Composition and layout

Member lesson

Let the shape carry the verb

Lesson 5 of 27 in Composition and layout.

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by El Lissitzky · Mary Rose | Art History PhD Student
Lesson

No soldiers. No faces. No scene. You still know who is winning.

the hole is the figurethe disc is the figure
The same shape read as object or as background.
Three shape scenes: a red wedge cracking a wall of blue squares, a yellow circle squeezed between green blocks, and a purple square tipping off a ledge.
Flat shapes act out a break-in, a squeeze and a fall with no people in sight. Geometry alone can tell the viewer what is happening in a picture.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    On the poster, a red triangle enters a white circle. Why do viewers understand it before reading a word of the Cyrillic?

    • The red colour alone tells them who is winning
    • The geometry itself conjugates the verb
    • The soldiers drawn inside the shapes explain it
    • The text is set large enough to read first
  2. Question 2, locked

    A delivery start-up wants to know whether its logo really suggests movement. What test does the lesson suggest?

    • Show the full logo to customers and ask what it means
    • Animate the logo and see if it feels faster
    • Compare its colours with other delivery brands
    • Cover the name and see if the shape shows direction
  3. Question 3, locked

    A bank's logo says nothing at all once its name is hidden. How does the lesson judge this?

    • Fine for a bank, fatal for a brand about movement
    • A failure for any brand, banks very much included
    • A strength, since silent logos travel further abroad
    • Acceptable only if the bank sticks to two inks

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