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The Gestalt principles describe the way we impose organisational principles on our visual perception.
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The Gestalt principles describe the way we impose organisational principles on our visual perception.
If I want to draw a square I don’t have to draw four complete sides. I can draw just three of them, and using the Closure principle, our perceptual system will see it as a square. Just drawing four dots will do the same thing.
Gestalt psychology, developed in Germany in the 1920s, was interested in the way people seek organisation in visual forms (the word Gestalt means ‘shape’ or ‘form’).
Psychological theory has moved on from the Gestalt movement, but the laws of visual organisation they described are still influential among designers, and are key to the understanding of how graphic design can contribute to meaning in information displays. The Gestalt principles of Similarity, Proximity, Closure and Continuation are described in separate pages.
Wertheimer, M. (1923). Laws of organisation in perceptual forms. Available in translation at https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Wertheimer/Forms/forms.htm
Pettersson, Rune (2017). Gestalt principles: Opportunities for designers. Chapter 27, page 425 - 434 in: Alison Black, Paul Luna, Ole Lund, and Sue Walker Information Design: research and practice. London: Routledge.