The designing engineers assume soil reaction as a function to the dimension of the stressing surface. This assumption disregards the soil structure interaction, and the properties of the stressed soil. Based on this unrealistic assumption, depth and reinforcement of the foundation are determined. Consequently, the designed reinforcement and dimension are overestimated. This paper presents a research to determine the reaction of different types of soil to different types of footing “stressing surfaces". Footings were prepared from two types of wood; Muskie, and Beech, and from Acrylic with three different shapes; square, rectangle and folded, and with different sizes. Artificial soil was set from Kaolinite clay with three different water contents to presume different soil strength. The testing rig includes tank container for the soil, arrangement for loading, and monitoring the settlement, and the footing strain at the critical section of moment. The experimental investigation depicts that soil reaction is much less than the sum of the applied loading, within the service loading of the footing. Settlements vary considerably from one footing model to another. That is, the settlement depends on the footing rigidity. Ultimate bearing capacity varies considerably according to the footing rigidity.