Design geometry. Proportions and composition

The book of the famous designer and teacher from Florida Kimberly Elam withstood several reprints in the West and is deservedly popular. It investigates the basic properties of geometric structures, the principles of a visual organization that have a mathematical basis, and the main patterns of proportion, the knowledge of which is necessary for creating both works of art and purely utilitarian design objects.
“As a material for analysis, I chose works tested by time and worthy to be called a design classic. And let them be created in different years, even if their forms and purpose vary, but there is a striking similarity in how competently they are planned and, thanks to geometry, are reduced into a single organized system.

The purpose of my work is not to evaluate the aesthetic qualities of objects through geometric rules, but to reveal visual relations, which are based on mathematics and the laws of growth and development of living beings due to nature. We will try to figure out how the design is created and how the visual consistency is born that show its structure. I warmly hope that artists and designers will draw something valuable for themselves in this analysis. ” (Kimberly Elam)