Contrast is one of the fundamental principles of art. It is the pairing of elements that are opposite from one another. Without contrast, everything in a work of art would be the same, such as a fully white canvas. Contrast draws the eye from place to place and allows artists to create focal points, or areas of high visual interest. In this way, contrast ties in heavily with composition. Contrast's art definition is relevant in every kind of art, from traditional art and graphic design to interior design.
Art would be significantly less appealing without this one of the many key principles of design: contrast. Examples include opposites such as light and dark, color and lack of color, angles and curves, high detail and low detail. It can also involve opposite, or complementary, colors, such as red and green, blue and orange, or yellow and purple. Contrast is the opposite of unity because contrast calls for things to be different from one another while unity requires sameness.
There are many ways an image can incorporate contrast. Here are a few:
Contrast has been used in traditional art for as long as artists have been making art. However, some of the most striking examples of contrast lie in the paintings of the Romantic era of art.
Henry Fuseli's The Nightmare, created in 1781, utilizes the principle of contrast on multiple levels. The first and most obvious example is in the use of lights and darks throughout the painting. Much of the painting is dark or even black, while the woman that sleeps in the bed is bathed in light. This draws a great deal of visual attention to the woman and the thing that sits on her chest. Fuseli also contrasts color when depicting the impish figure and the woman. The woman wears mostly white and has very pale skin, while the impish figure is a muddy color, and very dark in comparison.
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Fuseli also contrasts beauty against ugliness in this painting. The surrounding scene, while mostly dark, is elegant and contains luxurious fabrics and draperies that form flowing lines throughout the painting, implying a pleasant-looking interior. The woman also portrays a sense of beauty both in her appearance and in the dynamic pose she holds. The other figures, while not taking up much space in the composition, provide a stark counterpoint to the beauty because of their strangeness.
Contrast's graphic design definition involves contrast less in the sense of light and dark like in the previous example and instead relies on contrast through color, line, form, size, and space. In graphic design, contrast must be used in order to direct attention or dissect information. As mentioned previously, one of the key purposes of contrast is to create a focal point, and this remains the same here. However, graphic design often needs to be more direct in this approach. The graphic designer's goal is often to grab and maintain attention for their piece.
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The image here could be an excellent cover image for a magazine or an article, as there is plenty of empty space for text or captions or be used to separate information between its two halves. This image has several elements of contrast going on at once. The first and most obvious element of contrast is color. The blue and the yellow stand out from each other, allowing the eye to bounce from one side of the image to the other. The other is the contrast of detail. Much of the canvas for this image is blank, containing only one of two colors. However, the center of the image shows two colored pencils, breaking up the space and creating a focal point in the center of the image that has the added effect of leading the eye to the point of each pencil. Because of the way the image is split into halves that contrast so much, it makes for a great attention-grabber.
Another important aspect of graphic design is the typeface. This too can have contrasting elements, from differences in case (upper case versus lower case), size of the font, and type of the font (serif, sans serif, script). Using different kinds of font can help break up information on a page and make certain areas more enticing for the eye by including a large, bold, uppercase title with contrasting smaller lowercase font.
Contrast in interior design follows many of the same principles as mentioned previously, however it is not limited by the same constraints of composition. In interior design, contrasts between textures, shapes, colors, and spaces are all key components.
In this image, much of the room is wood paneling, creating a sameness of texture and color throughout. In order to break up that unity, rugs and mats have been added to the flooring, such as the faux-fur rug by the couch and the dark gray doormat at the back of the room. Additionally, the space utilizes larger furniture to not only help break up the space into different parts (a living area towards the right of the photograph and a study area or dining area on the right) but also provides a great deal of contrast from the lighter tans and browns of the rest of the space. It is also smooth in texture and color, offering little variation in contrast to the wood which has a great deal of variety within its limited palette of wood tones.
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Contrast is the representation of two elements of design in opposite ways. For example, areas of bright light in comparison with areas of dark. The goal of contrast is to create strong focal points in an image. Focal points are areas of high visual interest that draw attention. Contrast is useful in every form of art, like traditional visual arts such as painting, as well as in graphic design and interior design. Each field uses contrast in similar and different ways, as well. However, the goal is always the same. In paintings and the like, the goal is to draw interest across the canvas and to one or more major focal points. In graphic design, contrast is common and necessary because the goal is to grab attention as well as to present information in an appealing manner. In Interior design, the goal is to create multiple focal points in a room and break up the sameness of space.
There are some alternative methods of including contrast, as well. Distance can be used by creating areas of an image that are blurry to exaggerate the illusion of depth in an image. Texture is also a method, where areas of rough texture can be paired with areas of smooth texture to create contrast.
