As a visual designer, I am fascinated how people process visual perceptual information. The design process is about bringing order and form to our visual world. Gestalt Psychologists in the 1930’s suggested some basic perceptual rules that the brain automatically and unconsciously follows as it organises sensory information into meaningful wholes. Gestalt in German means form, figure or shape. The Gestalt psychologists began to question the efforts of classical psychologists and behaviourists to reduce perception to an assortment of sensation. It was clear perception tended to structure itself in unitary entities or ‘wholes’ that some areas of perceptual mosaic move together and can be handled as units.
Figure-ground perception
When we look at the world, we see a multitude of objects or figures that seem to stand away from the background. Such as the words that I am typing in black against the white background. In a website design, I intuitively separate the web elements so that they are distinct from their background. The navigation menu needs to be seen separate from its background. With the figure below what do you see?
Proximity
Our brains tend to group objects that are close to one another. When the dots are placed together in groups, we see three separate groups of dots. Objects that are brought closer together tend to interrupt the discontinuous and ‘non-unified’.
Similarity
The brain tends to group similar objects that are together. We see the triangles and circles separately. On a web design page, we will keep all the buy now button looking the same so that they can be seen quickly.
Continuity
We perceive smooth continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones. We have a preference for understanding visual information that seems to follow one another as a continuous pattern. Camouflage works on the principle of good continuation.
Simplicity
People tend to perceive the simplest pattern possible.
Closure
Our minds help us fill in the gaps to create a complete, whole object. If part of a familiar pattern or shape is missing, perceptual processes complete the pattern.
Gestalt principles describe the fundamentals of the design process. A web designer is a visual communicator, and a skilled designer is continually organising complexity so that it is understood as part of a whole
More Design Terms
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Dovetail – design term
Dovetail is the name for a shape that looks like a dove’s tail and is used in woodworking. Joints are made up of tabs in the shape of a dovetail that fit into holes in the other part. Dovetails are often used to join the corners of cabinet drawers and box shapes.Read More →
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Cassone – the marriage chest
A cassone is a big decorated chest that was made in Italy between the 14th and 16th centuries. In 1472, a Florentine merchant married a young noblewoman named Vaggia Nerli. Cassoni were put on display in the most important and well-furnished room in the palace.Read More →
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Capitalisation rules – the basics
If you have ever read an old newspaper (early nineteenth century) and you look carefully at the old broadsheets. You will notice that words are capitalised here and there and that the rules of capitalisation, some of which you will learn shortly, seem nonexistent.Read More →
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Dutch Design – what is it?
The phrase “Dutch Design” refers to an informal artistic school of design in the Netherlands, particularly in product design. More specifically, the word refers to the design aesthetic used by Dutch designers. Read More →
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Ottoman simplicity of sitting
A low seat with a cushion that became popular in the late 1700s. They simplified sitting. READ MORERead More →
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Agitprop – Design and Art Term
Agitprop art (or the art of agitation) was used to manipulate ideological beliefs, specifically to spread the ideals of Communism in Russia in the period immediately following the 1917 revolution. The term ‘agitprop’ (an abbreviation for agitation propaganda: ‘agitational propaganda’) was first used shortly after the Revolution, and the Communist Party established the Department of…
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Maiolica tin-glazed earthenware, a product of the Renaissance
Maiolica is a tin-glazed earthenware that was produced during the Renaissance in Italy. The name comes from Majorca, the island from which, in the 15th century, a lot of Hispano-Moresque tin-glazed pottery was brought into Italy. The technique of covering with a tin glaze earthenware was similar to that used elsewhere in Europe for delftware…
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Basse-taille – Design Term
Basse-taille is a method for enamelling the graves or low-reliefs on a metal surface, typicallyRead More →
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Mission Furniture – Design Dictionary Term
The term mission furniture was first popularized by Joseph P. McHugh of New York, a furniture manufacturer and retailer. The word mission references the Spanish missions throughout colonial California. The style became increasingly popular following the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.Read More →
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Moquette – fabric for public transport
Moquette is a tough woollen fabric used for upholstery on public transportation all over the world. The fabric is typically composed of 85% wool and 15% nylon and is created using the weaving method known as jacquard. It has excellent thermal characteristics, keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.Read More →
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Typography Glossary – Design Terms
It helps to have an appropriate language to talk about typography. The following is a glossary of some of the words and their definitions that are used to described typography.Read More →
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Shagreen – Design Term
Shagreen is fish skin used as a veneer to cover furniture and accessories. Also knownRead More →
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What is Wrought Iron?
The term “wrought iron” refers to the material rather than the products made of iron. Modern mild steel has supplanted wrought iron, a forgeable ferrous material used up until about the middle of the twentieth century. Because of the extensive forming required during its production—under power hammers and through rollers—it was originally referred to as…
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Guilloche two banded decorative motif
The guilloche is a decorative element that encircles a line of bosses with two bands or ribbons intertwined. In the British Regency style, it was particularly well-liked and adopted by furniture designers from Renaissance to the Twenties and Fifties.Read More →
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Dada Art Movement – Making Mischief
As a designer, I am passionate about the history of art and their influence on ‘visual design.’ In art history, Dada is the artistic movement that preceded Surrealism, it began in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916 by a group of mostly painters and painters. Dada artworks challenged the preconceived notions of what art meant. Many Dadaists felt…
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Brandewijnskom – brandy bowls for birth ceremonies
Brandewijnskom. Brandy bowls were made in Holland and Friesland in the 17th and 18th centuries.Read More →
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Affichiste French for Poster Designer
Affichiste. Name (literally ‘poster designer’) taken by the French artists and photographers Raymond Hains (1926-) and Jacques de la Villeglé (1926-), who met in 1949 and created a technique to create collages from pieces of torn-down posters during the early 1950s. These works, which they displayed for the first time in 1957, were called affiches…
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Minimalism – Less is More
Minimalism is an art historical and critical term. The purest forms of minimalism include cubes and spheres, plain, unadorned surfaces, and solid colours. Adolf Loos’ famous quote, “Ornament is a Crime,” has become catchphrases for the minimalist design movement.Read More →
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‘Moderne’ Style of Art Deco Popular in the 20s & 30s
Moderne was a decorative style that was mostly about how things looked on the outside. Moderne architecture was most noticeable in public buildings like skyscrapers and movie theatres. Postmodernism later brought back a lot of the styles that were part of the moderne movement.Read More →