Basics of Web Authoring and Design

Gestalt Principles

"Gestalt" is a term from the psychology field that means "unified whole," and refers to the theories of visual perception developed by psychologists in the 1920s. The theories describe how people generally organize visual elements into groups when certain principles are applied. The principles are: similarity, continuation, closure, and proximiity.

Similarity

Similarity is when different elements look similar to one another. When this happens, people often perceive the different elements as a group or pattern. When different elements are similar to eachother, an element can be emphasized if it is different, this is called anomally. Similarity is great for creating a unified, easy to navigate page as well as useful for highlighting different portions of your website to grab viewers' attentnions.

Continuation

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one element and continue on to another. This idea is further explained when discussing the different scanning patterns.

Closure

Closure occures when an element is incomplete or the space is not completely enclosed. It is the effect of suggesting a visual connection or continuit between different sets of elements which do not actually touch eachother. Closure, in short, occurs when the viewer's perception completes the shape.

If enough of the general shape is shown, people percieve the whole element as a whole by filling in the missing gaps. To acheive closure in web design, one can align the elements in such a way that the viewer perceives the infromation as if it can be connected.

Proximity

Proximity refers to how when elements are located close together they will be perceived as a group. When objects have substantial amount of space between them, they are perceived as being seperate from one another. However, if they are in close proximity of one another, the viewers creates unity within the objects. While they are still seperate from one another, they are perceived as a group.

Different ways of grouping with proximity include: tone/value, color, shape, size, or other attributes.