What’s on the Notan poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
A Japanese term for the arrangement of light and dark masses. A notan study flattens a design to two or three values, showing whether the shapes work at all.
- Two values: everything is either light or dark.
- Thumbnails of about 5 cm are large enough.
- Good notan reads from across the room.
- Detail cannot rescue a weak value pattern.
- Notan judges masses; the value scale judges modelling.
- Squinting is the fastest way to see it.
- Values — two or three
- Thumbnail — about 5 cm
- Three thumbnails first: dark subject on light, light on dark, and an even split betwe…
Notan is about the shape of the masses, not their brightness. A well-shaped dark can be any dark you like.
Questions about the Notan poster
- What’s on the Notan poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. A Japanese term for the arrangement of light and dark masses. A notan study flattens a design to two or three values, showing whether the shapes work at all. Two values: everything is either light or dark.; Thumbnails of about 5 cm are large enough.; Good notan reads from across the room.; Detail cannot rescue a weak value pattern.; Notan judges masses; the value scale judges modelling.; Squinting is the fastest way to see it.; Values — two or three; Thumbnail — about 5 cm; Three thumbnails first: dark subject on light, light on dark, and an even split betwe…. Notan is about the shape of the masses, not their brightness. A well-shaped dark can be any dark you like.
- Who is the Notan poster for?
- Notan belongs to the Art & Design section rather than to a school year, because design is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning colour & composition can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Notan poster?
- Use it as a thumbnail test before committing a composition to a full-size surface. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Notan belongs on the wall where that design work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Notan?
- Colour Contrast, Additive & Subtractive and Scale & Proportion sit alongside Notan in the Art & Design section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Colour ContrastAdditive & SubtractiveScale & Proportion
- Is the Notan poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Notan downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Art & Design section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Notan poster print at?
- Notan is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Notan loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Notan on the same wall.
Browse every Art & Design poster, or start from the full catalogue.