Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
make visuals that support our message in a manner that is easiest for our audience to
understand, revealing our message in the clearest way possible. Having a better
understanding of key design principles will indeed make things a bit easier for us, and a
lot easier for our audience. Sometimes, people create visual messages that give
simplicity a bad name. They make things too simple and dumb-down the message.
Today, however, the more common problem is that simple things are made
unnecessarily complicated with layers of obfuscation and superfluous design elements.
Our goal is to create designs that are honest, true, and simple, but always simple in a
way that helps the viewer understand in the clearest way possible.
Structure and freedom
Another lesson from Zen is that form (rules or structure) is necessary for freedom to
exist. If you have the form, you can exercise great freedom. If you have no form, you get a
situation in which everything and anything goes. It's true that we must use our own good
judgment and not let the rules become a kind of bondage of their own. Nonetheless, the
form is important. Many of the Zen-inspired arts such as
sumi-e
(ink and wash painting),
ikebana
(the art of flower arrangement), or
sado
(the way of tea) look beautifully simple.
But the simplicity in these art forms is achieved through years of study and a deep
understanding of the principles.
Garden photographs reprinted with permission from the topic
Mirei Shigemori,
Modernizing The Japanese Garden
(Stone Bridge Press) by Christian Tschumi and
Markuz Wernli Saito. See Markuz's portfolio at
www.markuz.com
.
