UNITY
VISUAL UNITY means that the congruity or agreement exists among the
elements in a design; they look as though they belong together, as though some
visual connection beyond mere chance has caused them to come together.
Visual Unity is planned and controlled by the artist.
An important aspect is that the whole must be predominant over the parts. You
must first see the whole composition before you see any of the individual
elements. All elements must have a meaning and certainly add to the total effect.
Another term for the same idea is HARMONY. Harmony is the pleasing
relationships of order between parts of the whole. If the principles of a
work/design are not harmonious by appearing separate or unrelated the work
/design lacks overall unity.
CONCEPTUAL UNITY is not easily observable. It portrays an idea or theme.
GESTALT theory of visual psychology is how the eye and brain function
together. This make achieving the principle of unity easy because the viewer is
looking for organization and tends to group objects that are close to each other
into larger units.
WAYS TO ACHIEVE UNITY
CONTAINMENT is when objects that are enclosed within the common container
PROXIMITY is to make separate elements look as if they belong together by
positioning them close together.
REPETITION implies element(s) simply repeats in various parts of the design to
relate the parts to each other.
The elements can be color, shape, texture, direction, or angle.
CONTINUATION naturally means that something “continues” usually a line, an
edge, or direction from one form to another.
CONTINUITY is the planned arrangement of various forms so their edges are
lined up – hence forms that re “continuous” from one to another within a design.
Continuity deals with a series of separate designs.
It is a visual relationship between two or more individual designs.
An aid often used in such serial designs is the grid.
CLOSURE is when viewers can mentally connect clues to create a visual image