Duration: 20 hours
Team Members: Solo
Skills Applied: Adobe Illustrator, Composition, Sketching
Tools Used: N/A
This project 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. This was explored by using a limited palette and shape constrictions in order to create compositions that conveyed a feeling of gestalt.
Print/Illustration
2019
Individual Project
About the Project
This project was done in order to grasp the concept of using gestalt to effectively convey a message. This project was done for the class Communication Design Fundamentals. The project is aimed at anybody who views the images. The aim of this project was to convey a set of words as simple images. The constraints for this project were to only use black squares and white space in order to illustrate the words.
Project Process
The first step of this process was to sketch out several ideas for each word; order, tension, congestion, playfulness, and comfort. I first started by sketching out bounding boxing and drawing black squares in them in order to simply try to convey my ideas. Next, I selected several of my stronger ideas and began to illustrate them digitally in Adobe Illustrator. In illustrator, I first made better versions of my concepts, then tweaked and changed them as I realized new ideas and alternative concepts. The final illustrations were then printed on 60lb cardstock paper with the word underneath and presented for critique.
Order
This final piece was chosen because I felt that it conveyed my message the best. I based it off of the 5th initial idea I had. I decided to change that idea into a wall but decided that it was too simplistic and wanted to split the image into foreground and background. I settled on this design because I feel that it not only illustrates order but also suborder.
Preliminary Iterations of Order
Tension
This illustration was based on the 1st of my ideas for tension. With feedback from the professor, I decided to invert the shape I had. I found that the design didn’t convey tension well, so I changed it to mimic the feeling of stretching fabric. For the final iteration, I decided to replace the lines with squares in order to maintain this idea while also staying true to the prompt.
Preliminary Iterations of Tension
Congestion
This iteration was based on the 3rd idea I had for congestion. I illustrated it specifically so that the image had a sense of gravity, and varied the square size in order to build a sense of disorder and a purposefully positioned each square so that it felt that the removal of almost any square could produce movement.
Preliminary Iterations of Congestion
Playfulness
I based this design off the first idea I had. I wanted to mimic the path of a bouncing object and call back to memories of childhood. I initially had all the squares the same size but decided to continuously decrease the square size in order to accentuate the movement and add a sense of losing energy.
Preliminary Iterations of Playfulness
Comfort
I based this version off of my 4th idea for comfort. Upon review, my professor pointed out that reversing the image would give a sense of rising or upward motion as opposed to the dropping feeling my first iteration had. When I illustrated it digitally, I found that the image could be condensed down and convey the same message better, so I decided to change the scale and focus on the relationship between the hands. I felt this version best conveyed the sense of security and comfort present in our relationships with our parental figures in childhood.
Preliminary Iterations of Comfort