Figure/ground

Swiss National Exhibition logo, Armin Hoffman.

The open ends of the cross allows the E and + to coexist Negative space creates flow through the form.

'It's all about the 'Gestalt'." - Hamish Muir.

Gestalt

'The whole is other than the sum of the parts' - Kurt Koffka

The shape or form and how they are perceived.

Key principles: emergence, reification, multi-stability, invariance.

Gestalt principles

1. Law of pragnanz (law of simplicity) - When confronted with complex shapes we recognise them into simpler components.

e.g. without the shapes being separated, we still see them as two components.

2. Closure - combining parts to form a simpler whole.

e.g. we fill in the missing information to create the form.

3. Symmetry and order - we seek symmetry to impose order on chaos.

e.g. we perceive these forms from there symmetrical centre.

4. Proximity - close objects that are seen together as a group.

e.g. here we see three separate groups of dots.

5. Continuation - objects on a line/curve are perceived more related.

e.g. here we see a line and a curve.

6. Uniform connectedness - elements that are visually connected appear related.

e.g. the dots and the squares appear related.

7. Similarity - elements that have similar characteristics appear more related than those that don't.

e.g. the red dots appear separate to the black dots due to being the same colour.

8. Focal point - elements with a point of interest, difference or emphasis will hold the viewers attention more.

e.g. the orange man is different to the rest of the men, bringing the attention to that particular element.

9. Figure/ground - the relationship between positive elements and negative space.

e.g. this image shows two different forms, a young lady and an old woman, depending whether the viewer looks at the positive elements or the negative space.

There are 3 types of figure/ground relationships; stable, reversible and ambiguous.

'elements can both appear ground and figure' - Jan Tschichold

Space gives positive elements room to breathe.

Space can establish contrast, emphasis and hierarchy.

Task:

Using post it notes to create letterforms using only 3 colours. The letterforms can occupy the same gridded space simultaneously. One colour will act as the ground for the other. 

        

Water slowly disintegrating, revealing 'solid'.