BlogginGestaltDesign: S.I. Newhouse School

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Finding smiles and Gestalt in everyday items.

So, where the heck have I been? I'm sorry it's been so long since my last blog post, but as of August I'm now a grad student getting my Masters Degree in interactive design. I also teach two classes at The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and this fall I designed a brand new niche magazine for the Central New York region called Central New York Sports Magazine. Oh yeah and I have a family that never sees me anymore. Good thing they love me.

So what's new on the Gestalt front?

I keep on seeing, time and time again, TV commercials using figure/ground ambiguity as their main visuals. Why? To grab the attention of the viewer.

Figure/ground: An image (figure) is separated from its surroundings (ground). This is how contrast in a design is created. When the figure and the ground become ambiguous, it can create an interesting image.

I think that this American Express Commercial does this so well. I'm a big fan of simple design and this commercial succeeds on all levels. They don't hit you over the head with the visuals, but the use of figure/ground makes you stop in your tracks and watch the commercial to see just how many everyday objects they find that have a happy or sad face. Isn't this the goal of any advertisement? To get and keep your attention and not have you change the channel or get up for a bathroom break.

Gestalt saves the day!

So why a blog about Gestalt in design?

I went to college as an illustration major. When I realized that I would have to freelance to make money I quickly decided to get a full time job illustrating at a newspaper. My style (crosshatching) was quite time consuming and they wanted me to find a faster style. While this was happening I started to learn to design pages. So learning page design was all on the job training. Luckily I had great people teaching me. Fast forward a few years to when I started teaching design theory at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. All of a sudden, I understood the reasons behind what I had been taught on the job. The one theory that stood out among all the rest was Gestalt and its principles. So I’ve presented on Gestalt to other designers. It is a common thread that many designers did not start out as designers, they were also taught on the job but don’t know why one design was better than another.

So those of you who are about to Google Gestalt, let me answer that here.

Early 20th century theorists saw objects as perceived within an environment according to all of their elements taken together as a “whole” unit. Not as individual pieces that did not relate to one another.

So here are the principles of Gestalt design.

Similarity: Items are perceived as being be related because they have a similar shape, color, size, angle, etc.

Proximity: Items are perceived as being be related by how close they are positioned to one another.

Continuation: Your eye moves in a certain direction until it is directed into another direction.

Closure: Even if an image is incomplete, your mind fills in the gaps to complete it.

Figure/ground: An image (figure) is separated from its surroundings (ground). This is how contrast in a design is created. When the figure and the ground become ambiguous, it can create an interesting image.

Isomorphic Correspondence: Simple means, when we see an image such as a painting or a photo, we interpret its meaning based upon our experiences and memories. For example, you see a recliner and you think of your father sitting in his recliner watching football.

So, in a nutshell that is Gestalt. Next, some of the great designs out there that have used Gestalt and how it makes the consumer take a second look.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Finding smiles and Gestalt in everyday items.

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So why a blog about Gestalt in design?

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