Gestalt principle for visual design

I do not have a background in visual design, but recently I have been given a project which has required me to study a bit about visual design (and Adobe Indesign- but that's another conversation).

 In doing my research into principles of visual design, and some day I will write about that as well, I came across the principle of Gestalt. Gestalt principle has applications in both visual design and problem solving, but I will only talk about the visual design application. In keeping with my overall effort to keep my blog Jargon and technicality free, I will present what Gestalt is.

 Gestalt – is a German word that when translated means shape or form. Gestalt principle and indeed the larger Gestalt psychology is formed around how we perceive visual objects and motion. Gestalt principle is often used in visual design to manipulate and inform visual perception and to gain viewer’s focus. This is done by designing the visual arrangement in a manner that feels more connected and complete. 
There are six principles that form Gestalt. These are:
1.     Similarity – This principle states that when visual objects are similar to each other, a viewer will make association between the various visual objects and see them as belonging to a group. This effect is often used by visual designers to create a single visual object using separate visual (sub) objects.
2.     Continuation – This principle, often used in visual and graphic design work states that a visual object such as a line or path can be used to guide the viewer’s eyes (and brain) to another visual object.
3.     Closure – This principle uses the human brain’s proclivity to see closed or whole shapes. A good example of this is shown below:

This is the famous panda logo from world wide fund for nature. This a clever example of the perception that our brain forms and how it connects abstract figures into something that it can understand and relate to. For example – in this figure if you look carefully you will find that it’s not really a panda that has been drawn up, rather some abstract shapes have been put up close to one another. Our brain however picks these shapes up and forms them into something that it can relate to-that being the shape of a Panda. This is a mental process called Reification.
4.     Proximity and Symmetry – Proximity and Symmetry are two different principles. But since they are pretty much joined at the hip, I have put them together here. The proximity principle is all about grouping. Human brain will group together any visual objects or make association between them if they are similar and close to each other. The symmetry principle is about presenting the visual objects or arrangements in a balanced and orderly manner. Balance and order comes from having a visual depiction that does not seem too “heavy” on one side or too “out of place or misplaced”. If things are not balanced and aligned or relevant visual objects are not in proximity to each other then it can cause the human brain to overload causing confusion and jarring. This happens because essentially the brain cannot make sense of what the eyes are looking at or make out the relationship between the visual objects. We have seen earlier that the brain will always try to make whole figures or associate the visual object or image with something familiar. However, lack of symmetry and proximity can make things incongruous, which the brain can interpret as broken. Therefore, these two principles are used together.
5.     Figure/ground -  This principle relates to the brain’s tendency to see and distinguish visual objects from their background. A very famous example being that of Rubin’s vase (shown below), which can be perceived either a vase or as a couple of faces depending on how your brain perceives the visual object. This is called bi-stable perception as our brain is able to see and understand the two different figures here. However, there are some other examples where the perception formed by our brain is not so clear resulting in bi-unstable perception (fancy word for confused brain) of the visual object. 


The basic premise of Gestalt principles is that we see the effect of the whole event which is different than the sum of the parts.

Gestalt principles are also useful to consider as people identify objects by their general form first and can fill in any gaps in the visual object according to their perceptions. In addition, the human brain will always try to breakdown or combine complex visual objects and interpret them to the simplest shapes or designs that are possible for the brain to comprehend.





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