Purple Spiral

Optical art style spiral in purple on a white background.

The design pattern here is in the style of Op Art, an art movement and abbreviation of “optical art”. The term comes from a 1964 Time Magazine article on the artistic experiments of French-Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely, otherwise known as the “grandfather” of Op Art. These experiments began in the 1930s and came to define the movement—Vasarely’s interest in color, line, science, and optics resulted in an art style reliant on the trompe l’oeil, or, translated from the French, the “deception of the eye.” The style became popular due to its engaging and accessible nature and was incorporated into popular culture and design trends. Retrospectively, the spirals, swirls, and bright colors of Op Art seem almost synonymous with the 1960s and 70s, drawing to mind an age of psychedelics and counter culture with its hypnotic, groovy aspects. 

Op art, at its best, points out the subjectivity of human perception. The design on this button is no different.