Even things as simple as making sure links are formatted the same way in a design are based on the principle of similarity in how your visitors perceive the organization and structure of your website. The principles or laws of Gestalt are rules that describe how the human eye perceives visual elements. These principles aim to show how complex scenes can be reduced to simpler forms. They should also explain how the eyes perceive shapes as a single, unified shape, rather than the simpler individual elements. Keep in mind that a user`s eye activates the brain to interpret your design in a certain way. Nothing is more tiring than a solid block of text on a page, with no discernible features that grab the reader`s attention. If you`re close to an old classic of literature, why not open it and look at a bunch of pages? A common fate occurs when we see elements moving in the same direction as elements more related than stationary elements or moving in different directions. Look at the last image at the top of the page. The circles are right next to each other, so the point at the end of a circle is actually closer to the point at the end of the neighboring circle. But despite the proximity of these two points, we see that the points inside the circles go together. It`s no surprise that people tend to look for order in objects, and symmetry is one way to do that.

That is why symmetry is so satisfying for us: it is a simple and harmonious rule that conveys a sense of order and rightness in things. This is probably why symmetry is so popular in government buildings around the world. (And why 3-column designs are all the rage.) Studies have also shown that our standard of «beauty» in faces largely depends on symmetry. PROXIMITY PRINCIPLE: This principle states that things that are closer to each other seem to be more related than things that are separate. These basic group models, which are closer to each other and make an image of them, and things that are distant, are perceived as individual models and not as a group that forms a whole. According to the law of proximity, things that are close to each other seem to be more connected than things that are further apart. One way to do this is to compare the size of the two (or more) objects and automatically judge the smaller object with the figure and larger than the ground. You can see it in the images above – regardless of its color, we always see the smallest rectangle as a figure, the largest as a background. In this article, I will talk about 7 design principles that are important to designers, and they are; If so, then you are not alone, and so am I. They do not hallucinate, it is just the brain that plays quickly on our eyes, it gathers all the patterns, points or objects available that we see and creates images in our mind and presents this processed whole. There are six individual principles commonly associated with Gestalt theory: similarity, continuation, completion, proximity, figure/ground, and symmetry and order (also called conciseness). There are also other more recent principles that are sometimes associated with the figure, such as common destiny.

The principle of proximity of Gestalt is when we consider that objects that are close to each other are more related than objects that are distant. We also tend to interpret these relationships very creatively, using past experiences to tie visual content to a narrative. For example, in the image above, I can`t help but see the small rectangle as a person looking at a darkening sky. It`s human nature to put similar things together. In the form, similar elements are visually grouped, regardless of their proximity to each other. They can be grouped by color, shape or size. Similarity can be used to connect elements that may not be right next to each other in a design. Gestalt perceptual theory attempts to explain how the human brain interprets information about relationships and hierarchies in a design or image based on visual cues such as proximity, similarity, and closure. You can see the principle of shared destiny with a beautiful drama on The Boat, which uses the role of parallax to convey both the chaotic jets of a storm and the forward tilt of the story it tells. In web and interactive design, the law of similarity can be used to establish connections between related elements. This relationship can be physical or conceptual.

You can make the most of this natural human inclination by helping your user`s eye identify the parts of your design that you want to highlight. Of course, the opposite is also true. By inserting spacing between elements, you can add separation even if their other characteristics are identical. Proximity refers to the proximity of the elements to each other. The strongest approximation relationships are those between overlapping subjects, but only grouping objects into a single area can also have a strong approximation effect. The central principle of Gestalt theory was well summed up by Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka: «The whole is different from the sum of its parts.» The human eye and brain perceive a uniform shape differently from the individual parts of these shapes. This global whole is a distinct entity that is not necessarily formed by the sum of its parts. The Common Area Design Law states that if the elements are in the same closed area, we perceive them as belonging to the same group. These three short articles will give you a first access to these laws.

However, if you want to solidify in your own mind the many ways you can organize visual information and improve your designs for all users, we recommend taking the course described below! Gestalt psychology focuses on how our mind organizes and interprets visual data. He emphasizes that the whole of everything is more than its parts. Now that you have a general idea of the seven design design principles, let`s dive deeper into each of them. We always try to bring meaning and order into meaningless chaos (and we`re not talking about your last relationship), and our eyes do it through reification: filling in the missing data to understand something we see.