113 - The Space Between The Objects

What this episode covers

I talk about a hidden part of the creative pursuit that most people aren't aware of. Music and links from this episode The Entertainer (1902, piano roll) by Scott Joplin Belview by C. Scott Knuckle Up by C. Scott En Croisiere by Juanitos Line-by-line notes Hello. It’s me, Craig. Before we get into today’s show, I wanted to quickly talk about something new I’m working on I’m starting a new podcast soon There’s lots of things I don’t know about it yet Like the name, the final format, when it’ll be released But I’m really excited by it Because I’ll be interviewing designers and creatives that I love We’ll be talking about geeky stuff from the design and creative worlds And I’m really looking forward to it The reason I’m telling you about this so early is because I need your help If you know of a designer or a creative that you’d love to hear have a chat with me OR, you are a designer or a creative and you’d love to have a chat with me Ping me on twitter at craigburgess or email me at [email protected] and we’ll go from there Promo, done. INTRO There’s a thing in any creative endeavour That’s actually more important than the work itself It’s older than time, and it’s a concept that’s been around forever It’s older than this song And some might say that to become a great designer, your understanding of it has to be absolute And most of all, it’s something you’ve probably never considered and even known it’s a thing I’m talking about space No, not the kind of space in Star Trek The other kind This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess PLAY MID SONG Negative Space White Space Leave some room to breathe It’s called different things by different people Negative space as a concept is pretty simple All it refers to is the space around or between the main subject of an image In visual mediums, it’s the space where nothing is in the piece It’ll be the spare space that’s left blank around something To an untrained eye, it doesn’t look like an intentional thing When you’re reading a book, the words don’t go to the very edge of the page And that’s intentional, to aid your reading consumption and make it as comfortable as possible But not only did somebody design where the words will go And how much space is between them and what size the letters should be Somebody also designed the space, the area where nothing is It’s often an alien concept to some clients too Who are always keen to see it as wasted space Space that should be filled with something else But once the negative space is filled up It doesn’t have any power anymore, it’s not negative space now It’s one of the rare areas of life where nothing is more powerful than something It’s a concept that’s important in any artistic composition Across “proper art”, photography, design, even music and writing There’s a famous quote about it by Artur Schnabel the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides The concept of the pause shows up in lots of areas of life Pausing to reflect Pausing to catch your breath Space to breathe Clearing your mind to create space Space is seen as the holy grail of calm and peacefulness It’s seen as a way to true enlightenment And this also makes sense in graphic design It’s often said that you’re not a proper designer until you can fully command negative space Until you fully understand what to leave out, rather than what to add in I like the Japanese phrase ma, which is roughly translated as gap, space or pause Even better, I love the description of it from wikipedia It is best described as a consciousness of place, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity, but rather the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from an intensification of vision. Ma is not something that is created by compositional elements; it is the thing that takes place in the imagination of the human who experiences these elements. Therefore, ma can be defined...