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Optical Corrections in Architecture and Typography

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This article highlights a special aspect of both visual design and architecture: Optical cor­rections (or optical ad­just­ments, if you prefer). If you found my piece about legible typefaces interesting, you’ll likely enjoy this one as well. Since I included many visual examples that are size-sensitive, make sure you read this on a big screen and not your mobile device. Optical Illusions The Müller-Lyer illusion, pictured below, makes you think that, of two lines, one is longer than the other when in fact they are of the same length. It appears in virtually every introductory book on graphic de­sign and, of course, in books on per­ception and psy­cho­lo­gy. You might not have known it by name, but you must have seen it before: Is the blue line on top longer than the one at the bottom? Click the arrows to find out. It used to be said that, in order to see the illu­sion, you must have grown up in an environ­ment where lines very similar to these would explicitly appear in your everyday s

Nuberodesign > Blog > Designing for the Eye Designing for the Eye Optical Corrections in Architecture and Typography By Nikos Kitsakis, June 2025 This article highlights a special aspect of both visual design and architecture: Optical cor­rections (or optical ad­just­ments, if you prefer). If you found my piece about legible typefaces interesting, you’ll likely enjoy this one as well. Since I included many visual examples that are size-sensitive, make sure you read this on a big screen and not your mobile device. Optical Illusions The Müller-Lyer illusion, pictured below, makes you

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