Contrast – Vive la Difference

So, I tried writing about contrast and variations for this week but it got REALLY long. So I’ve split them up. You will want to read this post first in order to get the most out of next week’s so don’t skip this one. It’s not too long.

So, how often do you think about contrast in your designs? Although all the principles of design appear, to some degree, in all work, contrast is, whether you realize it or not, integral in the choices you make for all design elements that you have more than one of—marks, lines, colors, shape, form, and texture. It also works between applications of design principles like rhythm, balance, proportion and movement.

How does that work? Well, since contrast is the difference between two or more features, every time you choose to use multiple lines, colors, textures, types of rhythm, etc., you are going to determine the degree to which each iteration will be different from the others or not. And that choice can say so much since contrast contributes to the visual interest, mood, and energy of a piece as well as being employed for emphasis and other compositional considerations.

Contrast and Compare

Contrast is really more about comparison among things we see as related. Those comparisons help define the elements themselves.

For instance, a nice cerulean blue looks rather light when in the company of a royal purple but next to a pale peach it doesn’t seem light at all and yet, in both cases, there is a contrast in hue and value. The commonality is that they are both color elements while their differences are the characteristics you choose.

See this in action in Anarina Anar’s earrings (above). She uses an orange that looks light paired with black but it appears as the darkest of the colors, aside from the spots of black, when paired with the light cyan and white.

This works with any element. With shape, for example, a particular circle may seem small when near another circle that is much bigger, creating a contrast in size. However, that one circle’s smallness disappears if the other circle is of a similar size. It also eliminates the contrast.

These relationships make contrast relative which means you, ideally, chose your contrasting elements based on how they appear in combination with other elements of the same type. In other words, you can have contrast between different types of line or different types of color but you don’t identify contrast between a line and a color. They are already different, right? The contrast needs to be something that can be adjusted to make the contrasting elements more alike or less alike.

Speaking with Contrast

Working with contrast means you compare specific elements and change them out or adjust their differences to create the degree of contrast that you want. In this way, contrast can help you define the purpose or meaning of the elements in your work by how they relate to each other.

Take a piece that is all circles and squares and black and white. You have high contrast in shapes and in value. Rather high energy, right? That seems to work with the graphic nature of the overall theme. How about a piece that is all earth tones and hand cut leaf shapes? There may not be a lot of contrast in color or shape but that can convey harmony which does seem to support the concept of nature that it is likely rooted in.

Let’s look at an example of Arden Bardol’s work. The brooch you see here is a study in all types of contrast. The most obvious is its three-way value contrast with all that black, gray, and white. However, there is even more contrast with the “marks” of sliced cane, dots, and white rectangles.

In the marks, there is a shape difference between the circles and rectangles, a size and proportion difference between the large circles and small dots, and a difference in rhythm between the random placement of the black bordered white marks, the alternating placement of the gold dots, and the orderliness of those running up and down the lines of the left side.

This works for the predominant theme in all Arden’s work—” that life is a series of events which are sometimes magical, sometimes challenging. These events affect who we are. When they are viewed together as a whole, they create a unique and wonderful ‘coat of many colors.’” She also describes her work as “rich in complexity and simple in form” which the use of contrast greatly supports.

Put Contrast to Work

Now, how have you been using contrast and how might you employ it to speak for you in the future?

When trying to determine how to use contrast in your work, consider how much energy, tension, and drama your intention needs and then look to your elements of design for options to increase or decrease contrast. Adjust the characteristic of your different marks, lines, shapes, forms, color, and texture to create that level of contrast.

Angela Gerhard went for high contrast in her sgraffito enamel pendant here. Light versus dark, messy versus orderly, the vertical columns of seed beads against all those horizontal elements, and, even, color versus no color with that one wide swath of orange-red in the midst of all that black and white. That’s a lot of potential energy.

Even so, there is a restraint, a stillness in the piece. How did that happen? Well, the horizontals are dominant and they typically convey calm due to the stillness they represent (a principle of movement; in this case, minimal movement) so all the contrast in the elements helps infuse the pendant with energy that would not otherwise be there. That in itself is a contrast. You have high energy in contrast against low energy in movement, the comparison being between the choices of energy levels rather than the principles used to create it. It’s very intriguing.

So, like everything else, contrast is part of a mix of decisions that all have to play well together. I do find contrast a great place to start though since it can help you make decisions in so many other areas. Once you work with contrast as a guiding decision for other choices, you will probably start seeing more ways that contrast speaks for you, whether through the implied energy, the way high contrast can bring emphasis to a particular section or set of elements, or even metaphorically.

Questioning your use of contrast is also a great way to examine work you aren’t pleased with. Maybe you’re not happy with the shapes because they are too much alike or things feel chaotic because there is just too much of a difference between the types of lines you are using. Try adjusting the contrast between those elements and see if that doesn’t bring the work to a much better place.

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