First of all, Gestalt psychology was founded by German thinkers Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka and focused on how people interpret the world. It’s about perception. The Gestalt Principles can help you to understand how people will interpret and navigate your work. These principles state that our minds have a tendency to group and organize elements and do so in predictable ways. It’s about how the brain works, which is the study of psychology.
Gestalt principles are everywhere when you look at software app, published works and video as well.
- Proximity
- Similarity
- Continuity
- Closure
- Connectedness (Connection)
Proximity
We tend to perceive elements as a group when they are close to each other.
Similarity
We’re inclined to group elements that look like each other. For example, we tend to group the same colors together. For example, consider a scatterplot that has two colors identifying categories of data.
Continuity
Ever notice how your eyes like to travel along lines, following and flowing with them? Our mind has a tendency to follow paths and group elements that are aligned with each other.
Closure
Given the chance, our mind will opt for simplicity. Our minds will “fill in the gaps”. Since a whole is easier to process than multiple parts, we’ll fill in the gaps or “connect the dots” to complete implied shapes or images.
Connectedness (Connection)
Connectedness states that we tend to group elements when they are connected to each other. A line connects things together. Consider income per GDP for a set of countries changing over the past 50 years shown in a line graph.
Enclosure
A boundary or the appearance of a boundary around a group of objects. This could be shading in the background. Providing a reference line with shading on one side allows to highlight a group of values in a visualization