RERAMIC STUDIO 
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN 
(Fourth Article.) 
Hugo Froehlich 
N the July number the principle of 
dark and light, or in other terms, 
values, was taken up, and that phase 
known as "two tones" partly con- 
sidered. Because of the importance 
of two tones in the crafts, it was 
thought best to continue a few ex- 
ercises in that direction. For in- 
stance: the Delft, Canton and Ded- 
ham wares are illustrations of two 
tones of blue. A large part of magazine and newspaper work 
depends on this same principle. Even illustrated books such 
as the Evening Bell series (see example Fig. i); Will Bradley's 
" Beavity and the Beast " (see example Fig. ii) ; ' 'Child's Garden 
of Verse, " bj" Robert Louis Stevenson, owe much of their charm 
to the manner in which black and white have been managed in 
their illustrations. Often rugs, carpets, wall paper, baskets 
and printed goods such as calicoes depend on the same principle. 
The limitations are severe, but the very simplicity thus 
forced, tends toward excellence. This is important as the 
general inclination is to overdo, to combine too many elements 
in one design. A sure sign of decadence is over ornamentation. 
It is easy to say keep the work simple, but very diffi- 
cult to do it. All splendid examples of good art seem to have 
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required no effort at all. They are so simple that one wonders 
why they could not be produced at one sitting. This elimina- 
tion of superfluities requires the hardest kind of work and 
thought. The apparent absence of effort is a sure sign of its 
presence. 
In the following lessons such problems have been selected 
as will force the thought in the direction of simplicity. Make 
simplicity a habit, just as has been suggested to make line 
quahty found in flow^ers a habit. Both habits can be acquired 
bv sj'stematic exercise. 
Problem I — Tile, four inches square, two tones of one 
color or simplj^ black and white. If two tones of one color are 
used, mix ivory black with permanent blue in a small saucer. 
The black is added to modif3r the harshness of the blue. It 
need hardty be said that to make a faint wash more water is 
added to the color, while a strong wash or tone requires verj^ 
little water. 
Make three designs for tiles. 
In first tile use facts taken froni nature forms (see June 
number Keramic Studio, pages 41 and 40, Prob. I), or use a 
conventional treatment as in Fig. iii . 
Second tile, find some historic style such as Greek,Persian, 
Romanesque, or any of the others will do. Adapt them to the 
conditions of a tile, ^^'rite under the design the name of the 
stvle used^as in Fig. iv. 
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Third tile to be based on straight line motive, Fig. v. Note 
that the principle in these three examples is that of tw^o sided 
symmetry in Fig. iii, and four sided symmetry in Figs, iv and v. 
In the first, our own inventions based on nature forms are 
used. In the second, the motive has been borrowed from some 
stjde and adapted to a tile. This is largely the method adopted 
by designers having little inventive powers. It is introduced 
here that we may learn something of the beauty of historic 
styles and at the same time see that they are founded on the 
principles of composition which we are considering. 
The third tile or straight line is purely imaginative. It is 
an exercise in proportion and direction of areas. In these 
designs we have emplo3'ed the three sources from which motives 
originate, namely: nature, historic ornament and imagination. 
In planning the design, it is the breaking up of some given 
bounded shape like a square or rectangle that we seek, b}^ 
means of straight or curved lines. And in this process we 
must think of such areas and such lines as are beautiful in 
themselves and related to their neighbors. This being related 
to their neighbors is a perplexing question. In Fig. iv tile based 
on the Bvzantine the lines marked xx, 00, ss, have consistency, 
