Design Rhythm

One of the fundamental elements of great design is rhythm. The visual arts – as in audio phonic arts, depend greatly on rhythm to fully communicate. It is no more difficult for a musical composer to take the listener to a desired place than it is for a designer of visual arts if rhythm is ignored or misused. Our minds, through visual observance, follow the perceived sizes and spacing of shapes and arrive at a destination. Great design carries your gaze to a great destination – or at least the destination desired by the designer. Poor design fails to use rhythm and other fundamental design elements to transport the viewer. Whether it is the regular, repetitive forms of a classic colonnade, the changing, ascending shapes of the Pantheon’s dome or the juxtaposition of dark and light forms in Picasso’s painting Guernica, visual rhythm can create an effective composition – or express austerity.