Gestalt
Gestalt psychology attempts to understand psychological phenomena by viewing them as organised and structured wholes rather than the sum of their constituent parts. In the 30s and 40s Gestalt psychology was applied to visual perception. These investigations crystallised into "the gestalt laws of perceptual organization." Some of these laws, which are often cited in the HCI or interaction design community, are as follows.
- Law of proximity - the law of proximity posits that when we perceive a collection of objects, we will see objects close to each other as forming a group
- Law of similarity - the law of similarity captures the idea that elements will be grouped perceptually if they are similar to each other. Objects similar to each other thus tend to be seen as a unit
- Law of Prägnanz (figure-ground) - this phenomenon captures the idea that in perceiving a visual field, some objects take a prominent role (the figures) while others recede into the background (the ground). The visual field is thus divided into these two basic parts. This effect is often used by smart logo makers, e.g. the Aspple Mac logo can be viewed as a regular happy face and a happy face in profile (looking at a computer screen). Common to these logos is that you can focus on only one "interpretation" at a time; you cannot observe both the figure and ground at the same time, as ground will become figure when shifting the focus
- Law of symmetry - the law of symmetry captures the idea that when we perceive objects we tend to perceive them as symmetrical shapes that form around their centre. Most objects can be divided in two more or less symmetrical halves and when for example we see two unconnected elements that are symmetrical, we unconsciously integrate them into one coherent object (or percept). The more alike objects are, they more they tend to be grouped
- Law of closure - the law of closure posits that we perceptually close up, or complete, objects that are not, in fact, complete.
|
