Figure and Ground

The simplest way to describe figure and ground is a foreground and background relationship. Figure being foreground and ground being background. But there is a lot more to it than that. Describing it in fore/background terms gives the impression that figure is more important that ground, which is absolutely not the case. You can not have one without the other, and good design work makes every decision with that in mind. A classic example of this relationship is the vase/kissing faces graphic. Each picture plays the roll of figure and ground depending on how you focus on the object.

I have already noticed myself using this idea in my work, making arranging my letters to make shapes and patterns with both the letters themselves and the surrounding white space.