To begin our first project for the IXD101 module, we were tasked with creating a selection of grids that each contained and explored points, lines and planes. I decided to begin researching designers that have explored these three elements in different and exciting forms such as the work of designers like Josh Worth and his “If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel” interactive data visualisation; the rebranding of companies like HP and Seed Media and work of the artist Mondrian who utilised the composition of planes.

Josh Worth:

“If the Moon Were Only One Pixel”

If the Moon Were Only One Pixel is an interesting interactive scaled map created by American interactive designer, Josh Worth. The screen based project, found on 1pixelmoon.com, allows the user to scroll horizontally along a black, digitally illustrated virtual ‘space’. The interactive design has been featured in museums as well as being used in teaching environments due to its interesting and clear explanation of our solar systems scale. Worth uses this accessible platform to illustrate the sheer size of our solar systems planets and stars by contrasting with the size of the moon, which as the title would suggest is made up of just one pixel. A pixel is a minute area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed. As a user, I associate the concept of a pixel with something small or microscopic. Worth uses these connotations to highlight the significance of a point in design as by simply altering its size it can clearly show the difference between the sun (a large, yellow point on the website) in contrast to the moon (a literal pixel viewed as a tiny, white dot on the black background). Worth also uses line to successfully display the overwhelming scale of the solar system. The designer includes short, vertical hatch marks as a ruler measurement along the bottom of the screen, each representing 50,000 kilometres. The simple line is successfully used by the designer to translate the unthinkably cosmic distance covered by our solar system onto a small screen in the users own hands. I believe that Josh Worth’s “If the Moon…” project is a great example of using points and lines successfully to create understandable and simple imagery that can translate information as difficult to visualise as our universe, onto an accessible platform.

The use of Point and Line in Company Branding

I was also interested to research the use of simple elements like point and line in the branding and logos of big companies such as Seed Media. In Designer Stefan Sagmeister and his team worked alongside Seed Media, a scientific publisher of books and films to rebrand the companies identity. The team wished to create a visual presentation of the company influenced by the scientific nature of its publications while also remaining flexible and open and so decided to base their design of the natural phenomenon known as Phyllotaxis. Phyllotaxis is a spiral pattern that can be seen in the arrangement of natural forms such as plants and seashells, and has also lent its curving shape to architectural spaces like the Sydney Opera House and Ancient Greek temples. Creating a collective of small, simple, points the Sagmeister Studio team created spiralling forms inspiring by the Phyllotaxis phenomenon to create logos for the magazine and portraits of contributors to the companies work. To allow this spiral of points to remain flexible to the companies ever-changing identity and product, the team built a web-generator which analyses the colours used in an image uploaded and translates it into the allotted number of points to create an impression of the picture as seen above. I think this is a really exciting use of points as this branding illustrates how something as simple as points can be elevated to create a meaningful and evolving identity when composed well.

I was also interested in the rebranding of computer software company, HP. Since 1941, the computing group has used the initials H.P. (Hewlett-Packard) as its both its iconic title and logo. The two letters are now synonymous with technology and computing. However, since 2008, Moving Brands CEO Mat Heinl has led the design team responsible for rebranding the company. As the image above illustrates, Heinl and his team have gradually minimised the companies logo from which contains many elements including the two letters and a circle containing both, to what will eventually be one single, fractionally diagonal white line. I found it really exciting to see how the current logo which is made up of four lines of two different lengths, utilises this element to create typography.

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian (1872 – 1944) was a Dutch Painter whose work in abstract art was very interesting to study as I was understanding planes as an element of design. Mondrian contributed to many art movements including De Stijl, Cubism and Abstract Expressionism and is noted for developing the term and practice Neoplasticism – a new, plastic form of art which he believed would achieve a necessary ‘universal beauty’. His most recognisable work commonly features a flat, geometric shapes rendered in a limited colour palette (the three primary colours; black, white and grey) that follows a horizontal or vertical direction. “Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue” (1922) is one of many oil paintings he created during the last twenty years of his career. As with many of these works, it is composed of an asymmetrical grid. Varying sizes of rectangular and square planes of white, yellow, red and blue are contained with narrow, black lines. As Philip B. Meggs’ describes in Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, “the tension between elements, achieved absolute harmony”. Mondrian’s minimalist paintings have been described as a symbol of “modernism” and his varying placement of planes has influenced architectural, product and fashion design including a collection by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1966.