OUGD404 - The Gestalt Theories of Visual Perception

The Gestalt Theories of Visual Perception were a set of exercises of perceptual organisation. To perceive something means for us to believe we understand it, regardless of whether or not we truly do. These theories, invented during a significantly important time for medicine and psychology, saw the founding psychologists providing scientific answers to philosophical  questions. They used experimental techniques, developed by psychologists, and made psychological theories of consciousness - this being the primary focus of their science.

‘Gestalt,’ meaning ‘shape/form,’ and its theories were pioneered by three main protagonists, Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Kohler - who were often referred to as ‘doctors of the mind.’ The theories detail the brain’s ability to perceive whole visuals from incomplete images.

The Gestalt laws of perception show that the mind percieves using four basic points of reference, these being:

Similarity

Objects or visual elements that are similar are perceptually grouped by the mind.

Simplicity

Images that are more complex are organised by the brain into more easily understood shapes.

ProximityObjects or visual elements that are placed close together are perceptually seen as a whole.

Closure

The brain will fill in missing gaps within an image despite visible space.

A logo that puts all of these principles in to practice is the WWF Panda, designed  by Sir Peter Scott in 1981.

The logo uses proximity as the black shapes are placed close together, allowing them to be identified as a whole image despite the evident space.

Closure allows the viewer to identify the logo as a panda despite the white space/missing visual information by perceptually filling in the gaps to understand and perceive it.

The monochromatic characteristic of the logo is aided by similarity and simplicity as the black shapes are perceptually grouped by the mind. These black shapes are interpreted as a panda due to the brain simplifying them into something it understands and knows, though in reality the image is simply a range of black forms.