Emphasis is used by artists to create dominance and focus in their work. Artists can emphasize color, value, shapes, or other art elements to achieve dominance. Various kinds of contrast can be used to emphasize a center of interest. Emphasis is also referred to as point of focus, or interruption. It marks the locations in a composition which most strongly draw the viewers attention. Usually there is a primary, or main, point of emphasis, with perhaps secondary emphases in other parts of the composition. The emphasis is usually an interruption in the fundamental pattern or movement of the viewers eye through the composition, or a break in the rhythm. The artist or designer uses emphasis to call attention to something, or to vary the composition in order to hold the viewers interest by providing visual “surprises.”
Emphasis can be achieved in a number of ways. Repetition creates emphasis by calling attention to the repeated element through sheer force of numbers. If a color is repeated across a map, the places where certain colors cluster will attract your attention, in this instance graphing varying rates of mortality from cardiovascular disease.
Contrast achieves emphasis by setting the point of emphasis apart from the rest of its background. Various kinds of contrasts are possible. The use of a neutral background isolates the point of emphasis.
Contrast of color, texture, or shape will call attention to a specific point.
Contrast of size or scale will as well.
Placement in a strategic position will call attention to a particular element of a design.
Prolonged visual involvement through intricacy (contrast of detail) is a more unusual form of emphasis, not as commonly used in Euro-American design, though it is common in many other cultures. In this case, many points of emphasis are created that are to be discovered through close attention to the intricacies of the design.
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