CDF Project 2: Form & Composition
INTRODUCTION.
The purpose of this project was to apply Gestalt principles and use a simple form of a square to depict certain words. The chosen words for this project are order, congestion, tension, playfulness and comfort. The process consisted of starting off with sketches in my notebook, then transferring that to Illustrator and working on multiple iterations digitally. My final 5 are displayed below.
STEP ONE: SKETCHES.
To start off with I drew 6 sketches for every word in order to get my thoughts flowing. Initially, my designs for each of the words was a lot more restricted, as I was afraid to really push the boundaries and specifically experiment with continuity and proximity. Hence, I often preferred my later sketches for each word.
>order<
Order was the hardest word for me surprisingly, and even though I drew the squares first for this one, I filled them in the last. I associated equal spacing, fewer squares and simpler compositions for order. I also tried to use symmetry and a right balance of white space and the space taken up by the black squares. It was hard to make it more interesting and in Step Two I actually picked the final square for order from another one of my words (playfulness).
>congestion<
Congestion was one of the easier words because I immediately had ideas that the squares had to be quite close to each other, as I associate congestion with the feeling of being overwhelmed. I also wanted to give a sense of continuity to show that congestion can go on forever, which is why in a couple of my designs, I had the squares going off the page.
>tension<
For tension, I thought of creating sharp points where the eye can immediately be drawn to. Also, in a couple of them, I played with the sizes of the squares to show tension between them. Playing with the figure and ground can also create tension, as I did in the second design in the first row. My digital iterations for tension helped me take my initial sketches to a level where it portrayed a more tense feeling.
>playfulness<
With playfulness, I wanted to play with size and overlapping the squares. I wanted to create a more abstract composition as that is what I think of when I think of playful. I wanted to try and create the feeling of being light-hearted by letting the squares take up the entire space but with no formal composition in some of them. I wanted viewers to feel like the squares could keep dancing or moving off the page.
>comfort<
Comfort was also a hard word for me, as it could mean so many different things. I decided to show different aspects of comfort, by playing with proximity. This gives a parallel to our lives too as people feel comfortable when they are surrounded by the people they know and feel uncomfortable when surrounded by strangers. I also wanted to illustrate a feeling of closure by ending the image within the square itself as I think getting closure makes people comfortable.
STEP TWO: DIGITAL ITERATIONS.
For each of the 5 words, I transferred my sketches to Illustrator. This gave me more perspective because some looked as I had imagined them on paper, but a few turned out quite different. Furthermore, it was easier to show equal spacing and margins on Illustrator than on paper so that helped develop clearer iterations of my initial sketches.
>order<
Even after creating the digital versions, I didn’t really like any of my designs, as I didn’t think any of them were interesting, so I chose the first one as it was the most versatile and played with it more, which I show in Part Three.
>congestion<
Congestion turned out really well in the digital iterations. What I found surprising with this one is that my favorite one was originally the last one out of the six, but once I created it on Illustrator, the spacings didn’t turn out as I had originally sketched them out, and I actually ended up preferring the fourth one. I chose the fourth one to experiment further with because the playing with size and proximity gives the feeling of being in a tight and congested space.
>tension<
Tension turned out as I imagined, but the tension point that I sketched out for the sixth one turned out a lot better on the computer, because it is sharp. Once I looked at that design, it is hard to avert your eyes away from that point even though it is not the center of the square, which also creates a sense of tension. I chose the last one, because the point was hard to take my eyes away from, the square going off the page also gives a lack of closure which builds up the tension.
>playfulness<
Playfulness turned out better when I created them on Illustrator, because it was easier to play with size in a more consistent format. However, when looking over the designs, I realized that my third design didn’t really fit into this category, but rather fit into order, which is why I decided to use that one for order instead. I chose the second one from the six because I like the rigid and abstract composition and wanted to play around more with proximity.
>comfort<
Comfort turned out as I wanted, and I decided to go for the last one because I tend to connect designs to how they can relate to a more overarching idea in life. With the sixth one, I like that it shows hierarchy and how people can be comfortable in hierarchy.
STEP THREE: FINAL DIGITAL ITERATIONS.
>order<
With order, this was the first iteration I created and I was really happy with it, so I left this as my final iteration. I feel the simplicity of the design, with the same size squares all equidistant from each other accurately depicts order. I liked this one because the squares being cut off make it interesting even though it is ordered.
>congestion<
With congestion, I tried to play more with overlapping the squares, but starting off with my original design of the contrast with the one square and many squares. I like the contrast because it shows congestion more clearer as a tight space is shown side by side with a simple square. I also played with putting the smallest squares in spaces that were cut off by the bigger squares to show the feeling of being enclosed, which reflects an aspect of congestion.
>tension<
Here I wanted to create not just one point of tension, but more so that the tension feels like it is building up. I also wanted to play with angle to show if even one of the squares tilt, the whole composition can be destroyed, which makes the viewer feel even more tension.
>playfulness<
I wanted to make the image more playful by playing with proximity and the form that the squares create. I also wanted to give an indication of continuity with the spiraling shape so it reflects the playfulness, as people can follow the squares off the page.
>comfort<
I wanted to highlight the hierarchy more clearly by creating clear divides between the different levels. I did this by using more contrast between the figure and ground balance. I also played with size to show that the smaller squares are more comfortable sitting on larger squares.
FEEDBACK.
Here is the feedback that I got for my final designs from my class.
FINAL DESIGNS.
