Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Clarity and Decisiveness
Resolved and refined compositions create clear, accessible
visual messages. Resolving and refining a composition means understanding what kind
of message is being carried by a given form, what it does in space, and what effect the
combination of these aspects has on the viewer. First, some more definitions. To say
that a composition is “resolved” means that the reasons for where everything is, how big
the things are, and what they're doing with each other in and around space—the visual
logic—is clear, and that all the parts seem considered relative to each other. “Refined”
is a quirky term when used to describe form or composition; in this context, it means
that the form or composition has been made to be more like itself—more clearly, more
simply, more indisputably communicating one specific kind of quality. Like the term
“beautiful,” the quality of “refinement” can apply to rough, organic, and aggressive
forms, as well as sensuous, elegant, and clean ones. It's not a term of value so much as
an indicator of whether the form is as clear as possible. This, of course, brings up the
issue of “clarity,” which has to do with whether a composition and the forms within it
are readily understandable. Some of this understandability depends on the refinement
of the forms, and some of it depends on the resolution of the relationships between form
and space and whether these are “decisive,” appearing to be on purpose and indisput-
able. A form or a spatial relationship can be called decisive if it is clearly one thing and
not the other: for example, is one form larger or smaller than the one next to it, or are
they both the same size? If the answer to this question is quick and nobody can argue
with it—“The thing on the left is larger” or “Both things are the same size”—then the
formal or spatial relationship is decisive. Being decisive with the visual qualities of a
layout is important in design because the credibility of the message being conveyed de-
pends on the confidence with which the forms and composition have been resolved. A
weak composition, one that is indecisive, evokes uneasiness in a viewer, not just bore-
dom. Uneasiness is not a good platform on which to build a complicated message that
might involve persuasion.
