Gestalt Theory

The Gestalt theory is defined as "The Whole is different from the sum of its parts", in german word defined as "the essence or shape of an entity's complete form" (Wikipedia, 2011).Gestalt theory began around 1910 with three psychologists who are Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler. It was first emerge to the prevalent psychological theory of the time - atomism. Atomism study the parts of things with the idea that these parts could then be put back together to make wholes. On the other hand, gestalt theories were fascinated just the way our mind perceives wholes out of incomplete elements (Wikipedia, 2011). When we look at something, we immediately organize it into a pattern or shape rather than seeing it as a bunch of individual smaller shapes. Example, the Rubin vase by the Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin, we see the vase as a whole, meanwhile there's also two human figures in negative space of the vase. From this image, we seem to need to separate a dominant shape (the 'figure') from what our current concerns relegate to the background (the 'ground'). In addition to introduce the terms 'figure' and 'ground', the Gestalt psychologists outlined what seemed to be several fundamental and universal principles of perceptual organization. There are six of them which include proximity, similarity, common fate, continuity, closure and the last one symmetry.

Principle 1 - Proximity

 
The principle of proximity or contiguity states that things which are closer together will be seen as belonging together.As from the example shown above, we can categorize 1 and 2 as one group, 3 and 4 as another group. In the group below, we are likely to group the dots together in rows, the dots arranged horizontally on the left and the dots arranged vertically on the right.

Principle 2 - Similarity

Similarity means there is a tendency to see groups which have the same characteristics. In this example, there are three groups of black squares and three groups of white squares arranged in lines(horizontally). In another way to describe similarity is that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, value or orientation will be seen as belonging together. Principle 3 - Common Fate  The principle of common fate states that elements are likely to be perceived as a unit if they move together in the same direction and seemed to related to each other. At the same time, they are sharing a 'common fate'.    Source: stock.xchgn As we can see in the photo above, there are two streams of cars moving in different direction, the left stream moving from top to bottom and the right stream moving from bottom to the top. Automatically, we will group the left stream of cars in one group and the right stream of cars as another group seemed they are related to each other. Principle 4 - Continuity Figure 1 Figure 2 The principle of continuity predicts the preference for continuous figures. In figure 1, we perceive the figure as two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the center.In the diagram shown, A to O and O to D are two lines. Similarly, C to O and O to B are two lines. Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move along with the line to another line. Another example in figure 2, our eye will naturally follow the curve where the maple leaf flow through the capital 'H' from the left to the right, at the same time creating continuation of line. Principle 5 - Closure The principle of closure applies when we tend to see complete figures even when part of the information is missing. It often occurs when an object is incomplete or a space which is not completely enclosed.  when elements in a composition are aligned in such a way that the viewer perceives that "the information could be connected". In the figure above, although the panda is not complete, automatically our eyes will connect them in order to complete the shape. If the viewer's perception completes a shape, closure occurs. Principle 6 - Symmetry Symmetry is often found in objects which divided into halves and when we see two unconnected objects that are symmetrical, we unconsciously integrate them into one coherent object.  In the figure above showing the old logo design of pepsi, the logo is perfectly symmetrical both horizontally and vertically, with a wavy "axis" dividing the upper and lower part into half.