Yin, Yang and Negative space
International Lefthanded day in August has been celebrated since 1976 when Dean R. Campbell, founded Lefthanders International, Inc.
Statistically many left-handed dominant people gravitate to creative pursuits. And it's also understood that they are better at 3D perception and thinking - spatial analysis. But why?
Well apparently it comes down to the brain - it's 'cross-wired', with the left hemisphere controlling movement on the right side of the body, and the right hemisphere controlling the left side of the body.
The right hemisphere is associated with yin, and feminine while the left hemisphere is yang and masculine. The right hemisphere of the brain is creative, soft, tactile, receptive, auditory, passive, yin; the left brain governs speech, logic, mathematics, expression, action and yang.
Of course we are a combination of both sides, especially if we exercise, engage or apply each side of the brain. Although I do feel innate dominance can influence, with my son being a case in point - a right-handed writer but a left footed soccer player.
Creatives - keep left
As a young design student I was first introduced to the concept of drawing with the right hand side of the brain by my tutor, who threw a skipping rope on a floor and requested we all draw it. There was one caveat - we had to draw the negative space shapes between the rope, forcing us to use the less familiar hemisphere of the brain. As I recall most of the class was right handed. Mind you I never did find out how my left handed colleagues fared compared to the right-handed students. Were they quicker? Or did it come easier? I should have paid more attention!
Negative space logos
Ever since that faithfully day, I've always loved Negative space designed slogans and logos. First off they have to be simple and clever to work effectively and generally they use a limited colour palette - it's restrained, minimal design at it's best. Graphic design software has made it a tad easier to design in this way but back in the day it would have been much more challenging, as the white space was the page and the coloured areas one had to generate. Black and white logos also are very Yin and Yang, adding a balanced element to a logo. Colour wise, White is associated with the element of Metal and Black with Water. And, these two elements sit side by side in the five phases chart, producing a Draining or Generating cycle, as they ebb and flow in a clockwise or counterclockwise fashion.
Many design agencies play with this design technique when designing Logos for business. One very iconic logo was the Formula One -F1 logo, which graced the sport from 1971. The version on the left was introduced late in 2017 with a very mediocre response from fans and designers alike. Personally, I favoured the classic with the use of the negative space '1' .
Negative space typography is highly effective for slogans also, the 'THINK' design below is very effective. Another favourite of mine, is the use of Negative shapes - like the Pen Nib with the spoon inside - a clever design for The Guild of Food Writers logo designed by 300Million.
Some more Left-handed Trivia
And finally, I came across this little detail in relation to left-handed folk. Folklore generally, although not always, suggests men went to fight the war and women stayed with the children. However survival of clans, in times of war relied upon ones dominant tendancies. Apparently when nature was able to choose, it would always be the left-handed who went to into combat. The order of departure for combat was as follows: First went the left-handed men, then the right-handed men, and only then went the women, left-handed women first and, on occasions of extreme need, the right-handed women. (1)
If your curious about addition Feng Shui tools that one can apply to your Brand identity, check out our services for Business branding. Or perhaps you are mid design stage of a new business or need a logo refresh? Then you can get some more insights into to adding extra fortuitous meaning to your logo design on a previous blog post here.
Have you see any negative space logos that strike a cord? Or perhaps you have a Negative space logo for your own business. Do share, we would love to see it.
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Image credit : via Pinterest
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