U S I N G W H I T E S PA C E

F O R M + S PA C E

Form
Form is considered a positive element,
a solid thing or object.

Space
Form is considered negative—not in a bad way, but as
the absence, or opposite, of form. Space is the “ground”
in which form becomes a “figure.”

Form + Space
The relationship between form and space, or figure and
ground, is complementary and mutually dependent: it’s
impossible to alter one and not the other.

Form + Space = Visual Logic
Visual logic, all by itself, can also carry meaning. The
figure/ground relationship composed in such a way that
the feeling this compositional, or visual logic, generates
is perceived as appropriate to the message.

Designing is the process of looking for and showing
off the similarities and differences inherent in the
content of a visual message. This can sometimes take
a good deal of time if the similarities do not
immediately present themselves. But the search for
similarities is at the head of what a designer does.
(From Alex White, Elements of Graphic Design)

C O M P O S I T I O N A L W H I T E S PA C E
(putting stuff into space, p64)

The designer’s job is not to fill in all the space.
It is to make information accessible and appealing.

The Resolved Composition
To say that a composition is “resolved” means that
the reasons for where everything is, how big the
things are, and what they’re doing with each other
in and around space—the visual logic—is clear, and
that all the parts seem considered relative to each
other.
(From Samara text)

What makes white space a
compositional element and not just
empty space?

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Distinguishing
Forcing clear separation between individual formal
elements enhances the sense of difference between them.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Clustering
The greater the proportional changes in the outer contour
of the cluster, the more dynamic it will appear, along
with the spaces around the cluster.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Aligning
Creating edge relationships.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Overlapping
Allowing one form to cross in front of another, even if
both are the same color, will create the illusion of
foreground and background.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Layering
The use of transparency in a cluster enhances the illusion
of the apparent existence in three dimensional space.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Bleeding
When forms within the composition space appear to
leave the format they imply a much bigger composition
extending outward into the “real” world.

S T R AT E G I E S F O R A R R A N G I N G F O R M
Kinetic Sequencing
Introducing changes in size, rotation, and interval among
elements will create the impression of movement and
progression.

TYPOGRAPHIC CONTRAST

Terms you Legibility
should know:
Readibility
Type color
Page color
Margins/Measure
Alignment
Leading
Letterspace
Space after/before elements

Carl Dair, 7 Types of Typographic Contrast (1968)

Size
“A simple but dramatic contrast of size,” says Dair, “provides a
point to which the reader’s attention is drawn. Set in the same
style of type, it maintains the exact relationship of the letter to the
background. It is only a physical enlargement of the basic pattern
created by the form and the weight of the type being used for the
text.”

John Baskerville, title page for Vergil’s
Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis (Pastorials,
Farming, and Aeneis), 1757.
Baskerville reduced the design to
letterforms symmetrically arranged and
letterspaced; he reduced content to
author, title, publisher, date, and city of
publication. Economy, simplicity, and
elegance resulted.

Weight
\"Not only types of varying weight, but other typographic material
such as rules, spots, squares, etc., can be called into service to
provide a heavy area for a powerful point of visual attraction or
emphasis.\"

Form
By \"form,\" Dair means the distinction between a capital letter and its
lowercase equivalent, or a roman letter and its italic variant. He includes
condensed and expanded versions under \"form,\" and he even allows as
how \"there are some script types which harmonize with standard types,
such as the Bank Script and Bodoni on the opposite page, and can be
used for dramatic change of form.\"

Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune, pages
from Manuel Typographique, 1764
and 1768. In addition to showing the
design accomplishments of a lifetime,
Fournier’s type manual is a
masterwork of rococo design.

Structure
\"The use of contrast of structure may be compared to an orator who
changes his voice not to increase or decrease the volume, but to change
the very quality of his voice to suit his words.\"

Texture
Put all these things together, and apply them to a block of text on a
page, and you come to the contrast of texture: the way the lines of type
look as a mass, which depends partly on the letterforms themselves and
partly on how they're arranged. \"Like threads in cloth,\" says Dair,
\"types form the fabric of our daily communication.\"

Color
Dair's sixth contrast is color -- and he warns that a second color is
usually less emphatic than plain black on white (or white on black), so
it's important to give careful thought to which element needs to be
emphasized, and to pay attention to the tonal values of the colors used.

Direction
The last of Dair's seven kinds of contrast is the contrast of direction: the
opposition between vertical and horizontal, and the angles in between.
Turning one word on its side can have a dramatic effect on a layout. But
Dair points out that text blocks also have their vertical or horizontal
aspects, and mixing wide blocks of long lines with tall columns of short
lines can also produce a contrast.