Design Principles: Visual Perception And

The Principles Of Gestalt

This article is part of a new series about design principles that can serve both as a
refresher for seasoned designers and reference for newcomers to the industry.
Hopefully, the content covered here isn’t too obvious and self-explanatory, but it’s
always great to have a nice quick refresher every now and again, isn’t it? —
Ed. 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.

In 1910, psychologist Max Wertheimer had an insightwhen 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.
Design Principles: Space And The Figure
Ground Relationship
If you see graphic design as a process of arranging shapes on a canvas,
then you’re only seeing half of what you work with. The negative space of the
canvas is just as important as the positive elements that we place on the canvas.

If you see graphic design as a process of arranging shapes on a

canvas, then you’re only seeing half of what you work with.
The negative space of the canvas is just as important as the positive
elements that we place on the canvas.
Design is an arrangement of both shapes and space. To work more
effectively with space, you must first become aware of it and learn
to see it — learn to see the shapes that space forms and how space
communicates. This is second part of a series on design principles
for beginners. The first part covered an introduction to gestalt; the
rest of the series (including this post) will build on those gestalt
principles and show how many of the fundamental principles
we work with as designers have their origin there.

Improve Your Designs With The

Principles Of Similarity And Proximity
(Part 1)
The perceptual process enables us to perceive the world through our senses of
sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. In particular, our visual system processes
vast amounts of information in its environment. Rather than perceiving elements
separately, our brain organizes patterns, objects and shapes into whole forms that
we can understand. The gestalt grouping principles of visual perception describe
this organization as a set of principles that explain how we perceive and organize
this huge amount of visual stimuli. The gestalt principles – similarity, proximity,
closure, figure-ground, continuance and common fate – are a popular tool used by
designers for visually organizing information.
The perceptual process enables us to perceive the world through our
senses of sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. In particular, our
visual system processes vast amounts of information in its
environment. Rather than perceiving elements separately, our brain
organizes patterns, objects and shapes into whole forms that we can
understand.

Designing for the Mind

Do you know what makes a design good? Is it merely an opinion, or is there
something more to it? Breaking design down seems like such an abstract thing.
Even the designers who are able to create thought-provoking work seem purely
talented and have natural abilities that can’t really be nailed down to a process.
But what if there were principles that captured why design and art worked the way
that they do?

Do you know what makes a design good? Is it merely an opinion,

or is there something more to it? Breaking design down seems like
such an abstract thing. Even the designers who are able to create
thought-provoking work seem purely talented and have natural
abilities that can’t really be nailed down to a process. But what if
there were principles that captured why design and art worked the
way that they do?
There are many beautiful designs that have been created on both a
conscious and unconscious level. The downside of a designer
continuing to create on an unconscious level is that the decisions
they make appear somewhat random. For example, think if you
were to ask a pilot why they clicked a few switches and they
answered, “It just feels like the right switches to me,” rather than, “I
need to adjust the wings to reduce wind drag.” As a passenger, the
second would make us feel safer and confident in the pilot’s
abilities.
Symmetry: A Balancing Act In Two (Or
More) Parts
Symmetry is the ordering principle in nature that represents the center of balance
between two or more opposing sides. As a fundamental design principle, it
permeates everything: from man-made architecture to natural crystalline
formations. In nature, symmetry exists with such precision and beauty that we
can’t help but attribute it to intelligence–such equal proportions and organization
would seem to be created only on purpose. Consequently, humans have borrowed
this principle for its most iconic creations and symbols. There are several types of
symmetry, but the most basic are translation, reflection and rotational. Each of
them has specific and practical expressions in nature, and each can be used to
communicate intuitive principles when appropriately and subtly integrated in a
design. As a simple aesthetic, these opposites that work together can add visual
appeal.

