A liquid crystal display device comprises a first substrate, a first alignment layer (3') disposed on a surface of the first substrate, a second substrate, second alignment layer (3) disposed on a surface of the second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The alignment direction of the first alignment layer (3') has a non-zero component in a first azimuthal direction (7') in a first region (20') of the alignment layer and has a non-zero component in a second azimuthal direction (41') different from the first azimuthal direction (7') in a second region (21') of the first alignment layer. In consequence, in zero applied electric field across the liquid crystal layer, a first liquid crystal state is stable in a first volume (22) of the liquid crystal layer defined by the first region (20') of the first alignment layer (3') and a second liquid crystal state topologically equivalent to a desired operating state of the device is stable in a second volume (23) of the liquid crystal layer defined by the second region (21') of the first alignment layer (3'). The second volume (23) of the liquid crystal layer acts as a nucleation region and promotes formation of the desired operating state in the first volume (22) of the active layer when an electric field is applied across the liquid crystal layer. The first volume (22) of the liquid crystal layer acts as an active region for displaying an image.