "points." Very short lines, we have reason to treat it as a point. Once the short line is extended toward the opposite ends, typical lines will be formed. "Line" can be divided into straight lines, curves, zigzag lines and other types. A straight line is formed by moving a point along a certain direction. A curved line is formed by changing the moving direction of the point, and a zigzag line is formed by changing the direction of the point. Straight lines indicate static and curves indicate dynamic.
Straight lines mainly show different compositional performances in three different directions: vertical, horizontal, and tilted. The straight line has persistence, coldness, and strong expression; the vertical line has a sense of solemnity and strictness. The horizontal line has a quiet, calm sense; the inclined line has a dynamic tendency. In the cover design, because the direction of the human visual movement from left to right, so from left to right obliquely upward slope; from top left to right oblique downward slope.
The combination of lines and lines can produce many unexpected effects. The cover of the "80th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party" (Designed by Guan Yubin) is composed of pure lines. The combination of lines in the vertical and horizontal lines does not divide evenly, giving the picture a three-dimensional effect. The cover of the Music Appreciation Speech is an example of using a curve. The picture changes from the musical note pattern and is composed of curves. It gives a soft and melodic feeling, as well as the visual feeling of speed, power and elasticity of music movement. This characteristic of the curve is more smooth and soft compared to the straight line. The cover of the poetry collection “The Mustang Herd†uses zigzag lines, knife blades or serpentine zigzag lines to give people a bitter, heavy, harsh, wild and restless sense.
Lines can also be divided into thick lines and thin lines. The thick line has the characteristics of a face, which looks masculine and powerful. Thin lines are no-faced and have a sharp, dexterous, and quick sense. The cover of the memoir “Recalling the Three Years of the Guerrilla War in the South†was flanked by historical colors, three vertical lines, horizontal lines, and spaced lines. It was a powerful force that vividly hinted at three years of arduous guerrilla warfare.
In addition, the composition of "line" and "point" can create more changes and more moving feelings.
3 The composition of the cover design
"Face" is another important modeling element in graphic design. "Surface" is a morphological element with a larger area than "point". In the composition of "face", there are mainly two categories of "segmentation of faces" and "combination of faces."
Segmentation of the face: In the cover design, the segmentation of the face is applied the most. Performing various divisions vertically, horizontally, and obliquely with a number of skeletal lines throughout the cover can produce various structural changes. For example, designs, photos, and illustrations are indispensable elements in designing. The titles, descriptions, content abstracts, author names, etc. are incorporated into the skeletal lines according to certain rules, enriching the screens, making the images contrasted and connected in an orderly manner.
The cover of "The Great Movie Star of the World" (Spring Breeze Art Edition) is divided into three quarters and the screen is divided into four equal parts. The photos are included in the book title and other explanatory texts. They are very strictly incorporated into the backbone line, making the picture rich. There is no lack of concise, full of modern design atmosphere.
The face of the body: surface in the plane structure, the various surfaces of the interspersed need not be restricted by perspective. Combinations of triangles, squares, diamonds, rectangles, circles, etc. will naturally form. If there is a gap between the various faces, the face will be destroyed. "IT saves lives" is the formation of a new composition and combination of circular and rectangular units to create new shapes. The cover of "Chanxi Nightmare" is a similar irregular quadrangle. It is composed of a set of faces with certain perspective angles and forms a complex and varied composition of planes and three-dimensional shapes.
Interspersed combinations, deformations, and distortions of points, lines, and surfaces can produce infinitely varying abstract shapes. In general, in order to achieve a harmonious planar effect in the composition design, the abstract form and the figurative form always dominate the picture in their own language. However, under the integrated design of the plane composition, abstraction and figuration break their respective boundaries, and under the action of the constituent methods, their respective aesthetic advantages are displayed. The cover of "The Theory of Personality Composition" is the application of the abstract form, which makes the entire picture full of modern sense of time and space.
As with the combination of points and lines, the combination of line surfaces can also produce a variety of changing effects.