Anchor
Fix one point; place every other part by its relation to it, and to nothing else.
Every line of the vault runs to one point at eye level.
Seen in Masaccio, Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, c. 1425–27
Try it on your work
Put one pin in a board. Arrange ten objects around it, placing each by its distance and direction from the pin only, never from another object. Stop at the tenth.
Choose one word as the centre of a text. Write ten sentences, each of which must say how it stands to that word. Stop at the tenth.
A group arranges itself around one fixed point, a chair or a post. Each person places themselves by their distance from that point only, never by anyone else. Stop when everyone is placed.
How it has been used
Fix one point and place everything else by its relation to it: the vanishing point every line runs to, the datum every height is read from, the centre line every element is measured off. The move forbids a second reference: no part may be placed by its relation to anything but the fixed point.
Where it leads
Grouped under Help me decide what comes first