Most artists begin a project with a specific goal in mind: make something that looks good. This can often become an exercise of creating art for the sake of art, a pure expression of the quest for aesthetic perfection. But how do you actually know if something looks good? Humans have a pretty consistent baseline that determines the aesthetic value of something. Add on the cultural biases that teach us how to interpret images, and we can easily deconstruct art into elements and principles of design that explain why something looks good.
This is important to any artist. However, it takes on a special meaning for graphic designers. Generally, your job is not just to make a piece of art that looks good, but to make something look so good that consumers want to purchase it. It's not just art for art's sake; it's art with a clear agenda. So, the elements and principles of design are crucial to the success of a graphic designer.
There are many elements and principles of design, but our focus today is going to be on contrast, two elements of a design that are presented in opposite ways. Generally, the items or elements in contrast are placed near each other so that the contrast is as obvious as possible. This isn't something we often shy away from, because our eyes naturally like contrast. Contrast is exciting and dramatic and naturally aesthetically pleasing. It creates something we enjoy looking at, so contrast is frequently used in graphic design.
When used correctly, contrast can do a number of things. For one, it creates a focal point, or a spot to which your eye is naturally drawn. Contrasts are not equals; generally one element becomes more immediately visible than its contrasted opposite, giving it more visual weight and attracting the eye. Because of its ability to create visual hierarchies, contrast can also be used to produce a sense of balance and harmony, ensuring that items of various degrees of visual weight are distributed in a pleasing way across the page or screen.
All artists use contrast to create focal points and visual balance. This is common in painting, sculpture, and even architecture. However, there are some values of contrast unique to graphic design. For one, graphic designers often need to be direct. While a painting may present complex themes that take a while to absorb, graphic designers generally need to send a clear message as quickly as possible. Contrast creates a strong focal point, so it can be very useful in this sense.
At the same time, contrast can help organize information, both visual and textual. Do you need your audience to read all the text in a design right away? No, you need to capture their attention and present the most important concepts. Contrast can be used to organize textual information in a way that makes the immediate message clear to the audience while still providing space for the details.
Now that we understand why contrast is important, let's look at some of the ways to create contrast. One of the most basic is color. Various images, text, or other elements can be presented in contrasting colors in order to draw your eye. The simplest version of this is the contrast of white and black, an extreme that's pretty easy to use. If you need an example of its benefit to marketing, just think of those iPod ads with the black-silhouetted people holding a pure white device. Of course, contrast works with the entire range of colors, as long as you understand how to balance them. Think of how well the McDonald's golden arches stand out against a field of red. The contrast of colors pulls out the logo, but creates a sense of overall balance.
Contrast can also be found in the balance of light and dark. Contrasts of this kind, where one object is illuminated and another is obscured in shadow, are a great way to create a strong focal point. Frequently, contrasts of light and dark are paired with contrasts of distance. Something further away and something close can be depicted through the balance of light, but also through focus. Especially when dealing in digital images, contrasting focused and blurry images can create a sense of depth and attract the eye.
Another technique is to create a contrast of textures. If you've ever seen an ad for a pickup truck, you've likely seen an image of it kicking up gravel or mud or water as it traverses the terrain. Yes, this advertises the truck's capabilities, but also creates a contrast between the smoothness of the truck and the texture of the splash. Look at one of those ads again and think about how this pulls your eye.
Contrast can also be created in the opposition of large and small. In graphic design, we see this frequently in the use of text. The most important word is often larger than the others, relying on that contrast to signify its importance. Look at one of those old ''My Goodness, My Guinness'' ads, and you'll see what we mean.
And speaking of text, we have to acknowledge the contrast that can be created through fonts. Perhaps the most important contrast here is that between serif (typefaces with ornamental projections) and sans-serif (typefaces without serifs). Try typing out a series of messages in both of the typeface styles, and you'll notice how they can balance each other to organize information or draw the eye. You'll never look at fonts the same way again.
In graphic design, contrast refers to the presentation of two elements of the design in opposite ways. Contrast is very useful for creating a focal point, or a spot to which your eye is naturally drawn, as well as giving objects greater visual weight and balancing the image. Graphic designers often use contrasts of color, light, clarity, texture, size, and even typefaces in order to create an image that communicates information as effectively as possible. If you do a good job at using contrast, then contrast can help fulfill one of the prime mandates of your job: make something look good.
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Imagine that there is a painting with a large amount of bright areas as well as dark areas. The bright areas draw the eye because that is the natural reaction for our eyes to take. The eye will likely try to avoid the dark areas because it cannot see what is in the darker areas.
Contrast is the representation of opposite sides of a design element, like brightness versus darkness. It is important because it creates focal points for the image, which are areas that draw viewers' gaze.
Contrast in design can take many forms. Designers can use different, contrasting colors to create a focal point/attention grabber for an ad or an article, for example.
