Propositional Density: Meaning, Motif, and the Art of Inception
One of my favorite design principles isn’t talked about much, at least not by its name. But it’s one of the most powerful principles in all communicative fields — from design to politics to film and fiction.
(Click here to read this article for free.)
What is “propositional density?”
Let’s start out by establishing the terms:
Proposition = an idea communicated by a design element or combination of elements
Propositional Density = the number of ideas divided by number of the elements
Images with more propositions than elements have “high propositional density” and are, therefore, more interesting, engaging, and satisfying to look at and contemplate. They also become vehicles for many — hopefully positive and cohesive — ideas.
Logo Design
To illustrate the principle let’s take two well-known presidential campaign logos.
The graphic designers who created President Obama’s 2008 campaign logo packed many meanings into very few design elements. (Note: The analysis below is from page 191 of this amazing book’s treatment on this principle, which uses the Obama logo as its main example.)
Elements:
- Blue arch
- Red and white stripes (I consider this one element, but each stripe can be counted separately)
- Circular cut-off of those stripes
Propositions:
- Red, white, and blue = America
- Red and white stripes = American flag
- Amber waves of grain = heartland of America
- Rising sun = new day for American politics (“Change”); opponents joked, “it’s a setting sun”
- O for Obama
- Circle symbolizes cohesion and unity
Then-Governor Romney’s logo also has a few different meanings loaded into a small number of design elements.
Elements:
- A red shape that looks like an R
- A white negative-space shape that looks like an R
- A blue shape that looks like an R
Propositions:
- Red, white, and blue = America
- R for Romney
- R for Ryan
- R for Republican, even (that was my brother’s contribution)
- Wavy = a flag
So far, so good. But there are two problems with Romney’s logo.
Distracting propositions
First, let’s face it, can you see it and not think of toothpaste?
In order for a logo to maintain its propositional potency, you need to prevent potentially distracting propositions from shining through.
Contradictory propositions
Second problem: though an image of a flag is evoked (and flags are patriotic, right?), well . . . it’s not the American flag.
It’s the flag of the Netherlands.
Contradictory and internally competing propositions need to be kept out of your designs. And whether you intend them to be there or not, if they’re there, they’re there. Accidental propositions can have the same potency (or more!) as intentional ones. Control the message lest it get out of control.
Character Design
Now for some fun!
Design principles aren’t just for visual application. Film and fiction make use of propositional density, too.
Jedi are propositionally dense. Samurai, wizards, monks, sometimes ambassadors — all wrapped up in one person.
The character V from V for Vendetta directly references or subtly evokes these other figures:
The obvious:
- Guy Fawkes = a revolutionary
- Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo = a man whose obsession for revenge takes its toll on love that could be his
The subtle (or just my reading):
- Batman = a brooding, masked, caped crusader with seemingly unlimited resources seeking justice (he’s even got the underground lair)
- The Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” = a monster who falls in love, and is loved by, a beautiful woman who helps him find redemption
- Quasimodo = a hideous monster who has a beautiful heart
- The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera = an elusive, disfigured, white-masked man who is a genius — but a terrifyingly cruel and murderous one
Let me know in the comments if you think there are more! I love this stuff!
Symbol and Motif
Entire movies can be propositionally dense, too.
In “The Hudsucker Proxy,” there are two major visual symbols embedded throughout the film (SPOILERS ahead):
- The circle
Elements (or motifs):
- The hoola hoop (and Norville Barnes’ blueprint for it — “you know, for kids!”)
- The frisbee (and Norville’s blueprint for it)
- New Years (“ol’ daddy earth fixin’ to start one more trip ‘round the sun”)
- The clock on Hudsucker Tower
- The coffee stain on the newspaper ad
- An executive exclaims, “I’m getting off this merry-go-round!”
- The great turning gears of the Hudsucker Tower clock’s gear room
Propositions:
- Karma (“a great wheel that gives us all what we deserve”)
- Second chances — in life, love, and business
2. The orientations of up and down
Elements (or motifs):
- Waring Hudsucker jumps and falls from the Tower
- Norville gets promoted from the bottom of the company (mail worker) to the top (president), and subsequently changes workplaces from the bottom of the company (mailroom in the basement) to the top (executive suite)
- Norville rises and falls emotionally (“How’d he get so high, and why’s he feelin’ so low?”)
- Buzz begins to rise as Norville begins to fall
- Norville slips and falls from the Tower
Propositions:
- Pride and humility, which in turn bring . . .
- Success and failure — in life (promise and demise), love (new and lost), and business (promotion and bottoming out).
The two symbols are one
These motifs — and, therefore, their propositions — combine to form a powerful conceptual image at the heart of the film’s meaning: going up one side of the circle and back down again on the other side . . . and back up again. It all points to, or climaxes at, one meaning, the moral or message, if you will: Everyone deserves a second chance.
Genre and Allegory
Sometimes the motifs in a film are incredibly subtle, but they form a robust mesh of element and proposition, of symbol and meaning (SPOILERS ahead).
Some movies combine multiple genres to arouse interest and deepen engagement. (Romantic comedies are at least as old as Shakespeare.) “Inception” is, on the surface, a psychological thriller. But just below the surface, it is a heist film: a group of people with unique specialties coming together to perform a theft — though in the film it takes the opposite turn. Going further down, though, “Inception” is a film noir, complete with the hero’s femme fatale. Three layers of genre — quite appropriate for “Inception,” wouldn’t you say?
But there is a deeper propositional density still. In “Inception,” the heroes create a world of images, deeper and deeper into which their subjects find more and more important meanings for themselves. At the place of purest, most significant meaning, they place an idea in the subject’s mind in the hopes that he will then act on it in real life.
Is this not what storytellers do? Christopher Nolan, the film’s director, revealed that the hero’s crew fits distinct film industry roles:
Nolan explained that each member of the team serves a role that has a movie analog. The Architect (Ellen Page) would be the production designer. The Forger (Tom Hardy) would be the actor. The Point Man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) would be The Producer. The Extractor (DiCaprio) would be the director. And The Mark (Cillian Murphy) would be us — the audience. “In trying to write a team-based creative process, I wrote the one I know,” says Nolan.
Everyday inception
As designers, writers, artists, storytellers, teachers, parents, leaders, and communicators of every kind (and we are all communicators), we can use the design principle of propositional density to create rich, interesting, and engaging stories, lessons, designs, and artwork into which we propose our own ideas.
Saying we all incept people who communicate with on a daily basis may sound like a creepy way to put it, but that’s what effective communication, art, and design are: inception. Proposing ideas to others through the things we say, write, and make.
We can use this design principle purely to entertain. We can use it to profoundly benefit the lives of those who read and see our work. We use it for selfish and nefarious ends. It’s our choice.
Learn to use it well. Use it on purpose. Use it for good.
