OUGD404 - Study Task 04 - How Do You Read? Figure/Ground Page

Within a publication there is figure and ground. Figure is the object on a page. This can be anything from a block of text to an image. Ground is the empty space that surrounds it. Often the use of ground can be manipulated to communicate a tone of voice.

To understand these elements of publications I analysed a variety of magazines. The first publication I looked at was the MOBO Awards magazine. This magazine was issued on the night of the MOBO Awards and is full of information about the awards themselves and artists involved.

This magazine initially gave me the impression that it would be a cheap publication and not have the artistic style that I would look for in a magazine however a couple of articles used ground in such a way that it communicated class and sophistication. By using a lot of white space surrounding the figure it achieves this tone of voice. It gives it structure and makes the design look dynamic.

In another article of the same magazine a similar structure has been applied. This time the white space has not been used so liberally. It has been used to divide a merging of two figures, which works well. Even though it has not been used as liberally as the other article it is still in keeping with the house style and delivering the tone of voice.

In the next publication I looked at, LAW, there is a similar tone of voice of sophistication and style but it is being communicated in a different way.

The ground, or white space was green (this does not make it green space, it is still called white space). This is an artistic style choice by the publication and continues throughout the entire magazine. The white space hasn’t been used so liberally and there is lots of figure on the page. However the figure is not overwhelming and runs smoothly because a grid system is in place. The opposite page has been taken over entirely by a single image, which helps with the readability.

Every article in this magazine has been edited in the same way keeping to the house style. This magazine still conveys the tone of voice of sophistication and style because of its use of colours and lay out instead of using white space liberally like the MOBO Awards magazine.

The final publication I analysed is a student publication in my university, NEST, which is a stylish magazine that has had a lot of thought about its design and house style. It communicates this tone of voice.

The entire magazine is minimalist and many pages simply hold pieces of artist’s work. There are few articles and written figure is spread out after every few pages. Looking at one of the article pages, white space has been used liberally and the ground and figure are equal in quantity. This white space communicates style and sophistication. Overall it is well structured and the ground has been used to give emphasis to the figure.