Graphics Design Chapter 05: Fundamentals of Visual Composition

We have studied that a sensible arrangement of components makes a design functional and attractive. We also know that to select and to arrange is to compose. A composition can be two dimensional, three dimensional or temporal. A good composition, like an organic entity does communicate and offer a unique experience of its own. At one level it effectively communicates the message and at another it aesthetically influences the viewers.

For a designer it helps show a cohesive oneness among different parts along an implicit order. It helps navigate the attention of the viewers through its explicit hierarchy and hence introducing a proper order to read it as per his/her interest. An effective composition entices and affects viewers making it so to be seen again and again, leaving a lasting impression and as a result, consolidating its recall.

Disorderly and chaotic arrangements of parts fail to function or to communicate hence leaving viewers confused and disinterested in seeing it. Preciseness with affective aesthetic quality of work is a decisive factor in visual communication. A sensitive designer is conscious about it and hence is respected for this talent. In graphic design, knowledge and sense of good composition is a prerequisite for every graphical work.