Gestalt Theory Of Visual Perception 1l25m

Gestalt Theory of Visual Perception The Gestalt theorists were the first group of psychologists to systematcially study perceptual organisation around the 1920’s, in . They were Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ernst Mach, and particularly of Christian von Ehrenfels and the research work of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, Kurt Koffka, and Kurt Lewin. The coming to power of national socialism substantially interrupted the fruitful scientific development of Gestalt theory in the German-speaking world; Koffka, Wertheimer, Köhler and Lewin emigrated, or were forced to flee, to the United States where they continued to work, in spite of the dominant theoretical field for that time, of behaviourism. The Gestalt of Figure/Ground Relationships

Perhaps the best known example of a gestalt is the vase/face profile which is fully explained in the six Gestalt Principles detailed below. Configuration with Emergent Features

Which of these two pictures is easier to ?

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the one on the left is seen as a whole room

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the one on the right is split into its part Six Principles of Gestalt Perception Principle 1 - Proximity

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The groups we see are 1 + 2 = as one group 3 + 4 = as another group  Similarly, on the left, three groups of dots in three lines. What happens with the evenly spaced dots?  The principle of proximity or contiguity states that things which are closer together will be seen as belonging together. Principle 2 – Similarity

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Similarity means there is a tendency to see groups which have the same characteristics so in this example, there are three groups of black squares and three groups of white squares arranged in lines. The principle of similarity states that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, value or orientation will be seen as belonging together.

 Principle 3 - Common Fate

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Suppose both principles of proximity and similarity are in place - then a movement takes place - the dots begin to move down the page. They appear to change grouping.

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Principle 4 - Good Continuation

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Seeing things as whole lines (sequential) is clearly important. But 'being in wholes means' that few interruptions change the reading of the whole lines. A to O and Oto D are two lines. Similarly, C to O and O to B are two lines. The principle of continuity predicts the preference for continuous figures. We perceive the figure as two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the center.

 Principle 5 – Closure

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Related to principle of good continuation, there is a tendency to close simple figures, independent of continuity or similarity. This results in a effect of filling in missing information or organising information which is present to make a whole

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In the circle at the top its seen easily. In the other to figures it's a little more complex. The second figure can be read as two overlapping rectangles (the gestalt) whereas it can also be seen as three shapes touching; a square and two other irregular shapes.

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The final shape can be seen as a curve ing three squares or as three uneven shapes touching.

 Principle 6 - Area and Symmetry

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The principle of symmetry describes the instance where the whole of a figure is perceived rather than the individual parts which make up the figure. See also Rudolf Arnheim, a Berlin gestaltist who emigrated to the United States, became professor of the Psychology of Art at Harvard University and published 13 books on gestalt theory and art. Go to Gregory's Theory - Gibson's Theory The principle of area states that the smaller of two overlapping figures is perceived as figure while the larger is regarded as ground. The principle of the symmetrical figure is that it is seen as a closed figure. Symmetrical contours thus define a figure and isolate it from its ground.

The Gestalt Principles

SIMILARITY / CONTINUATION / CLOSURE / PROXIMITY / FIGURE & GROUND Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements intogroups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. These principles are:

Similarity

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern.

The example above (containing 11 distinct objects) appears 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. When similarity occurs, an object can be emphasised if it isdissimilar to the others. This is called anomally.

The figure on the far right becomes a focal point because it isdissimilar to the other shapes. Continuation Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

Continuation occurs in the example above, because the viewer's eye will naturally follow a line or curve. The smooth flowing crossbar of the "H" leads the eye directly to the maple leaf. Closure Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the missing information.

Although the panda above is not complete, enough is present for the eye to complete the shape. When the viewer's perception completes a shape, closure occurs. Examples

Proximity Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group.

The nine squares above are placed without proximity. They are perceived as separate shapes.

When the squares are given close proximity, unity occurs. While they continue to be separate shapes, they are now perceived as one group.

The fifteen figures above form a unified whole (the shape of a tree) because of their proximity. Figure and Ground The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is naturrally perceived as figure(object), while the surrounding area is perceived as ground(background). Balancing figure and ground can make the perceived image more clear. Using unusual figure/ground relationships can add interest and sublety to an image. Figure The word above is clearly perceived as figure with the surrounding white space ground.

