Design and Composition In graphic design or digital photography, what makes a creative piece stand out? The answer is often composition. Composition is the assembly or construction of elements on a page or canvas. It’s the artful arrangement that attracts a viewer's eye and makes your work stand out.
In this hands-on class, you'll develop your composition skills by analyzing everything from Grand Masters to Madison Avenue advertisements to tubes of toothpaste and working on creative projects.
On this page: enrollment details | instructor | class projects and objectives | prerequisites
Class Title: |
Design and Composition |
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Start Date: |
Classes start daily.
Enroll today and gain immediate access. |
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Class Length: |
Six months of access to class materials and instructor feedback. |
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Instructor: |
Piper Nilsson |
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Other details: |
Self-paced, online, 24 access to online learning environment |
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THIS CLASS IS OFFERED AT SESSIONS COLLEGE: get the details
(Check the syllabus at Sessions College for updated class information.) |
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Class Instructor Bio:
Piper Nilsson is a graphic designer and information architect. In her four-year career for a leading Web design agency, she blueprinted sites for such global clients as MetLife, Pepsi, ETS, and Citibank. Her current projects include building an e-learning prototype for children with learning disabilities and teaching technology in New York City public schools. Piper holds an Associate's degree in Graphic Design from the Pratt Institute.
LEFT: Image from Design and Composition. This Nokia ad is used to illustrate the principle of contrasting scale in advertising. |
Class Projects and Objectives:
This online class is packed with composition techniques. Students will meet the following objectives:
- Develop an understanding of concepts in two-dimensional design, including positive and negative space, and how to test a composition for empty or crowded space.
- Create three compositions showing an understanding of open, closed, and divided negative space.
- Create a sense of unity in a composition with proximity, repetition, continuation, and underlying color.
- Balance a composition by using color, value, shape, and position.
- Incorporate repetitive, alternating, and progressive rhythm into a composition.
- Create four compositions that demonstrate an understanding of unity, balance, rhythm, and proportion.
- Create a focal point in a composition by using contrast, placement, or eye contact.
- Identify how a viewer's eye is directed through a composition by line or organization of information.
- Identify how a composition is affected by the visual push and pull of overlapping planes or the the viewing distance and angle of the work.
- Create an ad design uses a focal point and movement to direct the viewer's eye through the ad.
| Prerequisites: |
- Computer with Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or faster).
- Adobe Illustrator (or equivalent vector-based illustration program) or Adobe Photoshop (or equivalent digital imaging program).
- Basic experience in Photoshop or Illustrator.
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