Untitled 1
September 2015
14” H X 17” W
White, light gray, dark gray, and black cardstock, and bristol board

The purpose of the assignment was to understand the relationship between unity and diversity within a design. In order for the two opposites to harmonize with one another, the Gestalt principles of grouping, containment, repetition, proximity, continuity, and closure were applied to the designs. The assignment was divided into two parts. All shapes were cut out from white, light gray, dark gray, and black cardstock by a xacto knife and glued onto bristol board.

The goal of the first part of the assignment was to isolate the Gestalt principles. Four different designs were made by following four different guidelines that isolated the Gestalt principles. Each design needed to be 4” X 4” and had to be composed of at least two and no more than seven cut-out shapes.

Design 1: A design that demonstrates strong axes and integration based on similarity of some visual characteristic
Design 2: A design that demonstrates a recurrence of characteristics common to both positive and negative shapes
Design 3: A design that demonstrates an element of non-conformity or anomaly, or deviation from the predominant and repetitive
Design 4: A design that demonstrates a shape or shapes of subjective contours (meaning lines/edges) more visually dominant than the positive shapes

The goal of the second part was to develop a dynamic unified composition that activated the entire picture plane. The design had to demonstrate repetitions, axes, the interplay of positive and negative space, and unity based on similarity with a contrasting characteristic or entity that provided diversity.