Chapter 3: Design Development Based on the Star

In this chapter, various star shapes are used to create simple designs with the coloured papers produced earlier, using complementary colour contrasts to enhance the visual effects. For the first two sheets, plain blue and orange colours were used to emphasise the effects created by the shapes themselves. On the third sheet some of the patterned papers were used to further enhance the more complex designs.

Design Sheet 1: Simple shapes, distortion & repeat patterns

The 5 armed starfish shape was chosen for most of these exercises, except for the symmetry example, in which a 4 pointed star was used.

(i) Counterchange : positive and negative shapes side by side.

(ii) Positive and negative: 4 shapes placed side by side in a square. 2 different shades of orange/brown used to add variety. The enclosed space was a square modified with points in the middle of each side.

(iii) Symmetry: 4 pointed star illustrating a double-symmetrical shape.

(iv) Asymmetry: 4 pointed star with both lines of symmetry moved to give a distorted shape.

(v) 5 armed starfish distorted to fit into a triangle, diamond and circle.

(vi) Repeat pattern created from the starfish shape distorted to fit into the triangle. This effect was particularly interesting as the triangles had to be rotated to make the edges touch.

Design Sheet 2

(i) Design with the starfish motif, using different sized objects (scaling) together with the use of positive and negative shapes.

(ii) Edge to edge repeat pattern using positive shape and negative space created by the distorted object.

(iii) Solid distorted starfish motif used to create border with a corner. Note that the shape was rotated 90 degrees & flipped to enable the corner to be turned without disturbing the flow.

(iv) Shapes linked via the arms of the starfish - could also use to form a border.

(v) Two 5 pointed star shapes combined: the rounded starfish and a larger similar shape with pointed arms. Note that by spacing the pieces of the second shape (underneath) a third star is created by the gaps. Also the inner star is sized so that it just touches the innermost V parts of the larger star in order to link the two objects. I think this is one of my favourites so far, and has possibilities for future designs.

(vi) New shape from old: A small 5 pointed star in the middle, then a large 5 pointed star segmented and positioned so that each piece almost touches the recesses of the inner star.

Design Sheet 3

(i) Complex counterchange

(i) a: This uses the 5-armed starfish cut across the middle , with half of the main body orange on blue and the other half blue on orange. As I felt this shape was a bit limiting for the later parts of this section, I decided to experiment with a more complex version [see (i) b below].

(i) b: This is a more complex image, with a smaller patterned 5-armed star placed on top of a larger one. The inner star uses 4 alternating pieces of blue and orange patterns around the arms. A pointed star shape has been cut in the centre of the star so that the background orange colour shows through. One arm of the inner starfish was then selected to make a new symmetrical star image (see ii below). This design was very pleasing to me, and also has scope for development in later chapters.

(ii) a: New four-sided symmetrical star created by taking the selected segment from design (i) b, plus its mirror image and repeating them to form a new distorted star shape.

(ii) b: The new star shape with the 4 segments separated and placed on a complementary background.

(iii) Edge to edge repeat of the new segment and its mirror image with just the points touching. Note the pleasing effects of the diamonds and triangles created in the spaces between the joined segments.

(iv) A new symmetrical star design created by overlapping 9 copies of the selected segment.

(v) Overlapping, alternately coloured segments used to create an informal border.