Tim Butterfield
Blockbuster Video Interactive Critique

By Tim Butterfield

In Print and Web media there are a number of principles and elements to consider. These principles and elements are used to create effective visual messages and designs. In this essay, I will critique the magazine and website of the Entertainment Company Blockbuster. I will be looking at design principles and elements of design within the two media forms and comment on the similarities and differences.

The principles of design are the overarching truths of the profession. They represent the basic assumptions of the world that guide the design practice, and affect the arrangement of objects within a composition (McClurg-Genevese 2005). The Principles of Design include: Unity and Variety, Hierarchy, Proportion, Scale, Balance, Rhythm and Repetition, and finally Proximity.

Balance is the visual distribution of elements in a composition. There are two types of visual balance: symmetric and asymmetric. In symmetric balance, elements are arranged the same or very similar on either side of the central axis. Asymmetric balance is the art of creating balance using uneven numbers, sizes, or kinds of elements, managing the relationship between negative and positive space and form and counter form, (Evans and Thomas 2004).

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