Comment by empath75

If you are doing visual design, if you want to call out the parts of the space you are working in where you _aren't doing anything_, that is the 'negative space'.

If you are producing a letterform, all the parts of the object you are producing which is not filled by letter is the 'negative space'. The "space" is the whole area, including the letter.

People intentionally play with the distinction in optical illusions:

https://inthewhitespace.com/2021/11/17/what-it-means-to-be-i...