As a designer, why is it important to be concious of the gestalt principles?

It has been stated that we see far more than meets the eyes, though not always correctly, for we experience various phenomena of illusion using gestalt principles, departures from physical reality. Although they are errors, illusions are useful evidence of how eyes and brains normally work. When ever we gain inspiration, it’s often not just the particular element that sparks our artistic impulse; it’s the totality of the element and its surroundings. Grasping that totality concept, both the individual element and the whole in which it exists are important both separately and together, are essential to understanding how gestaltism influences our design choices.

It is important to use psychological techniques more in our designs but not completely scientific or mathematical, as stated by Michael Tuck that he believes the best design comes when proven theory works in harmony with art. At its simplest, gestalt theory describes how the mind organizes visual data. The stronger the clarity of form, the more effective the design.

See below examples how important we use the principles of gestalt:
This is called the "subjective triangle." What do you see when you look at the figure below?



The famous "Dog Picture," shown below, illustrates a Dalmatian dog sniffing under a stand of trees. When you squint at it for a moment, you see the dog "come together" from the disparate black and white blobs of the picture.

References: 1. http://www.answers.com/topic/illusions-1#ixzz1EtLlrd4P
                  
                  2. http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/gestalt-principles-applied-in-design/

Gestalt Principles

Gestalt Principles

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 into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. These principles are:

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.

Left: As I look in this image, I see objects(figure) on a shelves but while the eyes perceives on it, I then see a skull that is being defined by the background(ground) wall.

Right: These flowers are the figure and they make a word "sex" from the stems which also that is a figure and the ground is the background of these flowers.

Continuity

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

                                                                                                 In this piece of jewellery these circles continues to the

                                                                                                    bottom of this object and they bring similarity principle.

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.

Closure is the based off idea that identifiable shapes may be created through the use of positive and negative spaces.

This abstraction shows a dancer to illustrate how positive and negative elements may be used to create identifiable forms.

Gucci Necklace with beaded chain and heart toggle closure

Proximity

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

 Left: Links Bracelets 

 Right: Inductiveproximityswitches,capacitive proximity switches, photo electric sensor are placed together as a group in this image.

 

Similarity

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

 Street art image that shows a shoe with legs wearing the same shoe, this big shoe is being the silimarity to the shoes on the legs.

 The fire woods behind this lady are in proximity and also illustrates the gestalt principle of similarity. 

Symmetry

Symmetry states that the viewer should not be given the impression that something is out of balance, or missing, or wrong. If an object is asymmetrical, the viewer will waste time trying to find the problem instead of concentrating on the instruction.

References:

graphicdesogn.spokanefals.edu

www.google.co.za