Basic Compositional Principles

Understanding compositional principles are important as a starting point to becoming a more informed viewer. Artists use, bend and break these principles  as necessary in conveying their message and creating visual excitement. For the viewer when you know the underlying principles behind how a composition is organized, your appreciation and understanding of the work is increased. Compositional structure is not purely an aesthetic issue; the visual order or structural logic of a work of art or design conveys  meaning, and an artist or designer tries to correlate that meaning with his or her content and intention whether consciously or intuitively.