Thesis Statement
We live in a visually driven society, where people often place value on physical appearances over character. Since these qualities are overlooked I intend to present them in a visual manner, in hopes that our society will recognize their true value.
"I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way, things I had no words for."
Georgia O’Keefe
Research on Personality
First, I began by researching personality types. The Myers Briggs Foundation provided me with a majority of the information that I needed. I used a similar structure to create my own modernized version of the test. I wanted to have more possible outcomes so the patterns did not look too similar, so I added in degrees of extroversion and introversion.
Research on Psychology Of Shapes & Colors
After I had come up with the set characteristics that I wanted to define, I began researching the psychology of color and shapes. I did this because I wanted to use shapes and colors that made sense to people without a long explanation. Another subject that I found helpful in this segment of my research was the neurological phenomenon synesthesia. Synesthesia is when a stimulus in one sensory modality (e.g., hearing) involuntarily elicits a sensation/experience in another modality (e.g. vision).
Survey Results
After creating shape and color combinations that made sense based on my research, I wanted to test my findings to see if others interpreted them without having any previous knowledge of the psychology of color or shapes.
Creating Pattern Elements
I created the elements based on my research and people’s feedback from my survey. I didn’t want too much repetition in the shapes or colors, so I had to play around for a while until I found what worked best.
The Test
In order to get a resulting pattern, I coded a simple test in Adobe Animate. The test asked four questions, and each answer was linked to a corresponding pattern element. Test takers ended up getting one of the 32 patterns.
