Musings on contrast

Jan Tschichold, a renowned and respected German designer, said that out of all the important design principles, contrast would be the most important one. Reading about this was the very first time I learned about the importance of contrast in design. Going beyond design, I see contrast playing an important role in the construction and structure of important things in the world — Day and night (repeated alternation of these two creating a rhythm that governs how people, animals and plants live their lives), yin and yang (a fundamental foundation of Taoism philosophy), digital (0 and 1, flickering of these two creating a series of meaning through bit and byte), even pick-a-boo (there was nothing, but suddenly there’s a face!), thinking of which, it seems like it’s coded into us human being’s fundamental psych given how this is one of the first things babies recognize and react to.

Applying these musings to my day-to-day life and work stuff…

• I will pay more attention to what’s not there (ie. non-information) as well as what’s already there and seen (ie. information). When putting together a presentation, I will make certain information stand out by giving it enough prominence (utilizing white space, boldness of fonts etc).
• In verbal communication, I will actively utilize pauses that gives emphasis on what i say right after it.
• When pitching ideas, I will create contrast between the current state (what is) and the ideal state (what it could be) — this is not my original thinking but from Nancy Duarte’s famous framework on effective speech and presentation (ie. Alternating between “what it is now (the problem state)” and”what it could be in the future (the ideal state)”. Come to think of it, it’s really like doing a pick-a-boo with the audience. I will keep this analogy in mind when I do my next presentation for the leaders of my organization lol