One element of graphic design that I feel goes unnoticed sometimes is the space within spaces. Vibrant colors and shapes can be eye-catching, but they’re not the only elements employed by designers to create interesting form. Ambiguity is an essential form of graphic communication that can add subtle visual interest to any logo or icon. Sometimes, the key can be to keep it simple.

The logo pictured to the left was one of my many ideas for a personal calling card of sorts. The space within the shapes creates an interesting pathway for the eye to navigate, creating an interesting contrast of positive and negative space. The same methods are employed regularly to draw interest towards an icon.

The unique framing on this particular letter creates an intriguing shape. In actuality, the shape you’re viewing is actually a large serif “A” but the letter form cuts through the frame in such a way that depending on your perspective, your eye is drawn to either the letter itself, or the space around it. Imagine this same image colored in green and you may have an interesting rendering of a Christmas tree.

Painting with negative space can be a useful skill, and other times it can just be plain aesthetically pleasing. Below is an experimental sketch of mine that I stumbled upon while designing logos for a cinematic project of mine. The film is called “Block-Busted 3” and in the process of brainstorming, I came up with many ways to represent the number 3.

One idea I employed was reflecting the number 3, creating a sort of silhouette of sorts. While this wouldn’t become involved in the final logo design, I found the drawing interesting because of the space creating by the two numbers intersecting. I played around with the idea of duplicating this pattern many times but it became very disorienting over time. This is one of the potential issues of trying to be too playful in design.

Effective use of negative space is both a matter of simplicity and complexity. Sometimes less is more, and in an upcoming blog entry, I’ll show off some of my favorite existing logos which make great use of negative and positive space. Thanks for reading!