ATypI 2024 Brisbane | Ralph Kenke | The Value of Negative Space in Logotype Design

What is the value of negative space in a logotype? While there isn’t one answer to this question, the successful implementation of negative space can introduce a level of discovery for an observer. Ralph Kenke’s presentation offers transparency between what science knows and what business does. He will share design mechanisms that can teach undergraduate students to implement critical concepts like cognitive disfluency to design visually striking logotypes. This presentation will embark on a design journey revealing the power of negative space in logotype design through handpicked examples from the world’s leading studios, including Triboro, Frost Design, and Magpie Studio, as well as student projects.

Ralph will showcase, for example, how implementing the reduction method helps students avoid a design direction that aims for beauty but rather for recognition. This session will inform students, professionals, and educators in visual identity design, branding, and typography. The presentation is divided into seven sections. Each addresses a design method inherently connected to the choice of typeface and the meaning of the word represented as a logotype. Each part has a short introduction explaining the design methods in logotype design and its correlation to Gestalt principles. While design principles are commonly taught in the context of layout and composition with text and image, this presentation will reveal how these familiar visual laws can build a foundation to help guide undergraduate students to design memorable logotypes.

The key takeaway of this session will be understanding the correlation between cognitive theories relevant to visual communication and their relevance to crafted technology in design education. The synergy of typography and negative space is difficult to ignore, particularly when designers and students start to take advantage of this relationship to develop holistic visual identities rooted in a logotype.