5 Interpretations of Black Box
Print/Illustration
2017
Individual Project
About the Project
This project is an exploration of how objects in space can convey meaning through their placement in relation to other objects in space and to the space itself. This project may seem simple, but understanding these principles is essential to my foundation as a designer.
Project Process
When given the assignment, the first thing I struggled with was the interpretation of the five words: Tension, Congestion, Playfulness, Comfort, and Order. Of course they can be interpreted very literally, but are there other possibilities beyond the literal meaning of these words? Unfortunately, I didn’t explore as much I intended to due to lack of time, which I regret very much. But I did realize some problems throughout my process of this project. I was very obsessed with making the black boxes symmetric. And this OCD forbad me from exploring more dynamic, more fluid images. I was too afraid of using small boxes because I knew I couldn’t hand the chaos they might cause. So I simply avoided them.
With that being said, I still took the five words very seriously, or to say, literally. The following is my thinking process of each word:
Tension
Since I’m a chemistry major, I tend to tie everything to natural science. The first thing I thought of was “Force”. For the first sketch, I used the contrast between a big and a small box to illustrate the pushing motion of the bigger box. While in my mind it was an image with motion, it did’t convey my intention very well. Another thing I thought of was “Stuck.” And again, it was very literal. In the second sketch, the small box was stuck between the two boxes. But still, the sketch looked very flat and boring. Other words that popped into my mind were “Chain”, “Expand”… I didn’t use any of these sketches for my final project because they are not so “Fun.” Though I might be an orthodox person when it comes to drawing, I still tried to make them more interesting. The sketch in the bottom was going to be my final draft, but Suzanne pointed out that the eight smaller boxes weren’t able to convey my idea of “chains”, and it’s better if I play with some angles. And that led to my final draft.
In this final draft, these small boxes line up like a chain, pulling the big box in opposite directions. It’s a very realistic image with a hint of fun that the big box is pulled from its diagonal points, so it’s a little tilted, which is another layer of “Tension.” Like I said, I love things to be symmetric and level, so looking at this piece gives me the “tension.”
Congestion
I interpreted “Congestion” as “Crowded” and “Messy.” For all the sketches, I tried to convey the idea that all the boxes are bumping into each other and none of them are able to get through smoothly. I wasn’t really inspired when drawing these sketches because my interpretation was fixed on the idea of “crowded” and “messy,” so I didn’t explore more beyond that.
The idea of it is that the big box is a magnet (again, I’m very nerdy) and all the small boxes are attracted to it. Some of them are stuck between other boxes so they are not able to fully touch the magnet. This is a very realistic way of interpreting “Congestion.”
Playfulness
This is a fun one. I added some imagination in the fourth and fifth sketches, but for the first three, they are, again, realistic. The first one is like the game Candy Crush; the second is tic tac toe, and the third one is a weird sine wave (physics). For the fourth one, I tried not to make it LOOK fun, but fun to THINK about. In physical world, if you stack boxes like this, they are going to fall. But here, they don’t. So that’s my nerdy way of playing with minds (sort of). And the last on holds the similar idea that you think the box is level, but it’s slightly tilted.
However, when I started to draw boxes on the software, I wasn’t very happy about the limited number of boxes I had, so I decided to add more. I’ve always wanted to create some quirky, exotic patterns, so I just played around with the boxes for a while and came up with this. It’s like something we’d see in kaleidoscope. Everything is changing in kaleidoscope, and that’s what I thought was playful — infinite possibilities.
Comfort
For me, comfort means things that are appealing for people with OCDs. I really had no idea how complex I wanted my sketches to be so I just drew out some random symmetric things. But for the third and the fifth one, I thought of “Rule of three” in photography. Rule of three is supposed to help the photo be more comfortable to look at, and that could potentially make a good sketch. Also, Mackenzie encouraged me to to explore the idea of rule of three because it was very interesting. So I started to play with boxes on the software.
But that didn’t happen. My mind drifted everywhere once I started the project using the software. I was so immersed playing with the boxes, arranging them in different ways to try out all the combinations. With the subconscious idea of “Symmetry”, I came up with this pattern which would be suitable for carpets. I intentionally left the negative space symmetric as well because Mackenzie stressed about that a lot, so it just got stuck in my head. The pattern is cut in half on each edges, which creates the sense of infinity as well.
Order
It was fairly easy for me to draw “order” because it means “rules” and “laws”. Of course the one first thing I thought of was chessboard. It is a representation of “order”. Then two stairs. For the fifth sketch, I wanted to do something fun, so I came up with this mosaic type of pattern, which you might find on the window of a church. I was not very aware of what I did for the sixth sketch.
Since I was not very familiar with the software and I didn’t have enough time to perfect my sketches, I didn’t get to do the mosaic pattern one which I absolutely adore. So I picked the stair one. After printing it out, I realized the bottom boxes look like as if they are bleeding, and I didn’t like how it look, so I modified a little and made an hourglass. Hourglass is very old school and represents the management of time, which I found could be another interpretation of “order”. Besides, hourglass itself is symmetric, which also indicates “order”.
