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There is an episode of The Lone
Ranger in which this single

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frame appears. The masked hero
has paused while riding on his

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horse. Positioned as he is, it
looks as if a cactus has

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sprouted from his wide brim pad.
How strange what would cause us

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to make that connection, at
least two factors are to blame.

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First, there is a degree of
resemblance between the two

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components, the crown of the
hat, and the cactus are of

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nearly equal width, and their
shadows and highlights also

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converge. Our tendency to see
them as connected is called

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similarity grouping. The second
factor is positioning or

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nearness, because the Lone
Ranger has paused at this moment

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in this position, and because of
the camera's angle, the hat and

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the cactus appear to be joined.
This is called proximity

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grouping. If the Lone Ranger
were to move, or if the camera

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shifted, we would no longer be
prompted to see the two things

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as united. In psychology, these
factors are known as perceptual

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organizing principles. Among the
most common examples, as we've

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just seen, is proximity grouping
when things appear to belong

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together, because they are near
in space. Another common

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tendency, as the Lone Ranger has
just revealed, is similarity

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grouping, when things appear
connected, because they have

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attributes in common. Curious
complications arise when things

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are seen as a unit, according to
one grouping factor, but are

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seen as not united according to
another. It is these tendencies

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that enable us without thinking
about it, to follow the action

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while watching a sports event.
To observe a marching band as it

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passes in formation, to see a
constellation or to simply read

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a book in which letters are
grouped as words, words combine

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sentences, sentences become
paragraphs, and so on. In all

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these situations, and indeed at
every moment in our lives, we

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make sense of what is happening
by seeing certain components as

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belonging together, while others
appear as standing apart. These

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built in biases of the brain are
quintessential tools of the

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trade in designing camouflage.
Psychologists have referred to

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these tendencies as unit forming
factors. Simply stated,

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similarity and proximity
grouping enable unit forming or

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connection, while difference and
separation and space are likely

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to result in unit breaking, or
disconnection. In addition,

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connections are also a likely
result of continuity, as when

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things line up in space.
Camoufleurs are not alone in

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making use of unit forming
factors. As is evidenced by this

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series of posters, graphic
designers make incessant daily

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use of attribute similarities,
proximity and aligned

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continuities. Each of these
posters is a tribute to a

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different variety of design.
They represent from left to

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right, graphic, industrial, and
interior design. While each is

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unique, they hold together as a
suite like a set of dinnerware

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as variations on a theme.
Recurrent circles in the form of

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a plate, a sphere, and side
views of a circular table and

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lamp are an especially important
motif. In camouflage, it is by

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high similarity, or background
matching that a figure blends in

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with its setting. It is also by
similarity that mimetic

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camouflage occurs when an insect
closely resembles a stick or a

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dead leaf. It is by high
difference that the pattern

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surface of an animal or a
disruptively camouflage ship

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appear to be not one thing, but
two things or more; a

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smorgasbord of separate parts.
Through camouflage, the

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application of connection or
disconnection can serve to

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enhance or to weaken the
coherence of what we are seeing.

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But how do we make use of the
same grouping tendencies in

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other activities? For example,
when we write a poem, or when we

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make a painting or plan a
building, or design a poster or

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a book? When I was preschool
age, among my favorite things to

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recite, were nursery rhymes. And
the one that I especially liked

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was Hey, Diddle Diddle, it goes
like this: Hey Diddle Diddle,

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the cat and the fiddle. The cow
jumped over the moon, the little

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dog laughed to see such sport,
and the dish ran away with the

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spoon. The first published
version of this nursery rhyme

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dates back to 1765. In literary
collections, it is referred to

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as a nonsense verse. It is no
doubt many things, but I would

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not dismiss it as nonsense. If
anything, it is artfully crafted

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linguistic design, an exemplar
of witty and finely formed

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writing. Looking closely at that
poem, it soon becomes apparent

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that there are connections
called end rhymes between dittle

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fiddle and little, and between
moon and spoon. And of course,

