The incentive for this design comes from the philosophical theory of ‘Platonic Idealism’. Notorious philosopher and avid thinker Plato derived the concept of Platonic Idealism which ascertains that the reality surrounding our physical existence is transitory and merely representational of a higher truth. Plato separates conscious reality with another world, a realm of ideas, consisting of absolute truths, which are more ‘real’ than the objects physically present. Platonists advocate for Platonic Idealism because objects seen in the physical world are temporary and changeable whereas the absolute ideal of the object in the realm of ideas is constant and eternal.

As such, Plato displayed his contempt for artistic representations of visual objects. How could the ideal of an object be presented in the depiction of its singular, physical form? What purpose does a depiction of a transient object have? To combat such a criticism, in an attempt to create designs compatible with Platonic Idealism, a design could capture constancies of the physical object. It is theorised that what is constant in physical forms of an object should be present in the absolute truth of the object’s form.

The aim is to represent an oak tree in its ‘purest form’, as it would be in the ‘realm of ideas’. By representing constancies of oak trees, the visual design should evoke knowledge of all forms of the object. It should consist of constant elements, of essentials of the object, representing a conceptual oak tree.

We all have ideas of what a ‘tree’ is. Our depiction of the ideal of a ‘tree’ enables us to identify the reflections of other physical trees around us and as such categorise them. The suggestion is that every physical tree that we observe is a depiction of its ideal.