Gestalt Principles of Design

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Gestalt Principles of Design

• ENGL 3190Document Design

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Overview

• Perception
• Visual Fields
• Gestalt Theory
• Figure-ground contrast
• Grouping

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Perception

• Perception requires thinking
• Readers search for focal points
• Readers draw on past experience
• Readers vision the task at hand, and then some
• Perception is goal directed

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What do you see?
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Visual Fields

• A range of vision that in any perceptual moment
  will likely include an array of shapes, lines,
  patterns, and textures

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Gestalt
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Gestalt Principles of Design

• Gestalt means whole or form
• Two of the most important principles
• Figure-ground
• Grouping

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Figure-ground

• When an object is surrounded by white space, keep
  a sense of proportion between the object (the
  figure) and its surroundings (ground).
• The figure is the focal image
• The ground is the background image

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• This page has lots of text and not much visual
  variation. As a result, readers wont be drawn to
  any particular place on the page. This page has
  lots of text and not much visual variation. As a
  result, readers wont be drawn to any particular
  place on the page. This page has lots of text and
  not much visual variation. As a result, readers
  wont be drawn to any particular place on the
  page. This page has lots of text and not much
  visual variation. As a result, readers wont be
  drawn to any particular place on the page. This
  page has lots of text and not much visual
  variation. As a result, readers wont be drawn to
  any particular place on the page.

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Is This Any Better? This page has lots of text
and not much visual variation. As a result,
readers wont be drawn to any particular place on
the page. This page has lots of text and not much
visual variation. As a result, readers wont be
drawn to any particular place on the page. This
page has lots of text and not much visual
variation. As a result, readers wont be drawn
to any particular place on the page. This page
has lots of text and not much visual variation.
As a result, readers wont be drawn to any
particular place on the page. This page has lots
of text and not much visual variation. As a
result, readers wont be drawn to any particular
place on the page.
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• How about This?
• This page has lots of text and not much visual
  variation. As a result, readers wont be drawn to
  any particular place on the page.
• This page has lots of text and not much visual
  variation. As a result, readers wont be drawn to
  any particular place on the page. This page has
  lots of text and not much visual variation.
• As a result, readers wont be drawn to any
  particular place on the page. This page has lots
  of text and not much visual variation. As a
  result, readers wont be drawn to any particular
  place on the page.
• This page has lots of text and not much visual
  variation. As a result, readers wont be drawn to
  any particular place on the page.

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Figure-ground Contrast

• Figure-ground contrast gives you a powerful tool
  to respond to any given rhetorical situation.
• Be careful of visual noise
• Noise is anything that interferes with the
  writers message
• Static on a phone line
• Busy backgrounds
• Loopy fonts

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Figure-ground Contrast

• Figure-ground contrast gives you a powerful tool
  to respond to any given rhetorical situation.
• Be careful of visual noise
• Noise is anything that interferes with the
  writers message
• Static on a phone line
• Busy backgrounds
• Loopy fonts

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Noise

• This is a noisy typeface.
• Another noisy typeface
• Still another. Can you IMAGINE this in ALL CAPS?
• Pen Island
• Who Represents
• The Experts Exchange

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Grouping (aka Proximity)

• Shows structure and organization
• Threads parts into manageable units
• Grouping creates visual cohesion that holds the
  parts together

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Gestalt Principles

• For a refresher (or more information)
• Gestalt Theory