The Gestalt theory was put together by a group of German psychologists in the 1920's. The theory is explained by the six gestalt principles.
Principle One - Proximity
This principle of proximity is a fairly simple one but often something we don not think about. It states that things that are closer together will be perceived as belonging together.
Principle Two - Similarity
The Similarity principle states that when things have similar characteristics we will automatically put them into groups. If a number of objects share similar characteristics such as size, colour and texture they will be perceived as belonging together
Principle Three - Common Fate
The principle of Common Fate states that objects moving in the same direction are perceived to be related to one another. They are also seen to be more related than stationery objects.
Principle Four - Good Continuation
I have displayed the diagram above to try and illustrate this principle as it is difficult to explain. The principle states that we prefer to perceive continuous figures. For example we perceive this as 2 overlapping lines rather than 4 lines that meet in the middle.
Principle Five - Closure
As humans, when presented with something less than the full picture we try to employ this principle and complete the image by filling in the missing information. This can be an effective tool o use within design but as designers we must make it easy for this to happen.
Principle 6 - Area and Symmetry
The principle of area and symmetry states that the smaller of two overlapping figures is perceived as the figure whilst the larger is the background. The principle of symmetry states that when something is not symmetrical the reader will waste time trying to figure out the problem rather than focusing on the image itself.
