Yandex Practicum Course: Product Design, 2023 Author: Nikita Kaniukov
Composition is the arrangement of parts to form a whole. By changing the placement of illustrations, text, and buttons, we can influence the impression of the interface and direct the viewer’s attention. Before diving into interfaces, let’s explore some simple examples to understand the features of this visual language.
For this example, we’ll use an illustration of a car.
Imagine you want to demonstrate it in some way. To do this, you’ll need to find a successful combination of two elements: the car itself and the background. There could be countless options. Which one would you choose?
When moving the car around the page, we are thinking about composition. How the object will look in the chosen format, how much empty space to leave, and what its size will be. The layout of any object, such as an illustration or text on a background, is working with shapes. If you squint, the visual image of any object will appear as a simple form. Here are the same illustrations with the car, but in the form of circles. We chose a circle not because it’s a canonical rule. There are no restrictions. Instead of a circle, we could use silhouettes, lines, or other shapes.
So, back to the question. What were your criteria for choosing where the object would be relative to the background? To make it striking, beautiful, or to ensure the logo is in the frame? Honestly, this is a tricky question. The best answer to it is a counter-question: “What is the task I need to solve by creating a composition with the car?”
Artists, illustrators, layout designers, photographers, and filmmakers choose composition to solve an expressive task. Once the emotion or meaning to be conveyed is planned, one can begin exploring different solutions. Let’s look at how cars are placed in frames in different movies and analyze what thought or emotion is conveyed through the composition.
In the illustration on the left, there’s a frame featuring the famous DeLorean from Back to the Future. The car dominates the center. Similarly, in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine, the car is a full-fledged character. It is also given a central role in the composition and a large size.
