Significant Concepts from Kimball/Hawkins

The 3 concepts that I feel I try and embrace are the laws in a theory that was presented to me called Gestalt Theory. Gestalt  theory supposes that we dont see edges, shapes, or blurs. Instead, as people, we see the sum of those parts, such as a dog, a tree, a car, a house, or whatever is being depicted. The theory then breaks into specific laws. One law being the Figure-Ground Discrimination. The law separates perception of an object (figure) and context of an object (ground). The law has helped me realize that object perception and context should marry each other but in contrastive ways. In the design of a document, an object or information that is supposed attract primary perspective of a viewer should contrast from the paper or vehicle, which puts the object in context.

Grouping is the second law of the gestalt theory. Grouping is something we have covered extensively in class and in class we all learned that it suggests relationship when things are in close proximity to each other. The Gestalt theory breaks down grouping a little more specifically by proximity/similarity, continuation, and common region.

In terms of proximity and similarity, it is presented that we group things together that are closer together and that we perceive similar figures as belonging together. Continuation assumes that we imply a relationship between things that are lined up. Continuation is stated as the "foundation of alignment", which makes total sense as alignment is the structuring of different objects to share the same edge or congruous placement on a page. It's a component of design that I have learned is vitally important to create an easier viewing experience for people.  Common region states that items within the same are belong together.Common region is very useful in the insertion of graphics and information. If certain pieces of information and a graphic share a region than presumably they have a connection or relationship that is supposed to be noticed by a viewer. It works equally well with just graphics or just information alone.

Good Figure is the the third law. The Gestalt theory suggests that when using grouping techniques a figure is stronger, stable, and more consistent, allowing an easy experience for a viewer/reader, we are then using techniques to make a good figure. We take notice good figures much easier than we notice bad figures but what people don't realize is that a good figure that uses grouping principles isn't always complicated with too many components. Brevity/minimalism is stated to be more effective to create a good figure because more complex components isn't always efficient. I made sure in my last redesign that I used plenty of simple components as to not overload a reader for a simple card.

I used all three of the concepts within the Gestalt theory because I thought they were the most concise and, in my opinion, most correct based on my experiences. The 3 three laws/concepts offer good advice and information for a designers to take in and understand for future projects. What I feel I took most seriously was the use of continuation because if one thing is most noticeable is that when components of a document are not aligned properly, which affects the reader by subconsciously breaking the connection of objects that people make when that connection was not supposed to be broken, merely because of continuation/alignment problems.