2 line
“The geometric line is an invisible thing. It is the track made by the moving point . . . Here, the leap out of the static into the dynamic occurs.”
WASSILY KANDINSKY (RUSSIAN, 1866–1944) Painter
line \'līn\ n
1: the path traced by a moving point
2: a thin, continuous mark, as that made by a pen, pencil, or brush applied to a surface
One of the most basic and pervasive visual elements of a graphic designer’s visual vocabulary is a line. A line’s functions are limitless. It can join, organize, divide, direct, construct, and move other graphic objects. A line can be read as a positive mark or a negative gap. Lines can be actual or implied.
This branding program for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum uses an angled, chevron-like line as a youthful, energetic, authentic, and fun graphic element for the museumgoer. It literally follows the profile of the museum building's roofline and is used in a variety of color palettes, patterns, and functions throughout print and digital media.
SAGMEISTER & WALSH
New York, NY, USA
They can be realized as edges or boundaries to objects as well as contours to shapes and forms. A line can lead the reader’s eye as well as provide movement and energy to any composition. When used properly, a line can improve readability, immediacy, and the ultimate meaning of any visual message.
Historical References
We are taught “a line is the shortest distance between two points.” Although this fact is true, we have never been taught to appreciate the other inherent characteristics and qualities of a line. Since man felt the need to visually communicate his day-to-day experiences by making marks on cave walls, he has unconsciously relied upon line. This fact is evident in cave paintings in southern France, burial messages in Egyptian hieroglyphics, inscriptions on Roman tribunal arches, and medieval crests adorning castle walls. Line has always been a fundamental element of our visual communications palette.
In reexamining these historical references, we can further identify the numerous and varied functions given to line.
Kinetic, fluid lines used in this logotype and environmental graphics program play multiple roles. First, they convey Signature Theatre Company’s brand and mission to provide a venue for an evolving series of diverse voices and visions in the theater. The logotype’s linear composition is constructed of layered, handwritten signatures of the company’s history of playwrights-in-residence. They also create a cloud of signatures that serves a myriad of uses such as a frame, backdrop, and even as a container to hold photographs or artwork. The relationship between the logotype’s linear elements and the vibrant color palette used in various applications creates a dynamic and memorable identity.
C+G PARTNERS LLC
New York, NY, USA
1955
Zurich Tonhalle Concert Poster
JOSEF MÜLLER-BROCKMANN
Zurich, CH
Josef Müller-Brockmann and the Zurich Tonhalle Posters
JOSEF MÜLLER-BROCKMANN (1914–1996), designer, writer, artist, and educator, was one of the pioneers of functional, objective graphic design and the Swiss International Typographic Style. His poster series for the Zurich Tonhalle is a seminal example of this modernist, constructivist style and set the standard for the use of pure geometry, mathematical systems, and the grid in visual communications.
During the 1950s, he explored various theories of nonrepresentational abstraction, visual metaphor, subjective graphic interpretation, and constructive graphic design based on the sole use of elements of pure geometry without illustration, nuance, or embellishment.
Each poster in the Tonhalle series uses geometric elements such as circles, squares, arcs, and lines as visual metaphor and is visually orchestrated with rhythm, scale, and repetition. Müller-Brockmann said that these posters were “designed in which the proportions of the formal elements and their immediate spaces are almost always related to certain numerical progressions logically followed out.”
For example, the Zurich Tonhalle poster he designed that features the work of Igor Stravinsky (Russian, 1882–1971), Alban Berg (Austrian, 1885–1935), and Wolfgang Fortner (German, 1907–1987) was based on a series of photographic studies he had been working on earlier. One study was composed of intersecting lines of varied thickness and lengths, where the dimensions of each line were determined in relationship to each adjacent line. These spatial relationships were also used in defining the spaces between each line. The overall composition is angled by 45 degrees so that each line appears to move diagonally in two directions across the poster. This approach supported Müller-Brockmann’s interpretive view that visual form is comparable to nonrepresentational structures and mathematical systems found in all musical composition. Here, the structural and compositional framework of lines expresses the true nature of the composer’s music. At the time, it was said that Josef Müller-Brockmann was a musician composing without an instrument.
All of his work can be analyzed in a similar manner. A precise mathematical plan, logically constructed, is always employed. Every element has a reason for its size, placement, and position.
In reviewing the poster series, legendary graphic designer Paul Rand (American, 1914–1996) said, “They reveal an artist at work, as well as one who fathoms the world of communication, the particular audience for a particular function. These posters are comfortable in the worlds of art and music. They do not try to imitate musical notation, but they evoke the very sounds of music by visual equivalents.”
