Test Your Skills

The Power of THREE

We’ve tried one element and then two elements, so it’s time to move up to—you guessed it—three elements!

If you recall, Jen White gave us a formula for creating a great cluster with three elements. If you can’t remember the formula you may want to watch her Design Basics: Clusters video again.

3 Step Cluster Recipe (review)

1. Start with a main shape—ellipse or rectangle.
2. Add the opposite of that shape in a slightly smaller size.
3. Add an ellipse or a rectangle in a much smaller size.

In addition: Place elements above each other in a logical order and make the drop shadows look realistic.

In this challenge we’ll look at Jen’s recipe and one other method to give us a starting point for creating clusters.

Identifying Shapes

Jen’s recipe calls for choosing two kinds of element shapes—an ellipse or a rectangle. Most were easy to classify, but a few elements weren’t as easy to classify.

For example, is this leaf an ellipse or a rectangle? The leaf itself looks like an ellipse, but when you add a stem, does that make it a rectangle shape? I decided to ask Ms. Cluster Expert herself. Here’s what Jen had to say:

“When identifying a shape I think in terms of the overall loose shape of the element. Not the actual edges of it. Take your finger and draw a loose shape around the element. If it’s boxy with four distinct sides, then it’s a rectangle. If the loose shape is like a blob with no obvious structure, it’s an ellipse.”

Jen classified the leaf as an ellipse.

Challenge #1: Cluster Practice

If you haven’t yet taken the time to practice creating clusters using Jen’s formula, my first challenge is to do it: pick a kit and create 3 clusters using the 3 Step Cluster Recipe.