Contrast &
Balance
Review:
Figure/ground relationships
shape visual perception.
Yao Liu, Designtaneous.com
Positive and
negative space
+A
figure is seen in relation to what surrounds it (ground) –
letters to a page, a building to its site...
A black shape on a black field is not visible;
without separation and contrast, form disappears.
+G
round, or the space around and between elements can have the power to shape
experience and become active forms in their own right.
+C
reating figure/ground tension adds visual energy to an image.
Even subtle ambiguity can invigorate the end result and shift its direction and impact.
+ In posters, layouts, and screen designs, what is left out frames and balances what is
built in. In time-based media the insertion and distribution of space across time affects
perception and pacing
+ Mismanaged negative space creates visually noisy, unharmonious designs
Noma Bar
Noma Bar
Noma Bar
Stable, Reversible, Ambiguous
+A
stable figure/ground relationship exits when a form or figure stands clearly
apart from its background. Conventional photography functions according
to this principle, someone or something is featured within a setting.
+R
eversible figure/ground occurs when positive and negative elements
attract our attention equally and alternately. The eye perceives one first
as dominant and next as subordinate.
+A
mbiguous figure/ground challenges the viewer to find a focal point.
The figure is enmeshed with the ground, carrying the eye in and around
the surface with no discernible assignment of dominance. The Cubist
paintings of Picasso mobilize this ambiguity
Bauhaus Dessau (designed by Walter Gropius)
Anni Albers
Picasso, Guitarist, 1910
Whitespace
+W
hitespace is the context or environment in which elements exist
+ Size and scale affect the perception of elements
_ In music: audio played in a cathedral is different than in a bar
sound quality is affected by spatial volume, surfaces and physical structure
_ In design: bounded by the reference of a frame,
the physical perimeter of a page
+ Full-bleed images are an intentional lack of context
_ Powerful as it appears as though the subject cannot
be contained by the page
_ The image acts as a window to the viewer,
full-bleed fills the entire scope of vision
Kandinsky
Black Circle
1924
Composition Z VIII
László Moholy-Nagy
1924
Symmetry and
Asymmetry
+ Symmetrical
balance is usually centered on the vertical axis
(can also be horizontal or diagonal)
+ Symmetry is balanced through similarity (shape, size, colour...)
+A
symmetrical balance does not look the same on both sides
an equal state of tension is created by the dissimilar halves.
+ Asymmetry is balanced through contrast
Every element, including whitespace, is a shape
Peter Crnokrak, Luxury of Protest
Real Magick in Theory and Practise
Saul Bass
Movie Poster Design for Hitchcock’s “The Birds”
Madlab Architecture
pattern && symmetry
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Concert Poster for the Zurich Town Hall
1951
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Auto Club of Switzerland Poster
1955
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Tonhalle-Quartett
1958
Rhythm and Balance
Balance is a fundamental human condition:
we require physical balance to walk;
we seek balance in our personal and
professional lives; the world struggles for
balance of power.
+ In design, balance anchors and activates elements in space. Visual balance is
achieved when one or more elements are distributed harmoniously in space. We move
components around until the balance of form and space is visually proportional. Large
objects are a counterpoint to smaller ones; dark objects to lighter ones.
+R
hythm is a repeated pattern: the beating of drums, the patter of rain...
Designers use rhythm to construct single images as well as to create books,
magazines, and motion graphics. Designers seek rhythms that are punctuated with
change and variation.
Jason Okutake
MFA Studio, Maryland Institute College of Art