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there are also consonant sounds
that rhyme called alliteration

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between cat and cow, little and
laughed, see and such and sport

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and spoon. In its oldest
surviving version, the fifth

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line of Hey Diddle,Diddle was to
see such craft. So that laughed

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and craft were and rhymes, and
the pattern of similar lines was

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done A, A, B, C, C, B, instead
of as I learned it, A, A, B, C,

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D, B. As for the poem subject
matter, it may be useful to

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point out that at least when I
was growing up, fiddle strings

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were made from cat gut, cheese
was obtained from the milk of a

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cow. The moon was made of green
cheese, the crescent moon, the

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cutout shape on outhouse doors
was the same as the shape of

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cow's horn, and moon was a vocal
reminder of moo. In relating

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poetry to art and music, the
American artist James McNeill

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Whistler, no doubt made some
enemies in 1890, when he wrote,

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"as music is the poetry of
sound, so is painting the poetry

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of sight." There are undoubtedly
people who are unable to

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understand the point that
Whistler was trying to make,

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much less agree with it. The
American artist Grant Wood was

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not among them, indeed, a review
of some of woods paintings,

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which show that he was well
aware of how vital it is to

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strive for a mediation between
connection and disconnection in

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art, by the use of unit forming
factors. People may argue

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forever about the narrative
meaning of Wood's most famous

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painting, American Gothic, but
to the artists. That painting

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was a statement about a European
architectural tradition, known

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as Gothic style, which by the
time it reached this country,

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became known as American Gothic.
His painting is a comparison of

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that architectural style with
the body language of the

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steadfast devotees of manifest
destiny, who chose to inhabit

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its buildings.

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The title Wood chose is a
spoiler. But an equally obvious

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giveaway is the house that
stands in the background. It is

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a trademark example of a
carpenter Gothic building, which

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was itself a subset of American
Gothic. The ancestry of the

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style goes back to Gothic
cathedrals, and to their renewed

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popularity during what was known
as the Gothic Revival. In its

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American Gothic version, it was
simplified and refined, but

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certain characteristics remained
that provide unmistakable

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earmarks, all of which would
refers to in his painting. One

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of these is an elongated
vertical posture, a gesture that

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directs us upward as signaled by
the high pitch roof, the

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vertical proportion of the side
by side join windows and the

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striped like pattern of wooden
strips on the surface of the

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building, known as board and
batten siding. The arched paired

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window at the top could easily
serve as a logo for Gothic

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architectural style. And indeed,
long before Wood made this

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painting, those tall thin arches
were famously used in the design

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of the Brooklyn Bridge. But
American Gothic is not merely a

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comment about a style of
architecture. It is as much a

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comparison of that building
style with the lifestyle of its

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occupants as if to say, you are
what you live in. If we ask how

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Grant Wood maneuvers us into
seeing connections between the

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couple in the foreground, and
the house they are in front of,

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the answer is soon crystal
clear. First, he places the

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couple side by side facing the
viewer, which is one way to make

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them echo the side by side
paired windows. He has also

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elongated the proportion of the
figures to strengthen

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verticality. Not only has he
stretched the figures, he has

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steepen the angle of the roof
and elongated the facing house

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of the arched window at the top.
This is especially evident when

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details in the painting are
compared with photographs of the

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house. There is a preparatory
sketch for the painting, which

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shows the farmer holding a rake.
But the artist had second

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thoughts and chose instead to
give the farmer a pitchfork. And

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of course, it had to be one with
three prongs, so that the fork

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itself repeats to side by side
paired window motif. There are

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other quieter factors that
strengthen Grant Wood's

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trickery. There is a pattern on
the farmer's bibbed overalls

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that mimics the shape of the
pitch fork. At first glance, it

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might even look like it's
shadow. There is also a quiet

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reminder of side by side
vertical pairing in Wood's

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rendering of the face of both
figures of the philtrum, the

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vertical indentation that runs
from the nose to the top of the

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lip. There are additional
nuanced rhymes between the

