Gestalt theory
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… are the gray lines curved …
… or straight?
Gestalt psychology and design
The world is a chaotic place, yet humans seem hard-wired to divine order out of it. We can’t help ourselves when we look at the night sky: we know there is only randomness, yet we populate the heavens with Big Dippers, Hunters, Lions, and other creatures of mythology.
Gestalt psychology asked the question: are there laws that govern this human proclivity to discern and maintain meaningful perceptions in an essentially meaning-neutral world? The central tenet of Gestalt is that the human mind forms a holistic reality that exhibits self-organizing tendencies. This means that when the mind forms a perception—a “gestalt,” the German word for “shape”—it is a unified whole that has a reality that is independent of the parts.
Among other things, Gestalt principles of perception and laws of grouping help to explain the phenomena found in many optical illusions. But perhaps the most lasting legacy of Gestalt lies with the design community, which has used Gestalt to formulate many of the design “rules” followed in graphic, web, interactive, spatial, industrial, fashion, and other varieties of visual design.
Gestalt: 4 principles of perception
Emergence
Perception of a whole precedes the perception of parts
Reification
Perception constructs more information than what is explicitly given
Multistability
Perception allows multiple simultaneous interpretations of ambiguous information
Invariance
Perception of a whole is independent of rotation, translation, scale, deformation, or other manipulation.
Gestalt: 8 laws of grouping
Proximity
uniform proximity
1 group perceived
proximity of column pairs
3 vertical groups perceived
proximity of row pairs
3 horizontal groups perceived
Similarity
value creates similarity among horizontal groups
value creates similarities among vertical groups
shape creates similarities among vertical groups
Closure
arc fragments of a circle complete perception of a whole
corner fragments of cube complete perception of a whole
dark fragments of a panda complete perception of a whole in the World Wildlife Federation logo
Symmetry
unconnected symmetrical element pairs perceived as a unified symmetrical whole
perceived as three symmetrical objects, not six individual objects
Continuity
elements grouping into perceptual wholes when arranged along an implied line or curve
when such groups intersect, they tend to be read as two continuous vectors…
…and NOT as having abrupt directional changes
Common Fate
elements organized in the same direction
perceived as 1 group
9 elements skew in the same direction to form a distinct group
remaining elements perceived as 2nd group
groups appear overlayed
3 groups of 4 elements each skew in the same direction
perceived as 3 groups…
… but simultaneously perceived as one group sharing the same direction
groups appear overlayed
Prägnanz
ambiguous relationships interpreted with the simplest possible outcome
upper element in the group is perceived as a circle …
… and NOT as some kind of rotated teardrop shape
Figure and ground
An element is perceived either as a distinct foreground phenomenon called a figure, or as the background containing the figure, known as the ground
stable figure-ground occurs when the figure is distinct from the ground
reversible figure-ground occurs when elements are perceived as equal and alternating
ambiguous figure-ground occurs where there is no distinct perceptual hierarchy
Gestalt in design
What are the Gestalt principles or laws used in the designs below?
Crazy fun
So, not to take this Gestalt stuff too seriously, check out this world of cognitive dissonance by Scottish designer Hey_Reilly. What’s going on here?