Müller-Brockmann’s integration of typography and pure geometry illustrates a timeless relationship between image and music—vocabulary and message.
Character and Meaning
A line is composed of a number of points located next to one another in one direction; the number of points can be infinite or there can be two endpoints—a beginning point and an endpoint—or a vector. Its path defines the quality and character of the resulting line. It can be straight, meander, or curve across itself or it can follow the precise arc of a circle segment. The end result gives specific character and meaning to each line.
A line is elemental in visual communications. It is also a fundamental element of geometry. Without it, the circle, square, and triangle would not exist, nor could we visually represent them. As an elemental geometric form, a line always has length, but never breadth. When this proportional relationship occurs, a line inevitably becomes a plane or surface.
The primary function of a line in visual communications is to connect or separate other elements in a composition. Its inherent nature is directional. When it is articulated as a smooth gesture, the eye follows it in an easy and unconscious manner; when it is rough or irregular, it impedes movement, thereby slowing the eye’s connection with it. Lines create boundaries and ultimately define shape and form. They are inherently dynamic gestures as opposed to points that are always static. Lines communicate movement because they move in two directions.
Man created line as the simplest means to visually communicate. We see lines as boundaries in objects and are initially taught to draw lines as a way to communicate naïve shapes and forms.
This promotional poster for Design UK, one component of a comprehensive public awareness and branding program for the British Embassy in Tokyo, is based on an abstract Union Jack created from red and white illuminated neon tubes attached to a blue background. The resulting linear construction, symbolically British with futuristic Japanese overtones, was used to brand the event and appeared on collateral print materials and websites.
FORM
London, UK
Tone and Message
A line communicates division, organization, emphasis, sequence, and hierarchy. These inherent functions can change in tone and message through the tool used to articulate a line. Lines are expressive. They can be long, short, thick, thin, smooth, or irregular and can convey a wide range of emotions. A straight line is mechanical and cold; a curvilinear line is natural and approachable; a thin line is soft and restrained; a bold line communicates strength and power. If a line is drawn with a brush, it conveys a more fluid and undisciplined message as opposed to a line created with a mechanical pen that conveys precision and a disciplined message.
Another aspect of line quality is determined by the tool that makes it; for example, the sketched quality of a charcoal pencil line, the precision of a line drawn with a digital pen tool, or the organic quality of a line brushed with ink. Again, history confirms this to be true. From the naïve nature of a line drawn by a finger or a branch from a tree, to a metal scribe or a calligraphic pen nib, the communicative nature of a line has evolved over time at the same pace as humankind’s reliance on different tools and technologies.
The exhibition Brno Echo: Ornament and Crime from Adolf Loos to Now is a lively dialogue between historical and contemporary design on “modern ornament.” Adolf Loos’s 1910 manifesto “Ornament and Crime” serves as the conceptual foundation for this exhibition, which looks at the recurrence of lines and patterns that constitute a fundamental grammar of modern ornament, connecting everything from the Wiener Werkstätte to pop art and current variants of retro-futurism. Here, geometric striping and concentric forms are a type of ornamentation that is acceptably modern. This, in turn, leads the viewer through an archaeology of concentric striping that links early modernism with other stylistic visual languages throughout the last century. The exhibition’s graphic identity is based on the B designed for the original Brno Biennial identity. These posters utilize this line-composed letterform to create “BRNO ECHO.”
PENTAGRAM
New York, NY, USA
This logotype and promotional poster use a series of dramatic calligraphic lines rendered in bold, kinetic brushstrokes to represent the Asian influences of this documentary film festival’s program offerings to the general public.
TAKASHI KUSUI, Student
JI LEE, Instructor
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS
New York, NY, USA
This logotype for the restaurant Txikito Cocina Vasca, featuring cuisine from the Basque region of Spain, is based on curvilinear wrought-iron signs found throughout the region and was reproduced in gold leaf on its entrance doors.
LOUISE FILI LTD.
New York, NY, USA
The Prix Émile Hermès focuses on young European designers and rewards them for their creative and innovative contributions to the functionality of designed objects. The awards program is named in honor of Charles-Émile Hermès (French, 1831–1876), a creative visionary and pioneer who recognized the value of form and function in design as well as the relationship between craftsmanship and the end product. The logotype captures the spirit of function, craft, and innovation through the use of line, letterform, and metaphor.
