ROSS. DESIGN AS A SCIENCE. 373 



and set side by side so as to contradict one another. A perfect balance or 

 antithesis of shapes is what we call symmetry. Symmetry is, accordingly, 

 a specific form of balance. It is shape-balance, and as such it must be dis- 

 tinguished from tone-balance and measure-balance. The only perfect 

 balance of shapes is the balance of similar shapes set in reverse, one 

 against the other, and having the same measure ; but we may have a 

 partial balance in the reversion and opposition of similar shapes when 

 they have different measures. 



When two or more shapes are arranged so as to suggest a joint action 

 or movement, we have what may be called a rhythm of shapes. This 

 rhythm may be straight or curved in its character, or it may combine 

 both curvature and straightness. As the eye moves more rapidly upon a 

 straight line than upon any other, a rhythm showing many straight lines, 

 all having the same direction, will give to the eye the sense of rapid move- 

 ment, and this sense of rapid movement is lost in a rhythm which shows 

 many curves or angles upon which the eye moves more intricately and 

 therefore more slowly. There is another element to be considered in 

 connection with the rhythmic composition of shapes ; that is the sugges- 

 tion of a possible resistance. The idea of resistance does not lie in the 

 shape of the spot of paint, in the shape itself, but in a mental association. 

 If we wish to produce the sense of rapid motion we must be sure not to 

 suggest any opposition or resistance. Rhythms set in contrary motion 

 tend to balance one another, and in the measure in which they balance 

 one another they bring the eye to the rest of equilibrium. 



I have now described the spot of paint in its three elements, tone, 

 measure, and shape, and I have shown, or tried to show, how each of 

 these elements may follow the principles of balance, of rhythm, and of 

 harmony, which, as we have seen, are principles of order and of beauty. 

 In the practice of Pure Design, which is the composition of spots of paint 

 for the sake of order and beauty, we begin with a few tones, measures, 

 and shapes, and try to bring them into the relations of balance, rhythm, 

 and harmony ; in other words, into an idea of beauty. When we have 

 achieved this, in the composition of a few elements, we do the same thing 

 with a larger number, proceeding, thus, from comparatively simple to more 

 and more difficult problems. The elements which we use in any problem 

 are not necessarily simple. We may take simple tones, measures, and 

 shapes, or we may take compositions of them. Then the problem takes 

 the form of a composition of compositions. In order to rise to anything 

 important in design, the designer must be able to think freely and easily 



