Design Principles Publication 1.4

Crit

Spoke to a few of my classmates to see which concept they thought was more intriguing and the majority thought I should stick to creating a publication about Gestalt's principles because it is a better use of shape and is an innovative way to present the information visually. I want to push myself to learn new techniques and processes to best reflect what a book can be. 

Gestalt's Principles

Gestalt's principles are 'rules of the organization of perceptual scenes. When we look at the world, we usually perceive complex scenes composed of many groups of objects on some background, with the objects themselves consisting of parts, which may be composed of smaller parts, etc'.

Exploring Gestalt's principles allows me to be visual and informative in order to greatly inform the audience. Gestalt's principles relate to all kinds of art and design which is why I think my publication would benefit anyone interested/practicing in design. 

Current books on Gestalt's Principles are very informative and lack in imagery. I aim to clear any confusion with simple and effective presentation and explanation of each principle. 



Figure and Ground

The word above is clearly perceived as figure with the surrounding white space - ground.

This principle shows our perceptual tendency to separate whole figures from their backgrounds based on one or more possible variables:
contrast, colour, size, etc.

Eg:

The square is the figure and the circle is the ground as anything surrounding the focal point is ground. The white square contrasts more with the dark blue to make it the figure which is an example of how colour can create figure and ground.


Shigeo Fukuda

An iconic use of negative space to create figure and ground that the audience choose depending on the colour:

I can use this as inspiration to create my own composition reflecting the concept of figure and ground. Ideally, I want to be able to cut out the negative space on one page so that the other page shows through with a contrasting colour/texture. 

Similarity

Gestalt theory states that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, or value will be seen as belonging together in the viewer’s mind.

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern. In the image above, the viewer is likely to discern a triangle in the middle, though each individual object is the same colour. 

Similarity or repetition in an image often has connotations of harmony and interrelatedness, or rhythm and movement.

Below, the shapes appear as as single unit because all of the shapes have similarity.

Unity occurs because the triangular shapes at the bottom of the eagle symbol look similar to the shapes that form the sunburst:

Proximity 

Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together they tend to be perceived as a group. Below are 9 separate shapes:

Because the shapes are all condensed together, it is perceived as one. 

Here, the 9 shapes are spread without proximity and they are perceived as separate shapes.

Closure

Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people percieve the whole by filling in the missing infomation.

Kanizsa Illusion

Closure occurs when elements in a composition are aligned in such a way that the viewer perceives that the information could be connected. It can be thought of as the tension or "glue" that holds a two-dimensional structure together.

WWF Logo

Although the panda above is not complete, enough is present for the eye to complete the shape. 

Continuation 

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object. We perceive the figure as two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the centre:

We perceive the figure as two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the center.

The horizontal lines force the eye to look across the page until the wake of the boat.