In my 25 sketches, I used five boxes each for each word. The themed words were order, tension, congestion, playfulness, and comfort. Using only solid black boxes, size and arrangement were varied to invoke the emotion of each theme. The boxes may or may not cut off some boxes so the story of whether the viewer gets the full story varies from picture to picture.
The first theme is “order.” The top row of designs focuses on the idea that there are symmetry and balance in the images. In the whole first row, you can see that there is at least one axis of symmetry for the boxes, except the second box from the left. This difference in the second box is to show that an ascending order can also show order.
The second row of boxes portrays that the imbalance of weight can cause a force. In the fourth one, you do not know if the small box is actually small or a corner of a large box.
In the third row, congestion is shown as a feeling of overwhelmedness and lack of clean or empty space. This feeling can be caused by large shapes that are close together or many little shapes that are not taking up space efficiently.
The fourth theme, playfulness, indicate ideas of symmetry but not always vertical or horizontal. It can even be curved like the right-handed picture. The first picture shows that the middlebox connects on the bottom two but not the top two. Defying rules of grouping can also be playful. By accident, it reminded me of Minecraft creepers. Possibly both the creators of Minecraft and I think alike.
The final word comfort was not consistently interpreted throughout the bottom row. The first two showed large boxes out of frame that came together to create a pattern of familiar home-like design. It feels secure and unmoving. The middle image shows that stable blocks provide security, which is also appealing to a mental stage of comfort.
The medium used was standard size printer paper, black sharpie, and Baoke 5.0 and 7.0 mm black ink pen.
Digital iterations, part one:
I chose two designs for each word and got feedback on each design. The top one for the order was based off a doubling sequence. The bottom one was inspired by an infinite plane of ordered boxes. The bottom one for tension focused on the rule of thirds. Playfulness was fun to play around with shapes, rotations, and grouping with Gesault Principles. For comfort, I tried to focus on find a safe enclosed space for square spaces.
The feedback that I got off of the first try of digital iterations were:
Order Top: What if the right box got cut off at the middle line of symmetry.
Tension Top: Could I change the gap to emphasize it more?
Congestion Top: This one was too organized and felt like too lawful evil. I can try to make it more uncomfortable by rotation or overlapping.
Congestion Bottom: I should play around with rotation or unstableness. I also plan to change the gravity of the design.
Playfulness Top: The rotation vibes were good. Fix the top square to contrast size more.
Playfulness Bottom: Try to simplify or play with rotation.
Comfort Top: Reminds me of a coin with hole
Comfort Bottom: Try to move the small black square closer to make more obvious that it is enclosed in a safe space.
Second Round of Digital Iterations:
The changes that I made that were not talked about included:
Order Top: I changed my sequence to be adding 1 inch instead of doubling
Tension Top: I changed the rotation and emphasized that the top square is not actually in the middle
Congestion Bottom: I added more boxes and changed the gravity.
Playfulness Bottom: I took half the small squares and overlapped it with another. I also played with rotation of the figures
Comfort Top: I had used the 9 ratio where 1:8 was white to black for the smaller squares. I also added the fours corners of black squares because I wanted to emphasize a white canvas in order to show that the positive space was black and that it was enclosing a white square like a safe. The theme was to be comfortably safe.
The second round of feedback included having Congestion Top not rotate because it looked too much like tension. I also was suggested to change Congestion Bottom to increase the top block and scoot the left box so it wouldn’t touch the edge. For the Playful Bottom, the bottom group of figures could be reflected.
Here are the new ones in order of Congestion Top, Congested Bottom, and Playful Bottom:
The final project slide!
Order: I focused on the arrangement of having consistent proximity of the same size shapes in an array. The black squares that form an array inspired the design of having order. Even though the squares are cut off in the plane, it is inferred that the order of black boxes go on past what you see. I chose this piece because I felt like this was the evenest thing with spacing and equality in spacing is related to the organization to me.
Tension: Two large objects pushed every so slightly together. The is a continuity of white space between the two black squares, a tension so taught that you can almost cut it. The focal line marks the third of the vertical area, which was playing with elements of photography rules. I chose this because I like the one-third rule.
Congestion: After playing around with rotation and orientation, the feelings of congestion felt static and cramped with the arrangement of the black boxes locking against each other. These are tiles that I do not want on my bathroom floor, as they seem so suffocating. Irregular closure suggests feelings of not being able to fit properly.
Playfulness: Rotation of the two groups of figures indicated individuality and uniqueness of going their own way. The proximity of five black squares portrays a whimsical lively figure. Two of these figures interact together yet in their own direction.
Comfort: A white box was formed out of eight black ones. Surrounding the encasement of the black safe are four more boxes in proximity. Encasement of an encasement provides security and peace of mind to the white box.
Visakha Ho
September 2020