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fabric patterns of the woman's
apron, and the upstairs window

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curtain, between the pitchfork
and the staunchly vertical plant

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on the porch. And between the
vertical stripes on the farmer's

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shirt and the board and batten
siding strips. When Grant Wood's

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popularity was at its zenith, he
was known as a regionalist

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painter, along with other
artists from the American

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Midwest, notably Thomas Hart
Benton. as artists both Wood and

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Benton were assigned to
camouflage when they served in

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World War One, but both were
also highly skilled at making

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poetry out of paint. This is
especially evident in a painting

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by Benton titled Achelous and
Hercules. The painting benefits

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greatly from it's choice and
rhythmic arrangement of hues,

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but it also uses rhyming shapes
and two shapes, in particular,

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an oval or elliptical shape, and
a serpentine, or whip-like form.

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These two shape types occur
repeatedly in this painting, but

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each time in a new disguise. At
times, the serpentine line is a

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rope, or an axe handle, the tail
of a bull. The tail of a horse

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in the background, the
outstretched arm of a woman, as

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well as the windblown scarf, she
holds, the smoke of the

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steamboat, and so on. Meanwhile,
the oval or elliptical form, can

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be seen in the rim of the basket
on the far right, the mouth of

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the horn of plenty, the tops of
the severed tree stumps, the

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brim of the hat in the
foreground, and so on. The logic

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that governs arrangements in
Wood's and Benton's paintings,

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is not unlike the methods used
by a type designer when

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designing a typeface. It works
by the thoughtful employment of

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connection with disconnection;
of similarities with

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differences. In designing a
typeface letters, numbers,

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punctuation and other
characters, the designer must

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make certain that there is
sufficient resemblance among all

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the characters in the font. At
the same time, he or she must

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also ensure that no two
characters are too highly

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similar, and uppercase T must
not look to confusedly, like an

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uppercase J. And a lowercase P
must not be mistaken for a Q. To

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a bartender to watch your P's
and Q's may refer to pints and

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quarts. But to a graphic
designer, it is a warning to be

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watchful of the confusion of
different letters. One of my

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favorite book covers was
designed in 1996 by Robin

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Kinross at Hyphen Press for a
book by Fred Meijers, a Dutch

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type designer. The book is
titled Counter Punch and as

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foretold by its subtitle, it is
about making type in the 16th

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century and designing typefaces
now. The information in the book

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is enormous ly useful, but my
favorite part is the cover.

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Here, counterpunch does not
refer to a kind of blow in

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boxing, but rather to the
process used to make metal type

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for printing in earlier
centuries. The book's title is

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both large and in terms of its
color, high contrast. Blue and

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orange are direct opposites on a
color wheel called complementary

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colors. So there are huge
differences pronounced but there

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are two other colors as well.
There is the white of the paper,

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which enables the subtitle to be
nearly as contrasting as domain

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title, yet quietly demure as
well. Its reserve is partly due

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to being set in smaller size, in
lowercase as well as in

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italic. The fourth color could
be called a softened pastel

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green, so it, too, is somewhat
muted, and yet it contrasts

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efficiently with the background
field at blue. The box like

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green shapes at the top are
vertically stacked to show the

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sequence of stages in the
counterpunch process, which

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cleverly concludes below as the
backward E in counter. Despite

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its differing color, that
backward E nests gently among

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the letters of counter while
making reference to the fact

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that metal letters used in
printing were initially

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backwards as they are on rubber
stamps. Thus far, we have

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emphasized aspects of the cover
that make use of similarity

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grouping of color, sizes, and
attributes of letter forms and

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with less emphasis proximity
grouping, in the sense that

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things are clustered, but there
is also considerable use of

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spatial alignment which enables
continuity. There is a

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framework, a sort of buried
skeletal plan embedded in the

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layout, but we can easily bring
it to surface in order to see

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the alignment. Here it is in the
form of what graphic designers

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call a grid system. There must
be a more appropriate term than

