The Art of "Empty" in Graphic Design (I)

[Abstract] "Air" can find its origin in Chinese philosophy. It is fully reflected in Chinese traditional painting art and landscape architecture. The article explores the use of book design, advertising, packaging, web design, positive and negative graphic ideas, and creative styles such as the minimalist school's creative design, so that it can be transformed into conscious use in future designs. Give full and proper play to its characteristics.

Keywords: empty; layout; packaging; advertising; minimalism

The most important role of "empty" art processing techniques is to introduce attention and give associations. Chinese traditional literary artists already have in-depth research and intensive use of them. Here, the concept is introduced into graphic design and research is conducted. It is hoped that it will be used more properly in future designs.

1 The Origin of Air in Chinese Philosophy

In Chinese philosophy, air represents an important idea.

Chapter 11 of "Laozi" says "Thirty ones have a total of one hub. When they have none, they have the use of a car. They think that if they have none, there is an apparatus for them. The chiseled production department thinks that the room, when it has none, has a room. Use: Inherent to use for the benefit, no use." Here emphasizes the unity of opposites with and without, born in no, no is this, there is use. Laozi tells people to pay attention to the empty world. People are accustomed to knowing some usefulness. The actual usefulness is based on nothing. Between the two, non-essential is the most fundamental.

The Tao is "empty", and Chinese Buddhists also use the "empty" to indicate the most original reality. Xuan Yu's translation of the Heart Sutra says: "Color is not different from space, air is not different; color is empty, and space is color." The Bible says: "Everything has its merits, such as dreams, and if the dew is like electricity, it should be the view. "The Buddhist family's thinking is very complicated. A few words are hard to tell. The essence of this is that the world of all colors is untrue, color is empty, and the external world is illusory.

In Zen, the first Chinese proverb in Hui Neng: "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is neither Taiwan nor Taiwan. Where there is no object, where to make dust." The intention is to conduct self-cultivation. Zen refers to this as "innocent law." That is, there is a "nothing" heart, and when you realize "nothing," you are enlightened. The state of Zen is not empty and eternal loneliness is not the idea that Zen is to express. Zen is "consideration" but it does not mean death.

2 Empty Expression in Traditional Chinese Art

2.1 The use of air in Chinese painting

The reason ink painting has become an important form of Chinese painting is closely related to this kind of aesthetic thought that values ​​"emptiness." In the painting, the theorist said: "No painting is a wonderland." Compared with ink paintings, if ink is used to cover all corners of white paper and become a black paper that is saturated with ink, then like the white paper that has never been inked, it loses the role and essence of the painting. The image formed by the ink on the screen is able to become an image because the void and the blank outside the image are in effect. At the same time, because of the existence of the image, the blank space is no longer a blank space, but has been given a variety of meanings that have led to various associations and become "meaningful spaces." Zong Baihua said: "Chinese painting pays so much attention to blankness. If Ma Yuan is named after a corner, it is often called "Ma Yi Jiao." The rest of the gap is not filled with reality. It is the sea and the sky, but it does not feel empty. The blanks are more meaningful. These all show that the use of virtual reality, virtual reality, virtual reality, virtual reality, combination of reality and reality, is an important issue in Chinese aesthetic thinking."

2.2 The use of air in traditional Chinese architecture

When it comes to air, we must not forget the pavilions in the garden. The pavilion is practical in the garden, and at the same time it plays a role in capturing the public view. More importantly, the pavilion is a landscape specially set up for people's hearts. The ancients said: “Infinite landscapes in the mountains and rivers are gathered together in a pavilion”. This is what this means. Because of its "emptiness," it "has" and "emptiness" has become a rich world through our hearts. The pursuit of scenery in landscapeless places in gardens and the soundlessness at the silent place is also a manifestation of “emptiness”. The landscape in the garden is not only about presenting itself, but it is just a starting point, a space that evokes people's imagination. The scene in the landscape, like elephants, is the scene of the garden.

(to be continued)