Day 2: Black & White

Contrast is the difference that lets one thing stand apart from another. The strongest contrast available is black against white. Without colour or grey to lean on, every shape has to earn its place, and you start to notice that the white space is a shape too — the ground is as designed as the figure.

Objective. See how pure contrast and the relationship between figure and ground create impact.

Design a poster for a single word of your choosing, using only solid black and solid white.

Choose one word that matters to you — a verb, a place, a feeling — and make it the subject of the poster.

• Only 100% black and 100% white — no greys, no gradients
• One word of text, plus a small credit line if you want one
• Shapes are allowed; photographs are not

• Only two values used throughout
• White space that feels shaped, not leftover
• A single, immediate point of impact

Create an ambiguous figure–ground composition where the viewer can read either the black or the white as the main shape.