This post is designed to represent how autistic people are relatively alone in their own communities. Statistics show that there’s 1 autistic person among every 54 people, not terrible odds but rare enough that they are uncommon and not the norm for the average group. This is especially problematic if their issues aren’t properly figured out, or if their symptoms are unusual enough to the normative group that they stand out or receive ridicule. The one square distinct from the rest of the group is the autist in question, who is displayed as distinct, and similar from the majority, represented by spheres.
The phrase “square” is an older phrase used to describe someone who sticks out, and as such it only seemed fit to make the autistic subject of this picture a square. The circles are made numerous, and bunch together into a sort of congealed mass. This is meant to represent the hivemind nature of a collective, and that they fuse into one mass when distinguishing themselves from outsiders. However, these two group’s aren’t entirely different. They share the same color, which is meant to show that the two groups are mostly similar. The different shape is a minor difference, one that shouldn’t overshadow the nature of the individual in question. In short, this art is meant to display that there is a separation, but at the same time, how it’s quite unjustified and can change for the better.
Source:
Autism Statistics and Facts – https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-statistics-asd
Did my representation of the common people as a big bunch of spheres convey how they all combine into a single mass as a collective? Is it working?
I think your representation conveys people with autism being alienated from the rest of the crowd very well. I would suggest maybe changing the color of the cube to show even more difference and contrast.
I think that using a big collective of spheres to represent the common people works very well. It shows a clear contrast between the cube and makes it feel more like an outsider when compared to the mass of circles.
This was very easy to understand at first glance when looking at the shapes, but I feel like adding different colors and applying meaning to those colors will help the piece as well.
I think the contrasting shapes makes your point really clear. I think you should change them to be different colors, and maybe add even more spheres compared to the one cube.
Your sketch displays how people with Autism tend to be excluded very clearly but to provide more of a contrast you could try incorporating a diverse color palette when it comes to either the cube or square.
I agree with previous comments that some sort of color or gradient/tone shift could really communicate that everyone’s different in their own way as well, and that we collectively share the experience of being different (in various ways)
I think having the collective group of spheres against the single cube works to convey your piece. However, the piece almost blends together due to the use of only one color. Even changing the color of either the cube or spheres a tiny bit (maybe a lighter red) or completely changing the color would solidify your point more.
I did not understand the piece initially, but upon reading the description I did notice how the square stands out from the spheres. The spheres being a collective kind of gave a threatening implication to me because they were more of them than the cube.
This kind of reminds me of a painting I did because I often choose to not be around other people (also the painting was before COVID-19).
I agree with many others that creating more differences contrast wise such as a bright color would make the piece stronger. Also I like the idea of all the spheres clumping would be great and if the spheres were different colors that did not stand out as much as the cube, it would become more relatable for everyone.
This is extremely interesting and perfectly conveys what it’s like to be autistic and have a preconceived notion that you’re just … Different. This might be difficult to achieve but I think adding shadows / other lighting to the piece would add to the alienated, lonely feeling. There’s a lot of ways that the tone can be amplified using lighting. But very very cool!!
I think one way to add to contrast without altering too much is to make the circles shades of gray because it could allow them to still maintain a sort of congealed, monotonous feeling. For animation one thing that could be cool is having all the shapes move in the same direction, showing we are all trying to just live our lives as best we can, but the spheres move in the same pattern while the cube moves differently. Same goal, just achieved in its own way.
I think the cube definitely stands out and the message gets across, but I think you could make it stand out even more, especially since 1 in 54 is fairly uncommon. I think the cube should be scaled down a little bit and changed to another color, maybe blue. If you want the spheres to look like more of a “collective,” I’d suggest adding some more of them and scaling them down very slightly.
I understand where the concept is coming from, and the execution of one square against several spheres does give the idea of isolation.
I think adding in colors and animation to show the change of when someone in a group is autistic would help illustrate the point even further.