The Gestalt Principles
It's all about perception
The Gestalt Principles are about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. These are some of the ways our brains perceive objects and shapes.
Figure Ground:
The darker color forms the silhouette of a man facing away. The lighter yellow color forms the figure ground, which bleeds into the silhouette, forming two hands with red fingernail polish. This overlap creates the interrelationship between the two—a woman embracing a man.
Proximity:
The elements used in this image include acorns, vertical lines, and leaf-like shapes. If they were scattered, they wouldn’t be considered a unified whole since there’s no order. But because they’re arranged closely together, they create the shape of a guitar.
Similarity:
Some of the donuts in the photograph have different colored stripes, but they’re still grouped together because they share characteristics like shape and design. Our mind perceives a pattern and groups the objects together, even if they’re not identical.
Continuity:
The cursive typography of this piece is already unifying, but the curved line is what makes it continuous. It leads from the F through to the H and finally connects back to the E at the end of the word, compelling our eyes to follow along while also enclosing the word so that it looks like one solid graphical unit.
Closure:
Some of the lines are missing in this image, making it incomplete because there’s open space between shapes, but when observed as a whole, our minds fill in the gaps. We can then see the figure of a woman with long hair, gloves, and a dress.
Symmetry:
The design elements of this image are symmetrical because they mirror each other. It’s pleasing to the eye because it is ordered and looks balanced. The use of analogous hues with varying degrees of luminance and saturation continues to give the piece harmony.
