Form and Composition- Process Documentation
Context
The second project for cdf is relatively simple, but still helps students understand principles/concepts crucial for ones success as a designer. Basically, within an empty white square, students had to place black squares (and colored squares in certain cases) to communicate a given word to help gain an understanding “of how objects in space can convey meaning through their placement in relation to other objects in space and to the space itself” (Petrich).
This project also serves to illustrate Gestalt principles, where “whole compositions will be more interesting than their individual [black square] parts”. Furthermore, students would have to create a figure/ground composition, in which the interaction between the black squares and negative space adds to the piece.
If this project done correctly, viewers “should be able to confidently identify which words your compositions are illustrating” despite the compositions being made up entirely by squares.
The Process
Initial Sketches
Initially, I wanted to get as many ideas down onto paper, regardless of the amount of thought that would go into the concept; I would sketch my immediate idea of the given word. After getting these “instinctual” ideas down, I proceeded to search up synonyms in Google to help inspire me, which I found extremely helpful for every word, especially for the more abstract ones (I physically wrote them out for Rigid to illustrate the process).
Throughout the initial sketching phase, I played a bit with having a sketch for a certain word correspond with another sketch for the word pair (observable in the note on my “Fluid” page). For example, I would create a sketch for “Rhythmic” and create a corresponding “Erratic” version with the same general structure. While the main priority was to have each composition be able to effectively communicate a word independent of other compositions, I felt this idea of contrasting two different compositions to help emphasize the qualities of the given words was worth to keep in the back of my head, and it turns out I eventually ended up implementing it.
Furthermore, I would occasionally not be completely satisfied with my first 5 compositions for a given prompt, in which case I tapped in a page on the left side of the notebook to add additional sketches, most evident for my “Figure/Ground” page.
Anyways, here are my initial sketches and rough ideas.
Digital Iterations
Translating my ideas from sketches to digital iterations was very interesting for me. Right off the bat, creating compositions with AdobeIllustrator is completely different than sketching because of the precision Illustrator allows- this added precision in Illustrator also meant that everything had to be done with clearer intention and vision.
Generally speaking, I felt that working in Illustrator made it easier for me to communicate my ideas. For starters, Illustrator gave me the ability to make perfect squares, something that couldn’t be done in my sketches. The shift from slightly shaky pen lines to pixel-perfect edges and angles was extremely impactful, especially for words like “Rigid”, for which my thought process was all about sharpness and regularity. Illustrator also allows you to create grids of squares, making it exponentially easier to create certain designs, like my third ideas for “Rigid” and “Fluid”. Working in Illustrator also made experimenting with minor changes, like changing the “gutter” size between squares, very easy- this can be observed in my exploration of “Figure/Ground” where I basically mess around with gutter size for my “steps” concept.
On the other hand, departing from the “naturalness” of sketching also made things tougher in certain cases. For example, I realized the imperfection of my penmanship for “Clumsy” and “Graceful” were partially responsible for communicating those words, giving me reason pursue other word pairs instead of that one.
Creating digital iterations also came with the choice to implement colored squares. Because I felt my ideas for “Rigid” and “Fluid” seemed to be communicating pretty well on their own, I focused on how to implement color into my compositions for “Rhythmic” and “Erratic”. Personally, as opposed to simply adding color to make the composition more visually appealing, I wanted to make sure my usage of color was purposeful and meaningful. This lead me to pick Orange as my color, as it draws attention to itself, standing out from both black and white; I added color to already-existing iterations (just changing black squares to orange) to emphasize either patterns or randomness for “Rhythmic” and “Erratic” compositions respectively.
Here are my digital iterations of my compositions- the x-dimension would be breadth of exploration, while the y-dimension would be depth of exploration.
Critiques
My first critique was extremely helpful: it gave me confirmation that I was moving (generally) in the right direction, provided a great deal of recommendations for improvement, and just general design advice that is helpful in any context.
