GESTALT PRINCIPLES Gestalt

Principles: The way in which we

organise features of a

visual scene by grouping them to perceive a

whole, complete form.

Figure-Ground• Organising visual information by perceptually dividing a

visual scene into a ‘figure’, which stands out from the ‘ground’ which is its surroundings.

• The line of separation between the figure and the ground is known as the contour. The contour is always perceived as belonging to the figure.

• Camouflage occurs when figure and ground are not easily separated.

• When figure and ground are perceived as legitimate alternatives they are called reversible figures

Figure- Ground

Reversible Figure

Figure- GroundCamouflage

The contours in this picture are not clearly visible therefore it is difficult to distinguish a ‘figure’ and a ‘ground’

Can you see 13 faces??

Closure• This is the tendency to complete a figure even if

our vision of it is incomplete.

• We perceive it as a whole recognisable object so the mind completes the picture even though we have not seen the whole of it.

• We have a powerful tendency to form shapes even if there are only minimal visual sensations about their existence.

• Our perception enables us to add bits to ensure we perceive the whole.

Similarity• The tendency to perceive parts of a

visual image that have similar features – such as size, shape, texture or colour – as belonging in a unit, group or ‘whole’.

• Ishihara Test for colour blindness• http://

www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.asp

George Seurat was a famous Painter who used Pointalism as his method of art.Pointalism uses thousands of tiny dots of colour to make a complete picture. The observer groups the dots of common colours to create a meaningful form. (Similarity)

Proximity - (Or nearness)• The tendency to perceive parts

of a visual image which are positioned close together as belonging together in a group.

For example 6 items can be:- A group of six I I I I I I- Two groups of three I I I I I I- 3 groups of two I I I I I I

Which Gestalt Principles are evident in the

following pictures?

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/stop_sign.png&imgrefurl=http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/%3Fcat%3D18&usg=__o31qJw-raYouOTXsHxgAoH8-0SI=&h=600&w=600&sz=20&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=KmgR9WaTcYwtgM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstop%2Bsign%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ADBF_en%26tbs%3Disch:1

??