Expressive Qualities of Line Certain arrangements of line are commonly understood to carry certain kinds of information. For example, calligraphy is recognizable as a representation of words, even when we do not know the language. Line in the form of maps is readily recognized as a symbolic representation of a place. The place may be a local neighborhood, or the entire world. It may be a carefully measured representation, or a stylized diagram, such as a subway map.
Floor plans are a specialized kind of map, a commonly understood device which describes a building.
This linear language can be understood even when the building is as unusual as this one, which was to be constructed of a sprayed foam material in a decidedly unconventional form. Graphs are another readily recognizable linear device. They are widely used to communicate quantitative information and relationships in a visual way. From the time we first meet them in basic algebra, to the last time we picked up a copy of USA Today , we encounter and interpret graphs. Line also communicates emotion and states of mind through its character and direction.