CATHERINE ZASK
Paris, FR
This assignment requires sophomore students to consider fundamental design elements—in this case, line—found in their environment and everyday objects. With photography they explore their surroundings and document examples of line found in surprising and intriguing situations. The final images are cropped to a 3 X 3-inch (7.6 X 7.6 cm) square and then composed in a 3 X 3-inch (7.6 X 7.6 cm) nine-square layout, further communicating the student's analysis of relationships in form, color, texture, scale, and contrast between the various images. This assignment increases their understanding of fundamental design elements; their awareness of the natural and built environment; them becoming more at ease with using a camera, and composing photographic images with software such as Camera Raw, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Bridge.
AMBER JOEHNK, Student
ANNABELLE GOULD, Instructor
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Seattle, WA, USA
Graphic Forms
The orientation and position of a line can also further influence a visual message. A horizontal line is calm, quiet, and serene; a vertical line communicates strength, height, and aspiration. Vertical lines appear more active and communicate a more powerful and immediate message than a series of horizontal lines. Diagonal lines are much more suggestive, energetic, and dynamic.
While we have always been told to “color within the lines,” we should consider that lines can be realized in a variety of different graphic forms. They can be straight, curvilinear, thin, thick, solid, and dotted. Multiple lines, whether parallel or juxtaposed at right angles, create texture, movement, tension, pattern, tone, value, perspective, and structure. The graphical articulation of a line also impacts its presence, subtle or obvious, on any given surface. Shaded lines recede as they change from thick to thin, creating a subtle illusion of space. The thicker the line, the more it comes forward or advances.
The identity and collateral material for a fund-raising event, Safe Horizon, was based on work contributed by a number of artists who created their own interpretations of the word safety. The majority of art was based on line, as well as form, texture, and pattern created by line. The art was displayed and auctioned at the event.
ROGERS ECKERSLEY DESIGN (RED)
New York, NY, USA
This poster is from an exercise, “Visual Storytelling and Narrative Form,” and requires a student to read, analyze, and visually interpret the narrative themes of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Angels in America. Each student conceptualizes and photographs imagery that visually communicates his or her point of view. Here a loose, frayed thread on the verge of breaking is a metaphor for the main characters of the play undergoing extreme challenges in their lives. The purity of the image, as well as the supporting typography, allows the line to be emotional, provocative, and highly communicative.
MIKIHIRO KOBAYASHI, Student
RICHARD POULIN, Instructor
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS
New York, NY, USA
This information graphic for the New York Times Book Review’s The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood, by Helene Cooper, visually highlights specific developments and dates found throughout her emotional memoir. The graphic is composed of a serpentine bold stripe, chronologically identifying key dates in her country’s development as well as her own life, ultimately arriving at a symbolic star or home. The graphic composition is based on the Liberian flag and shows the circuitous route that the reader will travel when reading her book.
JULIA HOFFMANN
New York, NY, USA
This dramatic three-dimensional, textural wall mural for PMP Limited Melbourne is composed of horizontal lines dimensionalized in an abstract manner symbolizing the activities of this media production and magazine distribution company. Spectrum-colored up-lighting and an exaggerated bas-relief of each horizontal band further create a spatial and ascending focal point to this two-story, double-height office reception space.
EMERYSTUDIO
Melbourne, VIC, AU
Another way to think of line is as an edge. When it is given this function, it allows the eye to perceive an object from its background. We immediately understand line as edge when a horizontal line distinguishes land from sea or land from sky. A linear edge can exist along the side of any straight or curved shape or as the result of shapes sharing the same edge.
A line can also be implied, meaning it occurs as the result of an alignment of shapes, edges, or even points. Implying the existence of a line in this way can be very engaging for the viewer. Implying lines can activate a compositional space.
The Quality of a Line
Lines have a variety of functions in visual communications. They can serve as the contour of an object or human figure or exist purely to serve themselves as elements used to separate information, lead the eye in a particular direction, or imply alignment. Lines can also become textures or patterns. The quality of a line can communicate the nature of what is being described; for example, delicate, precise, angular, architectural, chemical, anatomical, fluid, or awkward.
One of the most prevalent uses of line is in print material, such as newspapers, magazines, and publications. Here, lines are used to organize information, separate and emphasize content, and direct the eye to specific areas of interest. In all of these situations, line is used to improve readability, allow easy access to information, and reinforce the immediacy of any visual message.
This brand identity's logotype and custom sans serif typography for JFK Terminal 4 in New York City is solely based on line and effectively paired with vibrant colors on a bright white background in a variety of scale applications—from wall murals and digital directories to retail corridor walls and gate graphics. Program elements are equally effective in large-scale environmental graphics as well as in small-scale print and digital applications.
BASE DESIGN
New York, NY, USA