Here are some general takeaways from my discussion with my professor:
- Sometimes less is more- don’t be uncomfortable with using a small number of squares for a given composition
- Color should only be used if color helps your composition communicate more effectively
- Negative space is just as important as your squares
- Its okay to not be 100% satisfied with your work- continuous experimentation and exploration will help you find what you like
More specific advice:
- “Rhythmic” has a solid direction, but the compositions feel independent, or not part of something grander. Try to make the idea of a repeating pattern as strong as possible to better communicate the idea of repetition and “rhythm”
- “Erratic” feels too normal. Erratic is about being truly random and unconstrained, and while the current compositions somewhat communicate that idea, there is still regularity. For example, many of the compositions have a linear structure, as they go across the page in a horizontal line
- Try to avoid iconic symbols (like the Cross) in “Figure/Ground”, as it makes it really hard to see anything but the symbol, defeating the purpose of a figure ground piece
In response to the critique, I focused on further exploring “Rhythmic”, “Erratic”, and “Figure Ground”:
Rhythmic:
- Further exploration of the concept of repeating patterns to communicate rhythm
- Trying to portray that the pattern “keeps going”, even outside the composition itself
Erratic:
- Created an entirely new concept, more focused on communicating “wild” and “crazy”
- Trying to use the linear structure to emphasize the difference between two extremes- perfect line of squares contrasting with a random array of squares with no order
Figure/Ground
- More depth of exploration with the triangle concept
Final Piece
Here is my Final Piece.
Choice Thought Process
Of course, there are reasons as to why I ended up picking certain compositions over others, and why I personally these were the best.
- Rigid- Rigid immediately created the image of a corner in my head, and so it was what I first sketched, and what I ultimately chose. The composition is very minimal and clean, being made up of three squares (technically one full square), and suggests of something greater outside of the composition itself (through the two cut-off squares).
- Fluid- While it took me a while to get to this idea, I’m extremely glad I eventually found it through additional exploration. I kinda envisioned a pipe with a stream of squares flowing through it. While there is definitely a structure (diagonal line), it still feels loose and flowing. The composition also creates depth, with the squares either flowing towards you or away from you. Furthermore, the composition does not have too many squares, keeping it uncluttered, making it look good but still different next to the “Rigid” composition.
- Rhythmic- With a background in music production and drumming, I was immediately drawn to the idea of a metronome for this composition, and kinda chose this concept to pay homage to my love for music. Though metronomes usually go through cycles of four, I made the pattern cycle seven times to (hopefully) reinforce the idea of repeating, even outside the composition itself. Like others, this composition is clean and simple.
- Erratic- This was definitely one of the harder words for me. However, after a great deal of exploration, I finally settled on this composition. The composition starts formatted and regular, but then explodes into a random array of black and orange squares. Because of the contrast between the two, the combination of a regular part and a random part communicate “erratic” more effectively than if the random portion was on its own- having both parts emphasizes the differences, thus further emphasizing the “erratic” nature. This idea also applies to the relationship between my “Rhythmic” composition and this one- comparing the two beside each other emphasize their differences, as touched upon way back in my initial sketching stages.
- Figure/Ground- I also found Figure/Ground to be pretty difficult. I knew early that I liked the idea of creating a triangle with negative space in an interesting way. After a great deal of experimentation, however, I realized my favorite version of my Figure/Ground triangle would be my first one, mainly because of its simplicity. There is a great deal of negative space, keeping things clean, but you can still see the “imaginary” triangle. While I was first worried this was too minimal/empty, my professor taught me that simplicity is not something to be afraid of.
Reflection
For this time:
This process has taught me a lot about design.
One thing I have learned is the importance of Exploration. If done correctly, exploration helps generate amazing ideas, or reveal the positive qualities of ideas that already have been created. Properly exploring is pretty time consuming, but is an investment that definitely pays off in the long run.
Next, I learned that all critique is good critique. Whether the thoughts are coming from professors, TAs, classmates, or even just friends, having a new perspective on your work can help you see things you may have never noticed before.
Lastly, I learned that it is rare to be 100% satisfied with your work- its uncommon for the physical manifestation of your ideas to be as good as what you initially thought of in your head. However, with enough time and effort, you can get pretty close to that vision, and its important to learn to be satisfied with your accomplishments regardless of your initial expectations.
For next time:
Get as many ideas down onto the page as possible, even those you don’t entirely love. Later on, you may appreciate things about that specific detail that you didn’t realize before.
Document everything and delete nothing- though you may not have liked the way it came out, work is work, and it is important to document that part of your process.
anyway, thanks for reading!
