Trying to break the ice for perception to state that how it is subjective in nature. As John Lubbock said, “What we see depends mainly on what we look for”.
The word ‘perception’ is derived from the Latin word percepio , meaning “receiving, collecting, the action of taking possession, apprehension with mind or senses”.
Here, the main question that arises is why is it necessary to perceive? Because perception provides us with the lenses through which we consume reality whether accurate or inaccurate and it's truly subjective as it varies from person to person. The above statement can be supported by Hermann Rorschach’s test, he was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who discovered a new kind of test that is used to analyse a person’s subconscious personality characteristics and emotional functioning.
Whenever we think of an object or perceive something our mind undergoes a complete analytical process. We, as human beings try to mould everything accordingly and when ambiguity arrives, a continuous war starts between mind and eyes. We are the born explorers and our brain tries to co-relate everything, give it a shape as a whole but again every person has their opinion.
Perspective is the basic element to deal with the world as it provides us with a point of view that helps in the building of mindset. The main feature of perspective is ambiguity due to which anyone can create their own magical world. Now, the question is why perspective is important? Because it is the main technique for depicting 3D volumes and spaces into 2D which is basically the observers' point of view.
Mainly, there are three types of perspective:- One point perspective(one vanishing point), Two-point perspective( two vanishing points)and Three-point perspective(two vanishing points, below and above).
What is Gestalt psychology?
When we dive deep into the process of perception, one must be aware of Gestalt psychology and its principles discovered in the early 20th century which basically study human sensation and perception. Now, what does Gestalt mean? It is a german word that roughly means configuration. It emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. It is one of the prominent psychological theories. It tells about how humans perceive visuals in connection with different objects and environments.
Gestalt psychology’s main principles:-
- Closure — It states that human minds always look for a pattern whenever we perceive the elements forming a close object, will be perceived as a group based on past experiences and also depends on by which angle we perceive and how we perceive.
- Proximity — It states that closer things appear to be closer than distant ones. Whenever there is a change in distance, we start seeing it as 2 different elements.
- Similarity — It states that the objects which share the same visual properties appear to be similar (size, colour, texture, shape, dimension, etc)
- Figure-Ground — It tells about the relationship between background and foreground, the things we focus on becomes foreground and the other one is background.
- Common Fate — It states that elements moving in the same direction are more related than those elements moving in a different direction or stationary because we usually try to create a sense of motion.
- Focal point — It states that our eyes easily captures those elements which are different from their surrounding elements. It basically tells about the odd one out.
- Continuity — It states that the elements arranged on a line or curve are perceived as more related than that of elements not on the same line or curve.
Gestalt principles in designing world
These principles played a vital role in the world of designing as it focuses on human mind and psychology and sees it as a whole. Designers used these principles to provide accuracy and accomplishment to their work. It helped designers on focusing various aspects like symmetry, colour, contrast, proportion, etc. while maintaining the visual connection or sequence. These principles swamp designers with great designing knowledge and perfection.
Today, I tried to explore space by making dozens of compositions while learning design, I started by thinking of nothing but boom! steadily interesting things started popping out of abstract compositions. It was just me, my imagination and a bumpy ride. Even I was amazed that how is it possible for abstract compositions to give any meaning but then I realised that it was the Gestalt principle behind this due to which I perceived abstract compositions as a whole. Sounds amazing, right.
Let me share some abstract compositions with you which will definitely produce a feeling of astonishment within you, created on a paper and as well as on Figma by using the Gestalt principles.
Please fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Let's get started.
- Amazing amoeba — Wondering about what it is, right? Its Amoeba, a type of cell or unicellular organism which has the ability to alter its shape and size accordingly. Wishing of having the same ability.
Principles: Proximity & Elements used : Ellipse
2. Shimmer Aircraft— Isn't this strange that how some random squares and rectangles placed in non-uniform order turned into the edifice. This is the magic of the Gestalt principle.
Principle: Continuity & Elements used: Silver foil and Black sheet
3. Bridge of life — This is the bridge of life that shows the journey of humans from childhood to adulthood that how we have to face every hurdle of life and only then do we reach the next phase of life. This is the ultimate reality of life and you cannot run from that.
Principle: Continuity & Element used : Lines
4. Robo time — Imagine it is 2050 and we all have our personal robots like our cellphones nowadays, all we have to do is to give an order and voila! work done.No wonder how amazing the world could be and an amazing place to live in.
Principle: Closure & Element used: Poppy seeds and black sheet
5. Troublesome Tetris — No doubt, we all use to love this game “Tetris” as a kid. There was no time limit to play this game, the more you play with it the more you fall in love with it. Isn't this amazing that how some random rectangles created our childhood love ‘Tetris’ astonishingly?
Principle: Common fate and Element used: Rectangles
6. Life Saviour — Thinking of what is this right? Let me tell you this is the life saviour ‘bag’. Bags are the true companions of humans which increased our efficiency and provided ease to life. Just put our belongings and you’re good to go, Tada! how much easy is this?
Principle: Focal point & Elements used: White paper and black sketch pen
7. Wondering Warli — Thinking about the resemblance of the composition, yes this resembles the old Indian warli paintings. The painting of the common man doing the day to day life works. Isn't this great how easily we can make this painting using some random triangles and lines.
Principle: Similarity & Elements used: Lines and triangles
8. Dancing divas — Scratching heads! and wondering about this. Let me tell you, this is the composition of human DNA using some curved and straight lines.DNA helps in carrying the genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and viruses. Now, you got the secret that why we resemble our parents. Yes! its DNA.
Principle: Continuity & Elements used: Black paper and golden marker
9. Survival Expert — wondering about who are they? None other than fish, yes you heard it right. Fishes are fighting experts, fighting every minute just for their survival. Mostly, they are small and agile due to which they vanish within the blink of an eye. Just get, set and go. Game over!
Principle: Closure & Elements used: Polygon, ellipse and lines
10. The hour of blessing — Sounding spiritual right! Yes, it's Gautam Buddha just by using polygons and circles. He was the founder of the world religion ‘Buddhism’. He is also considered the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu. We should learn the lesson of an awakening of the soul and introspection of oneself from him. May Lord Buddha bless everyone.
Principle: Closure & Elements used: Rice and black sheet
With the aforementioned, We dived deep to understand the Gestalt principles and how they are essential while designing. We tend to perceive objects by analysing patterns, grouping similar items and clarifying complex structures and Gestalt theory solely help with the same.
Happy Reading :)
Swati Jha
