Negative Space Logos
Learn about negative space in logo design
Positive and negative space have and continue to serve an important role in art, design and architecture, creating a critical interplay between what is present and what is absent. Sometimes this is leveraged for compositional reasons or used to communicate or allude to something further.
In logo design, this relationship between positive and negative space can be especially powerful, toying with tension or harmony, the relational or oppositional to generate interest and distinction.
Artists such as M.C. Escher, known for his tessellating patterns of light and dark and differing images that appear to converge and diverge, had an effect on designers during the post war period.
Some designers took this and integrated it into their practice, often using negative space to draw more from less, resolving two images into a single unified form.
This optical play of light and dark, volume and void, immediately generates interest. It introduces a moment of visual surprise, sometimes a puzzle that can strengthen recall and recognition.
When handled well, the two images exist in both harmony and tension, with the viewer’s mind moving back and forth between them. The most common example is the intersection of letterform and concrete image, as exemplified in Harvey Appelbaum and Bill Curtis’ 1969 logo for the Manhattan School of Music that combines an ‘M’ with musical notes.
This practice not only expanded the visual language, but helped derive distinction and ownership in the creative act of combining.
Norman Moore’s logo for Filmstar Motion Pictures not only uses negative space to form a star from repeating and rotating the letter ‘F’ but in the compositional balance of the F’s own positive and negative space, calls to mind the sprockets of film reels. Genius!
Want more examples of negative space used in logo design? Search ‘Negative Space’ on LogoArchive.
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