Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition

149 Propositional Density

The number of independent meanings conveyed by a design.

Propositional density is the amount of information conveyed in an object or environment per unit element. High propositional density is a key factor in making designs engaging and memorable — it is what makes double entendres interesting and puns funny (i.e., they express multiple meanings with a single phrase). For present purposes, a proposition is an elementary statement about an object or environment that cannot be easily broken down into constituent propositions.1

There are two types of propositions:

1. Surface propositions — The salient, perceptible elements.
2. Deep propositions — The underlying and often hidden meanings of the salient perceptible elements ...