Gestalt

Closure:

I used white circles around the perimeter of a black rectangle to make an almost puzzle piece looking shape that enclosed the darkness through the border of the white half circles. There is symmetry horizontally and vertically to this image as well. The many components of this design work toward the same thematic goal and the over shape that resembles a stamp and provides the connotation of a stamp in the overall appearance.

Proximity:

Keeping the lines close together emphasizes the circular shape in the middle, and spreading them out and using less lines weakens the sense of that inner circle. By keeping the lines together, it makes the image stronger and more connected and cohesive to the viewer. For the connotations in this image, I think the lack of color makes them more vague and broadly applicable to a variety of topics, where as color might define them more as a star or a flower or something more specific.

Similarity:

 I used the same rectangular shape vertically throughout this design, and then a thinner version horizontally. By using the same shape and spacing between the shapes throughout this design, it emphasizes the similarity of them but also creates a bold and visually interesting pattern. The lack of color in this design definitely stands out clearly from the background and would work well in the scheme of a larger layout. It is very heavy in the weight of the attributes, but I like that for this design in the boldness it creates overall.

Continuity:

I placed a black circle over black lines of varying lengths, and while keeping the lines black would have made them disappear and made the eye wander more, creating white lines over the black of the circle keeps the lines continuous and connected throughout the design. The lines in this image are placed very strategically with specific placements to give the overall impact of the lines cutting across the background. The color change is distinct in this image but could be applied to various other light/dark shades to create the same effect.

Special Topics Presentation

My special topic presentation was on cognition (my partner was Kevin Clear). The title slide and first ten slides were my contribution.

Here are images from the presentation:

Analyzing based on connotation, attributes, and placement:
Cognition is all about how the brain processes and makes sense and knowledge from information, so I chose to represent this in our presentation through the image of the brain.

For each slide, we first showed the image large and full screen so viewers can take it in without limiting the image, and then the second slide repeats the image in a smaller size to reinforce that that is the image being discussed, and the right half of the slide provides the analysis and understanding of the importance of the image. I repeated the brain image in the background of that right half of the slide because that is the part where the cognition occurs, so that image is placed behind that section to make it clear in a subtle and simple way to the viewer that the point of that part of the slide is to make the brain work to understand the image and all of its components and significance. The overall theme works to really make the cognition happen in a simple and clear way, and the design reinforces that.

The placement of the image is large and centered on the slide where it first is presented, and smaller and centered on the left portion of the slide on the second slide where it is presented. The text is left aligned and presented in bullet points to make different facts stand out in the overall presentation of the information. There is a green line separating the image from the text and showing that they are separate sections, but not totally so, as they are on one slide and correlated through the information presented.