Lecture-2

Fig.31: Law of Figure/Ground

Law of Figure/Ground and its semantic application:

A stimulus will be perceived as separate from its ground. The above figure appears to the eye as a square inside a circle, or as a donut shaped circle with a square hole. Figure 31.

Figure/ground reversals create a delightful "surprise" in the viewer's eye that we have discussed in figure and ground relationship in previous lesson (Fig.15). Fig.32 demonstrates the cup plate and the fork used as figure and ground relations and how design elements can be used as meaningful manner in design solution of a particular context. Using minimum design elements to get optimum visual effects to make the design more meaningful. e.g. the first image a bird and chicks along with a nest, here, how beautifully and meaningfully depicting the essence of the subject in figure and ground relation, in the second image is a logo of a food product company showing fruits, mango, orange and a chilli in a positive space (white) and the first letter of the company B can be seen as negative space(black). It is very interesting to observe the relation of figure and ground and how meaningfully they are being created. ( Students may create various shapes of design drawing and layout of figure and ground relation for clear understanding of how to use design elements for a particular context in the classroom itself. )