Basic Gestalt Theory Flashcards
What is Gestalt Theory?
Gestalt Theory allows communicators to predict how viewers will respond to design elements.
“Design” are features in the world.
“The whole is different from the sum of its parts.” Bites and peices come together to form the image.
What is the origin of Gestalt Theory?
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 Wertheimer’s 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
What is Gestalt Law of Similarity?
Similarity definition – when objects look similar to one another people often perceive them as a group or pattern. What you see is a pattern
What is Gestalt Law of Continuation (aka Closure)?
Continuation - when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object. We know how the eye travels and moves.
Closure - 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.
What is Gestalt Law of Proximity (part of Gestalt on Grouping)?
Proximity- occurs when elements are placed close together. They are often perceived as a group.
What is Gestalt Law of Common Fate (part of Gestalt on Grouping)?
Common Fate: Stimulus elements are likely to be perceived as a unit if they move together. when objects move in the same direction, we tend to see them as a unit.
What is the Goodness of Figure, or the Law of Pragnanz (good figure) (Gestalt on Goodness of Figures)
Objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible.
What is Gestalt on Figure and Ground Relationship?
- Figure and Ground Relationship– the eye differentiates an object from its surrounding area. A form, silhouette, or shape is naturally perceived as Figure (object), while the surrounding area is perceived as Ground (background) (this relationship is reversible)
- We look for shapes and your brain trys to complete images and shapes.
- Contours – “belong” to the figure
What can contours be effected by in the Gestalt on Figure and Ground Relationship?
Can be affected by the principle of smallness: Smaller areas tend to be seen as figures against a larger background.