Symmetry is the ordering principle in nature that represents the

center of balance between two or more opposing sides. As a
fundamental design principle, it permeates everything: from man-
made architecture to natural crystalline formations. In nature,
symmetry exists with such precision and beauty that we can’t help
but attribute it to intelligence–such equal proportions and
organization would seem to be created only on purpose.
Consequently, humans have borrowed this principle for its most
iconic creations and symbols.
There are several types of symmetry, but the most basic are
translation, reflection and rotational. Each of them has specific and
practical expressions in nature, and each can be used to
communicate intuitive principles when appropriately and subtly
integrated in a design. As a simple aesthetic, these opposites that
work together can add visual appeal.

Design Principles: Visual Weight And

Direction
Every element on a web page exerts a visual force that attracts the eye of the
viewer. The greater the force, the more the eye is attracted. These forces also
appear to act on other elements, imparting a visual direction to their potential
movement and suggesting where you should look next. We refer to this force
as visual weight and to the perceived direction of visual forces as visual direction.
Both are important concepts to understand if you want to create hierarchy, flow,
rhythm and balance in your composition.

Every element on a web page exerts a visual force that attracts the
eye of the viewer. The greater the force, the more the eye is
attracted. These forces also appear to act on other elements,
imparting a visual direction to their potential movement and
suggesting where you should look next.
We refer to this force as visual weight and to the perceived
direction of visual forces as visual direction. Both are important
concepts to understand if you want to create hierarchy, flow,
rhythm and balance in your composition.

Visual Weight

Physical weight is a measure of the force that gravity exerts on an

object, but two-dimensional objects (such as elements on a web
page) don’t have mass and, therefore, don’t have any physical
weight. Visual weight is a measure of the force that an element
exerts to attract the eye. Two-dimensional objects can attract
attention. The more an element attracts the eye, the greater its visual
weight.

Design Principles: Space And The Figure

Ground Relationship
If you see graphic design as a process of arranging shapes on a canvas,
then you’re only seeing half of what you work with. The negative space of the
canvas is just as important as the positive elements that we place on the canvas.

If you see graphic design as a process of arranging shapes on a

canvas, then you’re only seeing half of what you work with.
The negative space of the canvas is just as important as the positive
elements that we place on the canvas.
Design is an arrangement of both shapes and space. To work more
effectively with space, you must first become aware of it and learn
to see it — learn to see the shapes that space forms and how space
communicates. This is second part of a series on design principles
for beginners. The first part covered an introduction to gestalt; the
rest of the series (including this post) will build on those gestalt
principles and show how many of the fundamental principles
we work with as designers have their origin there.

The Figure Ground Relationship

The gestalt principle that applies most to space is that of figure-

ground. Everything in a design of yours will be seen as one or the
other, and the relationship between them is mutually exclusive.
Neither can be perceived except in relation to the other, and
changing one is impossible without changing the other as well.

About Art - What Do We Really Mean

Mark Rothko, an American artist who described himself as an \“abstract
painter\“, once said that he was not the kind of person interested in the
relationship of form, color or_similars. He didn’t define himself as an
abstractionist, but rather as a person interested only in expressing basic human
emotions such as doom, tragedy, ecstasy and so on. This was one person’s vision
of art, but what do we mean by art today? Why is defining the concept so difficult?

Mark Rothko, an American artist who described himself as an

“abstract painter”, once said about art that he was not the kind of
person interested in the relationship of form, color or similars. He
didn’t define himself as an abstractionist, but rather as a person
interested only in expressing basic human emotions such as doom,
tragedy, ecstasy and so on. This was one person’s vision of art, but
what do we mean by art today? Why is defining the concept so
difficult?
This article is an exploration of the meaning of art and an
attempt to understand the relationship between art and artists, with
some useful insights via interviews with both traditional and digital
artists.

1. About Art - What Is It?

This question pops up often, and with many answers. Many argue
that art cannot be defined. We could go about this in several ways.
Art is often considered the process or product of deliberately
arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.
It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations and
ways of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture and
paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy
known as aesthetics. At least, that’s what Wikipedia claims.