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You may be interested in checking out the Developing Quantitative Reasoning module of Pedagogy in Action.

Elements of Construction

Initial Publication Date: December 9, 2008

Two types of choice

  • Formal choices

    E.g. Foreground vs. background We work to find emphasis in the environment. Once you become aware ofthe background, you can play with it culturally. Can use: color, scale, references, dimensions, etc. Texture and pattern often used in background.

  • Cultural choices

    E.g. Stability Our culture values unity--everything works together. For example, book pages are designed so that you don't see the design.Fonts and margins chosen so they don't stand out. Often people strive for a visual that the reader "immediately understands."

Elements of construction used in name placards:
color
glisteny-ness
contrast
dimension
whimsy/irony
image/text
shape of letters/block letters
variation in complexity
references
2-3D
conventions
identity
scale
utility
lack of skill/prior knowledge/craft
ingenuity
themes
stands

Other choices that can be made to create meaning:
weight
fonts
historical references
following codes of the discipline to evoke authority
movement
parallelism
medium
arrangement
narrative vs. isolation or distance from narrative
efficiency vs. seeming contradiction or ambiguity