#Form perception definition how to
#Form perception definition series

In this article, we’ll discuss seven Gestalt laws or principles that directly apply to modern design, and share some examples of how they’re used in UI design.

And finally, at the highest level, the Gestalt principles help you design products that solve the customer’s problem or meet the user’s need in a way that’s beautiful, pleasing, and intuitive to use.

These psychological principles hold power to influence our visual perception, which allows designers to direct our attention to specific points of focus, get us to take specific actions, and create behavioral change.

#Form perception definition how to

For example, when to use visual hierarchy, background shading, gradients, and how to group similar items and distinguish different ones. They’ll help you determine which design elements are most effective in a given situation.And having a solid understanding of how these principles work will help you in three ways. This is what allows us to create meaning in a complex and chaotic world. The fundamental law that governs a Gestalt principle is that we tend to order our experience in a manner that’s regular, orderly, and recognizable. When people first see your designs, how do they experience them? To understand what makes UI design work, you need to understand the psychology of human perception. What happens when someone’s eye meets your design creations? How does their mind react to the message your piece is sharing? -Laura Busche, Brand Content Strategist at Autodesk Great designers understand the powerful role that psychology plays in visual perception. But why is understanding this important for web and mobile design? Why designers should care about the Gestalt principles These shortcuts are known as the Gestalt principles of visual perception, and they detail how our brains create structure by default. These are simple examples, but they demonstrate the types of shortcuts our brains make all the time to quickly make sense of the world.

#Form perception definition series

Your brain sees a dog walking, but it’s nothing more than a series of moving dots.

To further illustrate this process, check out the GIF below. And as a result, we perceive forms and objects where none were created. When this cognitive process kicks in, our minds leap from comprehending all of the elements as individual and unrelated components to seeing the entire shape as a whole. But in reality, all that's there are three white “pac men.” We see the triangle because our brains take the ambiguous visual information and organize it into something that makes sense to us-something familiar, orderly, symmetrical, and that we understand. If you’re like most people, you probably see a triangle. In the 1920s, a group of German psychologists developed theories around how people perceive the world around them, called Gestalt principles.įor example, what do you see when you look at this image? The human brain is wired to see structure, logic, and patterns.