In this image, the figure and ground relationships change as the eye perceives the the form of a shade or the silhouette of a face.

This image uses complex figure/ground relationshipswhich change upon perceiving leaves, water and tree trunk.

In 1910, psychologist Max Wertheimer had an insight when he observed a series of lights flashing on and off at a railroad crossing. It was similar to how the lights encircling a movie theater marquee flash on and off. To the observer, it appears as if a single light moves around the marquee, traveling from bulb to bulb, when in reality it’s a series of bulbs turning on and off and the lights don’t move it all. This observation led to a set of descriptive principles about how we visually perceive objects. These principles sit at the heart of nearly everything we do graphically as designers. This is the start of a series of posts about design principles. It begins with theseprinciples of gestalt, because many of the design principles we follow arise out of gestalt theory. In this post, I’ll walk you through a little bit of theory and offer some basic definitions of gestalt principles. Future posts in this series will consider aspects of design like space, balance and visual hierarchy. In posts, I’ll point out which gestalt principles influence the aspects of design being discussed, and I’ll offer more practical uses and examples of how the gestalt principles are used in Web design.

The Key Ideas Behind Gestalt Theory “The whole is other than the sum of the parts.” — Kurt Koffka

The quote above is gestalt in a nutshell. When human beings see a group of objects, we perceive their entirety before we see the individual objects. We see the whole as more than the sum of the parts, and even when the parts are entirely separate entities, we’ll look to group them as some whole. There are several key ideas behind gestalt:  Emergence (the whole is identified before the parts) Emergence is the process of forming complex patterns from simple rules. When attempting to identify an object, we first seek to identify its outline. We then match this outline pattern against shapes and objects we already know to find a match. Only after the whole emerges through this outline pattern matching, do we start to identify the parts that make up the whole.

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When deg, keep in mind that people will identify elements first by their general form. A simple well defined object will communicate more quickly than a detailed object with a hard to recognize contour. Reification (our mind fills in the gaps) Reification is an aspect of perception in which the object as perceived contains more spatial information than what is actually present. As we attempt to match what we see to the familiar patterns we have stored in memory, there isn’t always an exact match. Instead we find a near match and then fill in the gaps of what we think we should see. Reification suggests that we don’t need to present the complete outline in order of viewers to see it. We can leave out parts of the outline as long as we provide enough of it to allow for a close enough pattern match. You can see examples of this a little further down under the principle of closure. Multi-stability (the mind seeks to avoid uncertainty) Multi-stability is the tendency of ambiguous perceptual experiences to move unstably back and forth between alternative interpretations. Some objects can be perceived in more than one way. An example from below in the section of figure/ground is one you’ve likely seen before. The image can be seen as either two faces in profile or as a vase. You can’t see both at once. Instead you bounce back and forth quickly between the two stable alternatives. One will tend to be your dominant perception and the longer you go without begin able to see the other, the harder it will be to see that other perception. From a design perspective if you want to change someone’s perception, don’t try to change it all at once. Find a way to get them to see an alternative. Then work to strengthen that alternative view, while weakening the original.

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Invariance (we’re good at recognizing similarities and differences) Invariance is a property of perception in which simple objects are recognized independent of their rotation, translation and scale. Since we often encounter objects from different perspectives, we’ve developed an ability to recognize them despite their different appearance.

Imagine if you could only recognize someone you knew if they stood directly in front of you and faced you, but you couldn’t recognize them once they turned in profile. Despite the different visual perspective we can still recognize people. You can see these ideas in play in the principles below. The main idea is thatgestalt principles are about perception and what is visually communicated by objects. The principles speak to the core of the visual language within which we work.

Gestalt Principles Most of the principles are relatively easy to understand. There’s a common theme running through many of them. “All else being equal, elements that are related by X tend to be grouped perceptually into higher-order units.” — Stephen Palmer Many of the principles below will follow this pattern. The principles either define X or the higher order that’s perceived. LAW OF PRÄGNANZ (GOOD FIGURE, LAW OF SIMPLICITY) “People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form(s) possible.” This is the fundamental principle of gestalt. We prefer things that are simple, clear and ordered. Instinctually these things are safer. They take less time for us to process and present less dangerous surprises.

