Page 145 - Design Thinking C11

• Bharatanatyam Dance Postures: The dancer uses body movements to show stories and symbols—like a
hand mudra for a flower, or a pose to show a mountain. The body becomes the language of the design.

21 st
Century #Information Literacy
Skills
Study the image given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. Why do you think Indian temples are based on the human body? What does that tell us about
how people viewed the universe?
2. Choose one natural element (e.g., tree, sun, river). How would you use it as a symbol in a
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A building design?
S 3. If you could design a classroom based on a human body part, which part would you choose and
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why?
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4. Why do you think artists use symbols instead of writing everything in words?

Giving Form to Ideas: Proportion, Hierarchy, and Grids
Once the designer or artist has chosen the abstract idea and assigned metaphors or symbols to represent
it, the next step is to give it a clear visual form. This means turning the idea into something we can see,
understand, and connect with. In Indian design, this is done using three main tools: proportion, hierarchy, and
grids.

proportion

Giving Form to Ideas hierarchy

grid

Using Proportion to Create Harmony
Proportion means the relationship between different parts of a design, especially in terms of size. In simple
words, it’s about how big or small one part is compared to another. Indian artists and architects used proportion
to bring beauty, balance, and meaning to their work — whether it was in a temple, a city, or a sculpture.

Introduction to Indian Knowledge Systems
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