The first project to kick off my second year here at Canisius was this project based on Gestalt principles and layout. We were restricted to using only simple shapes in order to focus on conveying the principles. While the pictures look plain and simple, I learned that the thought that it takes to implement Gestalt principles is definitely underestimated. I thought the project would be a breeze and found it to be one of the more difficult ones I have worked on. Nonetheless, being able to implement such methods is very rewarding and powerful in controlling the focus of a viewer.

Though a tad bit time consuming, the easiest part of the project was thinking of ideas for each line of the nursery rhyme. I picked a nursery rhyme that could easily be put into pictures. As for what was the most difficult, I'd say choosing the right Gestalt principles was a difficult task for each picture. Some were really simple, like putting the diamond in the sky for the corresponding line. Others though, such as conveying "wondering" were really tough and took some time.

I think there's several aspects that the assignment can be improved in. One example is that I found it tough to be creative with the third picture ("up above the world so high") and definitely think it can be redone. The assignment was great in introducing Gestalt principles which I had never heard of before. However, I felt really locked down creatively by trying not to turn the pictures into a comic strip. Thus, I feel as though there should be other options available as opposed to doing a nursery rhyme to convey the Gestalt principles.

Going into a focus in web design, it's important to make sure users are focused on the right spots at the right times. Gestalt principles help to do this job, and I'm really glad I learned some of them. Most of my inspiration for this project came from looking at examples of the principles. Although English definitions do some justice for explaining the principles, seeing them in action does the best job at conveying the principles. For some examples, see the article here