We have looked at the pictograph path in past posts and considered the benefits of visual communication in conflict resolution (or in almost any situation when you want thoughts and feelings better understood). I recently discovered a terrific resource to help us communicate with pictures. It's a book with the title Picture This: How Pictures Work.
In this delightful book, you will read, and see illustrated, 10 principles of design and picture composition.
The first four:
- Smooth, flat surfaces, horizontal shapes give us a sense of stability and calm.
- Vertical shapes are more exciting and more active. Vertical shapes rebel against the earth's gravity. They imply energy and a reaching toward heights or the heavens.
- Diagonal shapes are dynamic because they imply motion or tension.
- The upper half of a picture is a place of freedom, happiness, and triumph; objects placed in the top half often feel more spiritual.
In addition to appreciating the practical guidance in the principles, I find them inspiring as metaphors. Makes me want to live in the top half of my picture of life with some vertical shapes living with me.
For the other six principles, and to see illustrations from the book, click here. The principles are also here and many other places on the 'net.
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