Continuation of my previous post WHAT MY EYES SEE OR I SEE…
Biologically, we humans see through our eyes. The vision we see through our eyes is sent to our brains through nerves. The brain interprets the signal received by the nerves and we humans are informed of what we are seeing. Do you think our eyes and brain see the same thing? I don’t. Here’s why I am writing this blog to share what I have learnt.
Let’s begin with this picture..
The alphabet L?
A square?
Solids and voids?
Black color and the background colour?
or what else?
There could be more than one answer I am sure.
In simple words, the picture has some dark parts, I mean black shapes. That is all it has.
But we see more than that.
The former statement is according to our eyes. The latter is according to our brain.
Based on the research of Psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler, the perception of form took shape in technical terms.
Gestalt Principles of Form Perception
Gestalt means the sum of the parts meaningfully organised as a whole. There are five preliminary principles – Figure and ground, Similarity, Proximity, Continuity and Closure.
Figure and Ground
White squares on a black background or Black squares on a white background? This is how our brain perceives the foreground and background.
Similarity
Even though the lines are represented in different types, we tend to find the Similarity – i.e all four are depicting arrows. This is the most common trait of our brain’s perception.
Proximity
The location or the distance between objects lead us to figure the nearness irrespective of other object factors like shape or colour
Continuity
Despite being at different angles, we can recognise the movement in the dotted line. Also, the direction of movement will largely be figured out from left to right.
Closure
Even without the shaded portions, our brains can fill the gaps to visualise it as an entire square.
Common fate, symmetry and order were added later. Principles of Architecture like rhythm, balance, transformation, proportion are also based on the perception. Architects, interior designers, graphic designers and people in similar fields use these principles of design professionally. Will keep you posted on more principles in future posts. In the meantime, you can add up your ideas on the form perceptions in the comment section.
Thearcheorizer 
Leave a Reply