When confronted with complex shapes, we tend to reorganize them into simpler components or into a simpler whole. You’re more likely to see the left image above composed of the simple circle, square and triangle like you see on the right than as the the complex and ambiguous shape the whole forms. In this case, seeing three distinct objects is simpler than seeing one complex object. In other cases, it’s simpler to see a single object, which brings us to… CLOSURE “When seeing a complex arrangement of elements, we tend to look for a single, recognizable pattern.” As with Prägnanz, closure seeks simplicity. Closure is the opposite of what we saw in the Prägnanz image above where three objects were simpler than one. With closure, we instead combine parts to form a simpler whole. Our eye fills in the missing information to form the complete figure.

In the left image above, you should see a white triangle even though the image is actually comprised of three black Pac-Man-like shapes. On the right image, you see a panda even though the figure is several random shapes. Seeing the triangle and panda is simpler than trying to make sense of the individual parts. Closure can be thought of as the glue holding elements together. It’s about the human tendency to seek and find patterns. The key to closure is providing enough information so the eye can fill in the rest. If too much is missing, the elements will be seen as separate parts instead of a whole. If too much information is provided, there’s no need for closure to occur. SYMMETRY AND ORDER “People tend to perceive objects as symmetrical shapes that form around their center.” Symmetry gives us a feeling of solidity and order, which we tend to seek. It’s our nature to impose order on chaos. This principle leads us to want balance in composition, though our compositions don’t need to be perfectly symmetrical to be in balance.

Symmetry and Order. In the image above, you should see three pairs of opening and closing brackets. The principle of proximity, which we’ll get to later in this post, might suggest we should see something else. That suggests symmetry takes precedence over proximity. Since our eyes will quickly find symmetry and order, these principles can be used to effectively communicate information quickly. FIGURE/GROUND “Elements are perceived as either figure (the element in focus) or ground (the background on which the figure rests).” Figure/ground refers to the relationship between positive elements and negative space. The idea is that the eye will separate whole figures from their background in order to understand what’s being seen. It’s one of the first things people will do when looking at any composition.

Figure and Ground.

The figure/ground relationship can be either stable or unstable depending on how easy it is to determine which is which. The classic example of where the relationship is unstable is the left image above. You either see a vase or two faces depending on whether you see the black color as figure and the white as ground, or vice versa. That you can easily bounce back and forth between the two perceptions demonstrates the unstable relationship. The more stable the relationship, the better we can lead our audience to focus on what we want them to see. Two related principles can help us:

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Area The smaller of two overlapping objects is seen as figure. The larger is seen as ground. You can see this in the right image above. The smaller shape is the figure regardless of color. Convexity Convex rather than concave patterns tend to be perceived as figures.

UNIFORM CONNECTEDNESS “Elements that are visually connected are perceived as more related than elements with no connection.” In the image below, lines connect two pairs of elements. This connection leads us to perceive that the connected elements are related to each other in some way.

Uniform Connectedness. Of all the principles suggesting objects are related, uniform connectedness is the strongest. In the image above, even though we see two squares and two circles, we see the square–circle pairs as more strongly related because they are visually connected. Notice that the lines don’t need to touch the elements for the connection to be perceived. COMMON REGIONS “Elements are perceived as part of a group if they are located within the same closed region.” Another way to show a connection between elements is to enclose them in some way. Everything inside the enclosure is seen as related. Everything outside the encloser is seen as separate. The circles in the image below are all the same, yet we see two distinct groups, with the circles in each enclosure related in some way.

Common Regions. The typical way to show a common region is to draw a box around the related elements like I’ve done above. Placing the elements on a different background color than their immediate surroundings will also work. PROXIMITY “Objects that are closer together are perceived as more related than objects that are further apart.” Proximity is similar to common regions but uses space as the enclosure. When elements are positioned close to one another, they are seen as part of a group rather than as individual elements. This is especially true when the elements in the group are closer to each other than they are to any elements outside the group.

