Fig. 1. A design of flat surfaces and a realistic pen sketch of the same subject.
As an example: Much of the material devised for the decoration of the printed page (ornaments and borders) is derived from natural forms; i. e., leaves, flowers, etc. The leaves, stems, and flowers which are adapted to form the ornament shown in [Fig. 1] are a flat pattern of black and white. The same material is rendered pictorially in the pen sketch accompanying the ornament. It will be observed that the flat treatment of the ornament depends upon arrangement of interesting flat masses for its significance. The pen sketch not only conveys an impression of the form of the natural objects, but it also suggests depth. A photograph of the natural objects, reproduced by a printing plate, would be still more realistic.
The preceding points have been given emphasis as a warning against a tendency to use pictures, however pleasing, as decorative material; or to allow design in printing to be concerned with a representation of depth. The same masses of shadow and light which express roundness or depth in a picture may be formed into decorative flat masses and thus embodied in the design of the page. In [Fig. 2, A] is a picture which might be used as an illustration or for its own interest. [B] is a flat rendering whose arrangement of masses suggests the pictorial interest of A without denying the flat surface upon which it is printed.
The Materials of Design
Since design is a matter of arrangement, its materials are the masses, lines, and dots which make up the whole form.
A dot theoretically has no dimensions. And a line (being the path of a dot in motion) theoretically has length but no width. While if a line be moved sideways it produces a mass which has area and shape.
Practically, a dot may be larger than a pin point and may have definite shape—a square dot or a round dot. Also in the common terms of design a line may have width (often called weight). Thus we speak of a narrow or light line as contrasted with a wide or heavy line.
| Fig. 2, A. Halftone engraving from a photograph, retaining full pictorial effect of depth, expressed in various gray tones and soft edges. This is an illustration. | Fig. 2, B. Decorative pen drawing from the same subject, telling the story of the photograph in flat surfaces of black and white. Suitable to decorate a type page. |
A mass will have shape, which is the impression conveyed to the eye by its general contour. It will have size or measure, which will be its actual or relative area. It will further have tone or color, its general relation in appearance to black and white or to the colors of the spectrum. Embodying these terms in an example: We may specify a mass square in shape, having an area of four square inches, and being gray in tone. These three characteristics, then, will identify and describe any mass.