GESTALT THEORY

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GESTALT THEORY
Gestalt theory allows communicators to predict
how viewers will respond to design elements.
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UNTITLED Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty
uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal
pweor of the hmuan mind aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't
mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,
the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and
lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can
be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit
a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as
a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot
slpeling was ipmorantt!
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THE GESTALT THEORY OF VISUAL PERCEPTION The
whole is different from the sum of its
parts. Origin From the German word meaning
form or shape. Developed by German psychologist
Max Wertheimer in 1910. After some
experimentation with a stroboscope (more commonly
known as a flip book) he concluded that the eye
merely takes in all the visual stimuli and that
the brain arranges the sensations into a coherent
image. Gestalt psychologists further refined
Wertheimers work to conclude that visual
perception was a result of organizing sensual
elements or forms into various groups. Discrete
elements within a scene are combined and
understood by the brain through a series of four
laws of grouping
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GestaltLaw of Proximity
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The brain more readily associates objects that
are close to each other than those that are
farther apart. Two friends standing next to each
other will be viewed as more closely related than
someone else twenty yards away.
Elements grouped close together will be perceived
as belonging to the same group.
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The closer in proximity objects are to each
other, the more likely that they will be
perceived as a group.
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Law of Common Fate
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The law of common fate states that when objects
move in the same direction, we tend to see them
as a unit.
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Law of Similarity
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Elements that share qualities will be perceived
as part of the same form.
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SIMILARITY
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Law of Continuation (Closure)
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The brain does not prefer sudden or unusual
changes in the movement of a line. The line can
be a continuous line in the traditional sense, or
can be a series of objects placed together to
form a line. Objects not in that line will be
mentally separated.
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Figure/Ground
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In 1915, Danish Gestalt psychologist Edgar Rubin
experimented with reversible figure-ground
patterns (known in painting and photography as
positive and negative space). He designed this
image to show that the object could be
interpreted as either two faces or a vase.
However, the brain cannot see both images at
onceyou must make a conscious decision whether
to see a face or a vase in the drawing.
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We tend to perceive some visual elements as the
figure with a definite shape and border while
other elements appear as the ground, further away
and behind the main focus of the image.
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We tend to perceive some visual elements as the
figure with a definite shape and border while
other elements appear as the ground, further away
and behind the main focus of the image.
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This question is directly related to the
important need of the brain to label objects as
near or far in order to judge their relative
importance (or danger). Rubin also outlined the
principle of camouflage in which there is little
or no separation between the foreground and
background.
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Surroundedness also is also related to
figure-ground.
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Illusion
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SEAL OR HORSE?
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