Proximity. The objects don’t need to be similar in any other way beyond being grouped near each other in space in order to be seen as having a proximity relationship. CONTINUATION “Elements arranged on a line or curve are perceived as more related than elements not on the line or curve.” It’s instinct to follow a river, a path or a fence line. Once you look or move in a particular direction, you continue to look or move in that direction until you see something significant or you determine there’s nothing significant to see.

Continuation. Another interpretation of this principle is that we’ll continue our perception of shapes beyond their ending points. In the image above, we see a line and curve crossing instead of four distinct line and curve segments that meet at a single point. COMMON FATE (SYNCHRONY) “Elements that move in the same direction are perceived as more related than elements that are stationary or that move in different directions.” Regardless of how far apart the elements are placed or how dissimilar they appear, if they are seen as moving or changing together, they’ll be perceived as being related. The elements don’t need to be moving for the principle of common fate to be present. It’s more that they are seen as having a common destination. For example, if four people are clustered together, but two are observed heading toward the right, they will be seen as having a common fate. Even if two are only looking in the same direction, they’ll be perceived as having a common fate.

Common Fate (Synchrony). In the image above, the arrows are enough to indicate the elements share a common fate. While movement or change isn’t necessary, both are still a stronger indication of common fate than things like arrows or looking in the same direction which only imply movement. PARALLELISM “Elements that are parallel to each other are seen as more related than elements not parallel to each other.”

This principle is similar to the common fate principle above. Lines are often interpreted as pointing or moving in some direction. Parallel lines are seen as either pointing or moving in the same direction and are thus related.

It should be noted that for parallelism to be perceived, the lines can also be curves or shapes, though with the latter the shapes should be somewhat line-like in order for them to appear parallel. SIMILARITY “Elements that share similar characteristics are perceived as more related than elements that don’t share those characteristics.” Any number of characteristics can be similar: color, shape, size, texture, etc. When a viewer sees these similar characteristics, they perceive the elements as being related due to the shared characteristics. In the image below, red circles are seen as related to the other red circles and black circles to black circles due to the similarity in color. Red and black circles are seen as dissimilar to each other even though they’re all circles.

Similarity.

An obvious place to find similarity online is in the color of links. Typically, links within content will be styled the same way, often blue and underlined. This lets the viewer know that the different pieces of text are related. Once one is discovered to be a link, it communicates the others are also links. FOCAL POINTS “Elements with a point of interest, emphasis or difference will capture and hold the viewer’s attention.” This principle suggests that our attention will be drawn toward contrast, toward the element that is unlike the others in some way. In the image below, your eye should be drawn to the square. It’s a different shape and color from the other elements. I’ve also given it a drop shadow to further emphasize it.

Focal Points. The principle of focal points likely arises out of our need to quickly identify the unknown to alert us to potential danger. The principles of similarity and focal points are connected, and focal points can’t be seen without the presence of similarity among other elements. PAST EXPERIENCES “Elements tend to be perceived according to an observer’s past experience.” Past experience is perhaps the weakest gestalt principle. In conjunction with any of the other principles, the other principle will dominate over the past experience principle. Past experience is unique to the individual, so it’s difficult to make assumptions about how it will be perceived. However, there are common experiences we all share. For example, a lot of color meaning arises out of past Experience.

Past Experiences.

Having seen traffic lights throughout our lives, we expect red to mean stop and green to mean go. You probably see the image above as a traffic light on its side, because of the three common colors. That’s past experience at work. Many of our common experiences also tend to be cultural. Color again provides examples. In some countries, white is seen as pure and innocent and black as evil and death. In other countries, these interpretations are reversed. Conventions can arise when the experience is commonly shared, though again it’s important to that we don’t all share the same experiences. Summary Gestalt principles are important to understand. They sit at the foundation of everything we do visually as designers. They describe how everyone visually perceives objects. The principles above should be relatively easy to understand. For most of them, the definition and the image are probably all you needed to understand the principle. At the same time, understanding the basic ideas of these principles isn’t the same as understanding how they influence design. In the coming weeks we’ll look more at how gestalt influences design. We’ll see how symmetry helps us balance a composition and how combining focal points and similarity allows us to create a visual hierarchy in a design. Before we get to either, though, we’ll take a deeper look at the figure/ground relationship and consider the space in which we place elements. That’s where I’ll pick up the series.