Black and White

These squares are another result of an exercise in the book, Finding Your Own Visual Language book by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn, and Leslie Morgan.

In the past I would have hesitated to create designs using just black and white. I was completely in love with and tied to color. However, after enrolling in the basic design class and being forced to use only black and white, I see that color can be a crutch.

I still love to use color, but I now understand that color can sometimes confuse the eye into thinking that something is a good design. There's no camouflaging a poor design when using black and white. The starkness allows me to see the bones of the structure. Now I know that color can flesh out the basic framework to create subtleties or ehance the underlying logic of the design.

I did use a black and white technique in the past. When I couldn't identify the problem, I would take a photo of a piece that wasn't working so well. Somehow the camera removed me from the piece. Then I would look at the image in black and white, and that gave a clearer picture of any design issues.

Comments

[Heather T.]

You really have some cool mindflow in your patterns. I like them very much.

[tammy vitale]

I came over to say I tagged you and I'm glad I did - what a great exercise! I've never thought of reducing things to black and white like that to find design flaws, but I can absolutely see the value in it. thanks!