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grid lines or grid system. But
these are already in widespread

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use. I, for one, prefer the term
broken continuity lines. It

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foretells that such lines locate
where shapes or edges align in

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space, and that the alignment
enables continuity between

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components that are spaced
apart. But broken is just as

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important because layouts like
most forms of communication are

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more engaging to viewers if they
are somewhat puzzling or

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incomplete, which allows them to
provoke us. We respond

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automatically because our
inherent reaction is to try to

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fill in missing gaps, to connect
the dots, to see the incomplete

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as complete in the process of
encountering it. Gestalt

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psychologists referred to this
as closure and considered it a

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corollary of unit forming
factors. And especially

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persuasive example of the
combined use of similarity,

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proximity and continuity in a
way that triggers closure is

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Kinesza's triangle and illusion
that was first described by

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Gaetano Kinesza in 1955. That
illusion, from the moment we

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first glance at it, appears to
be a white triangle pointed

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downward, that floats in front
of a white outline triangle of

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the same size, pointed upward
and three smaller black circles.

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The odd thing about the figure
of course, is that one doesn't

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have to pencil in the edges of
the white triangle. Once all the

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other shapes are drawn, the
process of closure is triggered

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and we then automatically see
the floating white triangle. As

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is apparent there are broken
continuity lines, some drawn in

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some imagined by the viewer that
helped to form the boundaries of

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the non existent triangle. A
zoologist, artist, and British

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Army camoufleur named Hugh B.
Cott made a provocative

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statement about art and
camouflage. Cott said that the

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one makes something unreal,
recognizable, while the other

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makes something real,
unrecognizable. While I have

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always enjoyed that, quote, I
quibble with it now and then. I

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think there are moments when
artists conceal as much if not

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more than a camoufleur does. As
noted earlier, works of art are

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one result of a mediation
between connection and

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disconnection, similarity and
difference or continuity and

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discontinuity. But that, of
course, is nothing new. The

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oldest, most frequently cited
description of aesthetic form is

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that it consists of unity in
variety. It is by now an awful

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cliche, and yet it is not
incompatible with connection and

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disconnection, which results
from our innate proclivity

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toward unit making and unit
breaking. When art and

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camouflage converge, it is
because it is essential to

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invite the viewer to engage in
what E. H. Gombrich called the

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beholder share, and what Arthur
Kessler referred to as

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infolding. When an artist
creates a form, while its mark

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must be compelling, it must be
sufficiently puzzling or

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enigmatic, as to enable a viewer
to engage in recreating it.

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There is an extraordinary poem
about this very subject that was

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written in 1628, more than 100
years in advance of the earliest

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00:24:52,979 --> 00:24:58,253
surviving version of Hey Diddle
Diddle. Titled Delight in

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Disorder, it was written by
Robert Herrick. In that poem,

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Herrick describes how enlivened
he is in the presence of a woman

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who deports herself and dresses
not in perfect order, but in a

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manner that is sometimes called
studied negligence. He ends by

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recommending that the finest
aesthetic arrangements require

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some amount of disarray, some
pinch of wild abandon. Here

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00:25:32,303 --> 00:25:37,762
then, is Robert Herrick's poem,
showing how he, like Mother

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Goose, use unit forming factors:
similarity, proximity,

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continuity and closure to
produce an aesthetic

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00:25:47,385 --> 00:25:53,214
arrangement. A sweet disorder in
the dress kindles in clothes a

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wantonness, along about the
shoulders thrown into a fine

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distraction. An earring lace
which here and there enthralls,

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00:26:04,225 --> 00:26:09,962
the crimson stomach air, a cuff
neglectful and thereby robands

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00:26:10,054 --> 00:26:15,236
to flow confusedly. A winning
wave deserving note in the

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00:26:15,328 --> 00:26:20,602
tempestuous petticoat, a
careless shoestring in whose tie

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00:26:20,695 --> 00:26:26,431
I see a wild civility. Do more
bewitch me than when art is too

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precise in every part.