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“If you don’t scale the mountain, you can’t view the plain.”
Chinese proverb
scale
8
scale \'sk l\ n
5 b: a distinctive relative size, extent,
or degree
The visual principle of
scale is defined as a rela-
tive, progressive classifi-
cation of proportion or a
degree of size, amount, importance, and rank in a composition.
Proportion and scale are related design principles in visual com-
munications. Proportion refers to the size relationships of design
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Blok Design
Mexico City, Mexico
1935
Normandie
Paris, France
Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron, also
known as A. M. Cassandre (1901–1968),
was one of the most influential poster
designers of the twentieth century. Born
in Khrakov, Ukraine, in 1901, Cassandre
spent most of his life in Paris following
his family’s emigration to France dur-
ing the Russian Revolution of 1917. As a
young man, he studied drawing and paint-
ing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the
Academie Julian.
Cassandre was a man of many tal-
ents and, like most creative individuals,
he experimented throughout his life and
career with a wide variety of techniques
and styles. From 1922 to 1940, he devoted
himself to the art of the poster. In the latter
part of his life, he returned to his first love,
painting, as well as teaching graphic design
at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and then at
the Ecole d’Art Graphique.
In 1936 his work was exhibited at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York City,
which led to numerous cover commissions
from Harper’s Bazaar.
At the age of 24, he furthered his
growing reputation with works such as
Bucheron (Woodcutter), a poster cre-
ated for a French cabinetmaker that won
first prize at the 1925 Exposition Interna-
tionale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels
Modernes. Additionally, his innovative
approach for the Dubonnet wine company
was among the first posters and advertise-
ments designed to be seen and read by pas-
sengers in moving vehicles.
His love of fine art, combined with his
typographic sensitivity and natural ability
to combine these two distinct disciplines
into coherent and visually dynamic design
solutions, enabled Cassandre to become
one of the earliest and most successful
elements relative to the space they occupy
in an overall composition. Scale refers to the
size comparisons of the design elements in
a composition, or a size relationship when
comparing one design element to another.
On a day-to-day basis, we all make
scale comparisons relating to size, distance,
and weight.
These types of visual comparisons are
usually based on known and familiar experi-
ences that constantly provide us with a visual
reference or orientation. For example, a
skyscraper or snow-capped mountain on the
horizon may be difficult to judge in terms of
size. However, when we juxtapose either of
these with a familiar scale reference such as a
person, car, or even a book, it is easier for us
to immediately quantify and understand.
Types of Scale
The visual principle of scale can be catego-
rized as either objective or subjective.
Objective
This type of scale is the literal, or objective,
definition of scale and is the actual dimen-
sions of a physical object or a literal correla-
(continued on page 86)
Atelier PAstille rose
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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