Gestalt's Theory

Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. These principles are:

1. Pragnantz (figure and ground)
2. Symmetry
3. Closure
4. Common fate (continuity)
5. Proximity
6. Similarity


1. Pragnantz
The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is naturally perceived as figure, while the surrounding area is perceived as ground.
Balancing figure and ground can make the perceived image more clear. Using unusual figure/ground relationships can add interest and subtlety to an image.

This image depicts a butterfly and a net. the butterfly will be focused on because it is the foreground and the net is in the background.

This image depicts a blind and a silhouette of a person's face. This time the blind is the foreground simply that was point, which is clearly indicated by the 'loop' at the bottom of the image. The silhouette is the background because less focus is applied to it.

2. Symmetry

Basically, the principle of symmetry tells us that when we look at certain objects, we see them as symmetrical shapes that form around their center.

3. ClosureClosure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the missing information.

 Its just 3 pacman and 3 'V' but our minds will automatically fill the missing parts so what we see is a white triangle on top, 3 black circles under the points of the white triangle and a black outlined triangle underneath.

This pendant of dice but if you step back and look at the bigger picture, you'll see its two blocks which has really poor perspective and many holes ranging in sizes.

4. Common fate (Continuity)

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

This a Celtic pendant which has no beginning nor end, it just keeps going around, :). 

This image actually has two principle of the theorem within it, the one being continuity of course and the other is closure.

5. Proximity

Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group.

This pendant is made up of many circular shapes, which in turn form a heart shape because of their proximity

The fifteen figures to the left form a unified whole, the shape of a tree, because of their proximity.

6. Similarity

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern.

This is a brooch of a panda with many stone that very similar to themselves and the grouping of the different stones form the panda.

The example to the left, containing 11 distinct objects, appears as as single unit because all of the shapes have similarity. Unity occurs because the triangular shapes at the bottom of the eagle symbol look similar to the shapes that form the sunburst.

EXTRA PICS