Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
AdamsMorioka
United States
Arranging Form
Within a compositional format, a designer can apply several basic
strategies to organizing forms. Each strategy a designer employs will create distinctly
different relationships among the forms themselves and between the forms and the sur-
rounding space. Just as the identities of selected forms begin to generate messages for
the viewer, their relative positions within the format, the spaces created between them,
and their relationships to each other all will contribute additional messages. Forms that
are clustered together, for example, will suggest that they are related to each other, as
will forms that appear to align with one another. Forms separated by different spatial
intervals will imply a distinction in meaning.
Near and Far
In addition to side-by-side,
or lateral, arrangements at the picture plane, a designer may also organize form in illus-
ory dimensional space—that is, by defining elements as existing in the foreground, in
the background, or somewhere in between. Usually, the field or ground is considered to
be a background space and forms automatically appear in the foreground. Overlapping
forms, however, optically positions them nearer or further away from the viewer. The
designer may increase this sense of depth by changing the relative values of the forms
by making them transparent and increasing the differences in their sizes. Placing forms
that are reversed—made negative, or the same value as the field or format space—on
top of positive forms, will similarly exaggerate the sense of spatial depth, as well as
potentially create interesting reversals of figure and ground. The seeming nearness or
distance of each form will also contribute to the viewer's sense of its importance and,
therefore, its meaning relative to other forms presented within the same space.
Move-
ment
Overlapping and bleeding, as well as the rotation of elements compared to others,
may induce a feeling of kinetic movement. Elements perceived to occupy dimensional
space often appear to be moving in one direction or another—receding or advancing.
Juxtaposing a static form, such as a horizontal line, with a more active counterpart, such
as a diagonal line, invites comparison and, oddly, the assumption that one is standing
still while the other is moving. Changing the intervals between elements also invites
comparison and, again, the odd conclusion that the changing spaces mean the forms are
moving in relation to each other. The degree of motion created by such overlapping,
bleeding, and rhythmic spatial separation will evoke varying degrees of energy or rest-
fulness; the designer must control these messages as he or she does any other.
Seeing Form and Space
Categories of Form
