Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
This comparison elicits several questions: “What is the nature of each grouping? How are they
different? What does this difference signify? Does the difference make one grouping clearly more
important than the other? Shown here are a number of potential strategies for visually distinguish-
ing groups and, therefore, creating meaning.
Seeing Form and Space
Categories of Form
Putting Stuff Into Space
Compositional Strategies
A Foundation for Meaning
Identity and Difference
There are numerous strategies for creating comparisons
between groupings of form or among parts within a group. The degree of difference
between elements can be subtle or dramatic, and the designer can imply different de-
grees of meaning by isolating one group or part more subtly, while exaggerating the
difference between others.
Because tiny adjustments in form are easily perceived, the difference between each
group can be very precisely controlled. Of course, which strategy to employ will depend
heavily on the kind of message the designer must convey as a result of such distinction;
he or she will trigger very different perceptions of meaning by separating components
spatially, as opposed to creating a sense of movement in components by rotating them
or changing their size. In the first instance, the difference may be perceived as a mes-
sage about isolation and may introduce anxiety; in the second instance, the change may
be perceived as an indication of growth, a change in energy, or a focusing of strength.
THIS LOGOTYPE USES
color to distinguish the company name from within a cluster of letterforms
(coincidentally arranged in a grid pattern). Within a grouping of varied elements, any elements
that are made similar in even one aspect will separate optically from the others.
