To think about prepositions, you start with their physical meanings:
"The cat sits ON the table" says exactly where the cat is.
"The cat is somewhere ABOUT the table" says the cat is not far from the table.
Suppose in your project you study the dietary habits of fruit flies in the jungles of Brazil. Your project is on the dietary habits of fruit flies in the jungles of Brazil. Your project is about fruit flies. Your project is about insects. Your project is about flies. Your project is about Brazil. "About" is much more flexible. It is never a mistake to exchange them, but "on" works better with precision and "about" works better with approximation.