Project 2 — Form&Composition
The purpose of this assignment was to explore how objects in space can convey meaning through placement in relation to other objects in space and space itself. We also explored Gestalt principles, the essence of which is that the whole composition is to be more interesting than the sum of its parts. Using only black squares, we portray the five words order, tension, congestion, playfulness.
Order
I began sketching order by thinking of organized formations — checkerboards, aligned squares, things in rows and columns, etc. I decided that the first sketch (top left) portrayed order the best, and looked somewhat like a person leading an organized group. I decided to iterate off that in Photoshop.
As we can see here, my iterations were mostly variations on my first original sketch, which I liked best. The second iteration took away from the overall strong leader effect that the first piece exuded. The third iteration overall looked interesting, but one side seemed to overwhelm the other, which also applied to the fifth iteration. I was considering the fourth iteration, as it split the piece cleanly through the middle and offered a more dynamic 45 degree angle. My final piece ended up being my first iteration, as it seemed to match most easily with my idea of order.
Tension
My ideas of tension revolved around objects, such as rope, stretching — I am a mechanical engineer, and the word tension automatically made me think of the force that rope undergoes as a weight or force pulls down on it. Another idea was the idea of tension created by certain situations, as seen by the ring or crowd surrounding the squares, creating a feeling of vulnerability.
I expanded upon the idea of rope stretching in the first three iterations, playing around with scale. In the third iteration I tried exaggerating the stretching of the “rope” by creating a more dramatic difference between the sizes of the squares. My final two iterations were results of me toying around with various angles, creating tension through tilted boxes that seem like they were about to fall. I ended up choosing the third iteration as the final, as it had a decent balance of black and white space, and seemed to greatly convey the idea of tension through the emphasis on the stretching with the tiny block.
Congestion
My sketches of congestion were based off the thought of being confined, such as being stuck in a traffic jam, being shoved through a bottleneck, or existing in an enclosed space. I decided to work off the sketches in the second column as they seemed more original and fun to manipulate.
I ended up only making three iterations of congestion. The first was a more refined version of the first sketch in the second column. I decided although it conveyed the meaning of congestion, it didn’t seem to be packed close enough. I made a variation of the other sketch in the second column, based off the concept of packed squares. The basic idea was a large blocky object surrounded by a vast amount of small ones that seemed to go on forever, creating the feeling of being stuck as well as a lack of movement. The third iteration was basically an inversion of the first, which I decided was not as powerful as the second, which I made my final iteration.
Playfulness
Most of my ideas of playfulness began with animated actions, a few sketches being based off animals revolving each other (sketch 1) or a smaller animal trying to coax a larger (sketches 2 and 5), stationary one to action. My third and fourth sketches were based off exploding fireworks and a block bouncing down the stairs respectively, but since I decided the first one could be expanded upon the easiest, I decided to create iterations based on that.
I decided to make all iterations based on the idea of smaller squares trailing behind a larger square to create the feeling of motion, which I often associate with playfulness. The second iteration was meant to be a more organized or rounder version of the first, but ended up looking more static and less playful. The third iteration was an exploration of scale and blocks, and more or less amounted to nothing. However, my final iteration, the fourth, utilized the random action of creating a loop, as well as greater variation in square size and rotation to convey the feeling of playfulness. Many people seemed to interpret it as a box spewing a magical substance, which also proved that there were many playful interpretations of this piece.
Comfort
My ideas for comfort started off with relatively minimalist concepts, such as a square in a safe corner or a smaller square being led by a larger, more parental square. Other, more detailed ideas included a calm wave, a gentle breeze which ended up looking anything but, and a falling block about to be caught by a support system, which at first I thought would definitely create a comfortable feeling.
I ended up making iterations based off the first sketch, as I wanted something not only to convey the feeling of comfort, but also to BE comfortable to look at. As I messed around with the scale of the square, I decided to go out on a limb and see what the piece would be like if I balanced it out on both sides, which resulted in my final iteration. It seems to create an evenly spaced room, with people resting on either corner, not so close as to create a feeling of tension, but the walls not being far apart enough to create the feeling of isolation. The final piece ended up being rather aesthetically pleasing and comfortable to look at, which is why I decided on this piece rather than the others, which ended up looking unbalanced and empty.
