Composition
Phil Day 2008
People try to order things in their lives to achieve balance: work with play, wants with needs, time spent with
family with time spent more pleasantly (speaking on my own behalf – of course). The need for balance permeates
every aspect of our lives, we want order: we have governments rather than anarchy; roads with rules; gramma;
even when humans want to kill people we want to do it orderly. Soldiers march in uniform, and planes fly in attack
formations.
Infantry in attack formation
The need to organise things is intuitive in all of us. We notice things that are disorderly and want to reorganise
them to make them appear balanced. One obvious example of this is the appearance of things. Such as people
who have a disorderly face or body. A face or body that is not balanced according to what is the ‘norm.’
And when we do notice something out of balance we shun it or try to ‘correct’ it. If someone’s nose is too
big or if their boobs are too small humans correct it with plastic surgery.
Joseph Merrick a breast implant
We, as humans, want to try and arrive at a sense of balanced lines and shapes and colours in our visual world, by doing
so we feel as though we give it order and understanding which in turn will make us comfortable and therefore safe.
This is evident in every aspect of our lives:
Trees … … our homes…
… the way we eat … … what we eat …
… where we sleep and even where we are buried.
If we understand how these organised lines evoke feelings then we can use them to our benefit.
