Sara E. Thomas
Students will explore line, color, balance and form which will enhance their boat. Depending on the function of their boat they will want the boat to have a specific appearance.
Line
Line is one of the easiest elements to use to create a feeling of motion. Horizontal lines give a sense of calm, vertical lines of stability and diagonal lines of motion. After learning about these properties of line students must decide which property is most important to their boat and add lines accordingly.
Form
There are two main types of forms: geometric and organic. Geometric forms are perfect forms such as circles, squares, triangles. Organic forms have a much more natural shape to them such as fruits, bones and nuts. Boats are composed mostly of geometric forms; however organic forms are usually more pleasing to the eye. Students will need to find a way to incorporate some type of organic form into their boat for interest and contrast.
Color
Specific colors bring about very different emotions in people. Depending on the purpose of the students’ boats color choice will be extremely important. If they are working on a military boat, then camouflage will be appropriate. However, if they are working on a speed boat they might want to consider more warm colors like oranges and reds.
Balance
As mentioned before, balance is important for your boat to be comfortable; however it is also an important factor in your boat being aesthetically pleasing. If you have designed your boat so that it looks heavy in the front it will not be attractive, and by nature travelers will be weary of boarding. Would you want to ride on a boat which looked like its front might sink? Symmetry and asymmetry are important ideas when creating balance. Symmetry is when one side of an object is a mirror image of the other side. Symmetry is a very simple way of creating balance; however it is not very interesting. Asymmetry is when one side does not mirror the other. Creating balance using asymmetry is much more difficult than with symmetry. Students will be required to create balance using asymmetry.
Unity
Unity means that the boat looks like the whole thing was designed at once; it is not a boat which has been pieced together. It will be important for students to design their entire boat at once, without giving attention only to particular parts. It will be important for the boat to look like a whole, not like pieces were designed and then assembled as an afterthought.