{"id":2356,"date":"2020-11-17T12:17:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T20:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lightsondata.com\/?post_type=tva_lesson&p=2356"},"modified":"2020-11-28T21:41:11","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T05:41:11","slug":"principles-of-visual-perception","status":"publish","type":"tva_lesson","link":"https:\/\/www.lightsondata.com\/course\/principles-of-visual-perception\/","title":{"rendered":"Principles of Visual Perception"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception<\/h2>\n

The first Gestalt Principles were devised in the 1920s by Max Wertheimer who was a psychologist, and were improved later by Wolfgang K\u00f6hler (1929), Kurt Koffka (1935), and Wolfgang Metzger (1936).<\/p>\n

They all aimed to understand how humans typically gain meaningful perceptions from the chaotic stimuli around them. They identified a set of laws which address the natural compulsion to find order in disorder. These are:<\/p>\n

1. Proximity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The law of proximity describes how the human eye perceives connections between visual elements. Elements that are close to each other are perceived to be related when compared with elements that are separate from each other.<\/p>\n

2. Similarity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The human eye tends to build a relationship between similar elements within a design. Objects that are of similar color, shape, size, or orientation are perceived as related or belonging to part of a group.<\/p>\n

3. Enclosure<\/strong><\/p>\n

We think of objects that are physically enclosed together as belonging to part of a group.<\/p>\n

4. Closure<\/strong><\/p>\n

The law of closure refers to our tendency to complete an incomplete shape in order to rationalize the whole. We prefer complete shapes, so we automatically fill in gaps between elements to perceive a complete image.<\/p>\n

5. Continuity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The law of continuation asserts that the human eye follows lines, curves, or a sequence of shapes in order to determine a relationship between design elements.<\/p>\n

6. Connection<\/strong><\/p>\n

The law of unified connectedness states that elements that are connected to each other using colors, lines, frames, or other shapes are perceived as a single unit when compared with other elements that are not linked in the same manner.<\/p>\n

BONUS: Past Experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n

The law of past experiences states that elements tend to be perceived according to an observer’s past experience. Past experience is perhaps the weakest gestalt principle. In conjunction with any of the other principles, the other principle will dominate over the past experience principle.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Dashboard Examples<\/h2>\n

Here are some dashboard examples making good use of some of the above Gestalt principles of visual perception.<\/p>\n