MOVEMENT {principle of design}

1. a feeling of action within an image; OR
2. the path the viewer's eye follows through the image


1. the sensation of objects moving within an image can be alluded to through the use of various visual elements


-curves can give a sense of motion as these lines are not tied to the vertical and horizontal structure of the picture plane

Vincent Van Gogh

     ...they allude to rotating, tumbling, swinging, swaying, and swirling through space

Hexagonall

Sonia Delauney

-diagonals have a similar sense of force and motion in design, alluding to tilting, falling, rising, or projecting forward or backward

Theodore Gericault

Wassily Kandinsky

-repetition and rotation of a form within an image will also create a sense of movement, as our eye will infer the action of the form turning in space

Marcel Duchamp

Vodaphone Headquarters, Portugal

2.  The viewer's eye can be purposefully moved throughout a composition to maintain a sense of visual harmony, as well as direct us to a focal point within the image


-directional lines (actual and implied lines, and gazes) can direct the viewer's eye to a focal point within a composition, communicating what is most important in a design

Mary Cassatt

     ...or keep the eye moving around the composition, maintaining a sense of visual equilibrium (see the discussion in Balance)

James Whistler

-repetition of similar shapes, colors, patterns, & forms can also bounce the eye around and through a composition, while keeping the image unified