Essay for The Six Words Project

I began my design by first using the rule of thirds when deciding where to place emphasis. I positioned emphasis above the middle horizon, but within the middle third of the page. I made emphasis mainly white and applied a white stroke to ensure it would “pop” against the black. I used an interesting perspective and gave it an almost metallic look to catch the viewer’s eye first.

The next word I wanted to give attention to was balance. I placed it below emphasis but scaled down and made it more opaque, this way it wouldn’t compete with emphasis. I reflected it to demonstrate balance and kept the reflective line almost exactly on the middle horizon.

Contrast was treated very similarly to emphasis; I used a white stroke and a gradient, but this time, the gradient itself demonstrated contrast. I scaled it smaller than balance to create an upside down triangle with the three main words. This keeps the design from being too heavy.

Repetition encompasses the three main words, slightly more grey as to not compete with them. The entire circle is slightly above the bottom third, as not to ‘ground’ the design.

Although alignment is the largest in scale, it is very faint. I wanted alignment to really appear as a background grid that the other words were laid on. I felt it contrasted nicely with the organic shape of repetition and unified the design. It demonstrates alignment just by the position of the word itself, repeated in the form of a square.

Lastly, I created flow. I wanted flow to give a more 3-dimensional look to the whole design, so I changed it’s perspective and added a gradient; now the word seems to “flow” from the plane to plane, instead of across a single plane. I also mirrored it on the other side to create a more formal and balanced design.

Overall, my design is very symmetric and formal, but I did use the rule of thirds to make sure it would be more pleasing to the eye. The focal point is in a third, flow (both of them) is positioned at intersection points of the third markers, and the entire design is shifted towards the upper two thirds of the page. I was careful to vary the scale, font style, and width of each text so that the words were more interesting, and this also improved the space between the words, creating a more appealing negative space, and create unique relationships between the words.