Form & Composition
2018
Individual Project
About the Project
This project was the second project for a university course in communication design. The assignment was “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”, by using a simple shape, the black square, to convey five concepts: congestion, tension, playfulness, order, and comfort. The squares could vary in scale, number, orientation, and placement. The project was also used to introduce the exploration of various Gestalt principles. The final pieces were meant to “exemplify the essence of Gestalt: the whole compositions will be more interesting than their individual parts”.
Project Process
In order to create these pieces, I started sketching five thumbnail ideas for each concept. My sketches mostly retained the simple visual of black squares (as opposed to creating new shapes with the squares) but relied on using placement and relations of the squares to convey their concepts. For instance, in most of my concepts, I explored using only one to four small squares to convey an idea. The small number of squares aimed to place a focus more on what the squares were doing and the details of the squares themselves, such as if a square were slightly askew or if they were located far apart or close together.
I then began to transfer my ideas to Adobe Illustrator and digitally iterate on my sketches. I explored connecting all of my concepts with a common idea, such as just using two squares, or having the number of squares increase with each concept. I also explored using more squares in my sketches and filling the artboard more in my concepts. I particularly struggled with order, as the simplicity of my design combined with concept itself felt and became too limiting for me to creatively present the concept (even as I tried increasing the number of squares). In general though, I realized that using so few squares felt too simplistic and limiting at times, and I began to try to broaden and exaggerate my design ideas.
Order
I ultimately decided on the iteration shown on the bottom right, as it seemed to connect to my final theme in my five concepts — two squares increasing in number with each concept. The final iteration of order contained the most squares out of my concepts, and was meant to represent a cascade of squares down the page.
Tension
I started with two squares placed at odd distances away on the board, hoping that my other concepts with two squares would emphasize the offness of these particular two squares and thus show tension here. However, when I decided to stray from my idea to use two squares in all my designs, I began exploring the placement of my squares at various angles and orientations to exaggerate the concept of tension.
Playfulness
I began with two squares together, but off to the side. I began to explore displaying one of the squares askew, but then decided to branch further and place multiple squares across the board askew. Playfulness ended up becoming a cascade as well, but less defined and more flexible.
Comfort
I remained simple. I felt that comfort could be shown by the idea of connection and sanctuary, so I placed two squares together, away from the center in a corner. I expanded my concept to orient them as squares this time instead of diamonds (to instill a sense of stability) and by having one square lean on the other to emphasize my original idea of connection and sanctuary. In the end, my board contained a lot of white space stretching out from the squares, to hopefully focus on the squares in the corner and emphasize my concept, as well as to instill a sense of peace with the design.
Congestion
I explored having my two diamonds remain in the picture, but adding a bunch of other squares and diamonds so that they became part of a congestion. In this concept, I focused on creating a separate aesthetic with the use of many squares. I chose the iteration on the left as it seemed to better exemplify the concept.
I’d like to thank the instructor of my communication design course, MacKenzie Cherban, for giving me feedback and helping me with the development of my designs in this project.
