Equipment

Guiding questions

Lesson content

1. Last lesson you were introduced to the design elements and principles (DE + P) and you created your own reference sheets. Today we are going to ‘unpack’ two examples of wallpaper design using the DE + P to describe what we see.

   Pay special attention to which elements have been used and how they relate to each other through the principles of design to create a successful composition.

   Success in this context seems simple: would someone think the print is cool/interesting enough to purchase and put on their wall? 

   

   Witehira's Whakapapa Wallpaper. Photo: Design Assembly

2. Style, taste, culture, and trends all come into play here. However, the subjective aspects are only part of what you need to consider. The designers have still had to execute their ideas visually (whether or not you like those ideas are another matter entirely). That is an aspect that can be analysed more objectively using the DE + P.

   Remember to use the guiding questions and prompts to analyse the given examples. You should be able to use the Paper Leaf and your own reference sheets to identify and label the elements and principles easily enough.

   It's important to extend yourself to ask why the designer has made those decisions and how you think it affects the work.

   

   William Morris's Bird and Pomegranate - 1926

Let's do something!

1. 1

   Identify + Describe

   • Open the task sheet (if you can't print you could take notes on the document by using a PDF converter).
   • Identify all the obvious DE + P within each outcome.
   • Draw arrows and circle WHERE the aspects below can be found and add a label.
   • Write notes under your labels describing what you see (if it’s green, what kind of green? Dark? Light? Graduated? Transparent? Opaque?).
   • Compare and contrast the two examples.
   • Try to keep your responses clear, critical, and justified.

   

   Find, label, and add notes

2. 2

   Explain + Extend

   • Use the prompts and guiding questions to add more detail to your notes.
   • Remember to comment on WHAT you’re looking at as well as WHY you think the designer decided to present that information in that specific way.
   • Explain how the treatment of specific DE + P has contributed to the success of the work (for better or worse).
   • Explain the overall intent you think the designer was going for.
   • Explain the overall successfulness of the outcome.
   • Extend your answers by justifying our explanations - reference research to do this.
   • Use the links to learn a little more about the designers so you can justify your explanations.
   • Connect with your own ideas/tastes - is there anything you would like to try, inspired by these works Anything to avoid?

   

   Analysis task sheet

3. 3

   Prompts

   • Elements and principles of design (line, shape, size, texture, colour, space, contrast value +, alignment, repetition, proximity, hierarchy).
   • What can you see/do you recognise?
   • What is the intention/purpose of this work?
   • What is the story behind it/context/why?
   • How was it created (process/technique)?
   • Who is this for and how was it received?