Project Statement
I created this composition to show clearly the principle of design of emphasis. I had started out with many more shapes in order to make emphasis as strong as possible. I then increased the size of the composition so that the shapes were larger and took up the space so that there was not as much chaos occurring, and the principle of emphasis was still strong. My goal was to make the principle strong and obvious both in the positive and negative versions. After finding what was going to be my final iteration I was confident that my goal was accomplished. I then turned the digital version into the negative and created the physical copy. My goal was to make the physical copy as identical to the digital as possible, through sizing, clean cuts and alignment of all of the shapes. For the most part it came out pretty successful but there were minor problems that I had noticed with the construction aspect. But the physical copy is still very close to the digital and shows emphasis in both the positive and negative clearly.
Process
View detailed project process at Shape Grammar: Process
Reflection
I learned about the principles of design and how to create my own compositions regarding them using just the basic shapes. I also learned how to use Adobe Illustrator and use tools the correct way to create the physical version such as cutting and making sure the shapes were perfectly traced, also how to use a light table to be able to trace the shapes and align them perfectly, which had to be done because every shape had to be cut out and aligned individually. Some things I discovered during this process were that having one principle in mind restricts you from seeing that another principle may also be present or even be stronger than the one that you had in mind. I also discovered that creating the negative to show the same principle is harder than I thought and that something as simple as rearranging can make the biggest difference. When I rearranged the shapes, I discovered that creating the shapes, in my case in the negative, does not necessarily need hard set lines and that intended lines can create the shapes that are needed and make the composition neater. Another process I overcame was designing the circle and the first row of triangles around it. I had a hard time finding the right size of triangle that would fit around the circle perfectly to connect all of the points without any overlapping or gapping in between.