Design Production, Brief 3 - Canons of Page Construction Workshop 1 - OUGD504

Today we have had our first workshop on 'Canons of Page Construction'. This was looking into canons and how they are a system of page construction. In relation to Graphic Design it refers to ways of organising type and image on the page. 

We began looking at the golden ratio and how this can be used in all aspects such as art, architecture, graphic design etc and how this is possibly used as a canon.

We began the session by trying to create our own golden ration: 

The previous slide did not help my understanding of how to do this. However, through my peers I worked out how to re-create the golden ratio. 

How I worked it out:

- Start of by drawing a line (shortest side of a rectangle first)

- Measure this then times it by 1.618

- The measurement is then the longest side of the rectangle, draw the two lines together to complete the rectangle.

- Divide the longest side by 1.618

- Keep diving the longest side of the rectangles by the amount to keep creating a square with a rectangle:

 For the next task, instead of dividing the rectangle, we worked with the square - dividing up the line width to produce the next.  The aim of this next exercise was to try and create a grid system that could possibly be used when designing, preferably for web. I found this exercise far easier than the initial as I had gotten to grips with what I needed to divide and times to end up with my grid:

In groups we discussed what we thought about the golden section within graphic design. We was shown how the golden ratio was used in things like famous logo designs and whether we thought the ratio had problems or limitations in the creative sector. 

My initial thoughts was I find the golden section quite interesting, it seems to fit in with things like nature and the human anatomy and how this has been applied really fascinates me. However, within the creative sector I feel it has been overused. I feel some people will take this into consideration when designing, were as others seem to create something that appears to fit into the ratio purely by coincidence.

We then looked at a grid canon created by Van De Graaf, who explored the proportions of a page. He created a 'distinct and lovely' shape which explores the possibility of creating more flexibility when designing for books. 

We then re-created our own Van De Graaf canon, which when explained, proved rather easy to follow.  I cannot see however, how this created flexibility. To me it seems rather structured and strict:

All in all I found the session rather interesting as it helped me explore the idea of canons more effectively rather than simply drawing a grid. Although it did this, I feel they are not as easy to follow than normal grids. I find them much stricter than I initially thought they would be and feel they would not help me in my design process. Perhaps the following sessions will change my perception.