Rudolf Arnheim - Art and Visual Perception - Balance
Arnheim provides a comprehensive overview of Gestalt theory and its application to our perception of art and design. Naturally when reading such a big book the officiant way of processing the information is to break it down into relevant subsections and chapters. As my first study within Art and Visual perception I'm looking at the only glossary noted section for the word 'typography' which comes under the chapter 'Balance' and subsection 'Top and Bottom'
Within this section, Arnheim comments on the balance between the 'top' and 'bottom' of forms and our tendency to concentrate the centre of gravity below the midpoint, he rationalises this via our relation of 2D art and design articles to 3D objects that act under the rules of gravity.
Even physical objects can appear lighter at the top when in person due to our sense of perspective as described by Horatio Greenough: "That buildings, in rising from the earth, be broad and simple at their bases, that they grow lighter not only in fact but in expression as they ascend, is a principle established. The laws of gravitation are at the root of this axiom. The spire obeys it. The obelisk is its simplest expression."
"In realistic landscapes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the bottom part tends to be clearly heavier. The center of gravity is placed below the geometrical center. But the rule is observed even by typographers and layout designers. The number 3 in Figure 14 looks comfortably poised. Turn it upside down, and it becomes macrocephalic. The same holds for letters like Figure S or B; and book designers and picture framers leave customarily more space at the bottom than at the top."
As this section is the only one that features typography specific terminology I will have to search further for more form and function related analysis from more abstract design processes throughout the rest of the book. He talks often about architecture and modernist art, both topics that could be appropriated into the essay. All areas of Gestalt theory and some other theories are explored in detail throughout.
Within this section, Arnheim comments on the balance between the 'top' and 'bottom' of forms and our tendency to concentrate the centre of gravity below the midpoint, he rationalises this via our relation of 2D art and design articles to 3D objects that act under the rules of gravity.
Even physical objects can appear lighter at the top when in person due to our sense of perspective as described by Horatio Greenough: "That buildings, in rising from the earth, be broad and simple at their bases, that they grow lighter not only in fact but in expression as they ascend, is a principle established. The laws of gravitation are at the root of this axiom. The spire obeys it. The obelisk is its simplest expression."
"In realistic landscapes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the bottom part tends to be clearly heavier. The center of gravity is placed below the geometrical center. But the rule is observed even by typographers and layout designers. The number 3 in Figure 14 looks comfortably poised. Turn it upside down, and it becomes macrocephalic. The same holds for letters like Figure S or B; and book designers and picture framers leave customarily more space at the bottom than at the top."
As this section is the only one that features typography specific terminology I will have to search further for more form and function related analysis from more abstract design processes throughout the rest of the book. He talks often about architecture and modernist art, both topics that could be appropriated into the essay. All areas of Gestalt theory and some other theories are explored in detail throughout.
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