Abstract Shapes

Growing up, I typically thought of shapes like I thought of the alphabet or color. I knew the full 26 letters upper and lower case and I knew the colors of the rainbow. Presumably you would think that they would just be simple. They can be, but there’s a lot to know as well. In Christian Leborg’s “Visual Grammar”, he shows that a dot which I may have considered a point at one point actually isn’t a point at all. It’s a surface. It can be a very small surface that you would need a microscope to view but it is a surface nonetheless. The idea of a point is that it is a specific set of coordinates. The explanation of one dimensional line to a two dimensional surface to a three dimensional volume is well told. You can’t have a line without a series of points. You can’t have a surface without a group of lines connecting and you can’t have volume without a series of surfaces surrounding each other creating a uniform object. Using humans as an example of a three dimensional thing, to us, it makes sense. We can only understand what we’ve experienced as far as physical limitations allow. This is how we understand format.

Taking the idea a step further Vanseo Design in The Elements of Design Part 3 shows that shapes can be geometric organic or abstract in form. Form is the positive elements in a design which leaves space being the negative element. Form and space are completely interconnected in that if you alter one, you alter the other as well. Geometric shapes are mathematical and calculable. Organic shapes seem to have more free flowing movement to them. Abstract shapes seem to resemble organic shapes in a simpler form more recognizable form. All form has meaning. The way you change an image to varying degrees can alter the entire message of the design. If you take an elongated triangle and added a square to the bottom center, the image goes from being a geometric shape as a triangle to being an abstract shape. Some people could see it as a symbol for a Christmas tree which can further be interpreted as the Christmas spirit, joy and family. With something as simple as a line, you can create images and objects either two or three dimensional. The limitation to what you can make all goes back to where your creativity begins and ends. One way many people show limitation in their creativity is in their experience (IE, understanding of dimension)

http://vanseodesign.com/web-design/form-surface-volume/

This image while simple at first glance has an infinite number of points within the boundaries of the positive form. This is a geometric or organic shape surface.

https://lh4.ggpht.com/tN7pGT9BgM15-NL16AKZmV0-GEn7uL8IAtyANUF0CQzSYpMTJum0j8UHUZ3b003Os79E=w300blog1-2 - Copy

This image is an example of surface from another angle. It has length and width. It shows the potential of a third dimension but keeps it just as a potential to further show the two dimensions.

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This image is an accumulation of line like surfaces coming together to create a complex abstract design. It shows creativity within the limitations of three dimensions. While being a two dimensional image, it gives the illusion that there might be three dimensional movement in there.

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This image is of nine abstract geometric shapes as it shows. This is a really nice example of line, the illusion of point and surface all working together to create these very unique shapes