Gestalt Principles in UI Design - Part 1
Have you ever looked at the sky noticing an unusually shaped cloud, resembling a familiar animal or an object? Have you ever wondered, why or how you make this association just by looking at a fluffy, blob of gas? It’s all because of how your brain works! Our brain is always trying to make sense of the world by comparing previous experiences or visual patterns and connecting the dots. It has its own way of perceiving shape and form, grouping information, fill in the gaps to draw the big picture. Having an understanding how our brain works will help us become a better designer. It can help us determine which visual elements are most effective in any given situation, so we can use them to influence perception, direct attention and cause behavioral change.
Gestalt is a group of visual perception principles developed by German psychologists in 1920s. It is built on the theory that an organized whole, is perceived as greater than the sum of its parts. The Gestalt principles attempt to describe how people perceive visual elements when certain conditions apply. The ideas can be grouped into 4 categories: emergence, reification, multi-stability, and invariance. Emergence is based on the idea that people tend to identify elements first in their general outlined form. Our brain recognizes a simple, well-defined object quicker than a detailed one. Reification is based on the idea that people can recognize objects even when there are parts of them missing. Our brain matches what we see with familiar patterns stored in our memory and fills in the gaps. Mutii-stage is based on the idea that people will often interpret ambiguous objects in more than one ways. Our brains will bounce back and forth between the alternatives seeking certainty. As a result, one view will become more dominant while the other one will get harder to see. Finally, invariance is based on the idea that people can recognize simple objects independently of their rotation, scale and translation. Our brain can perceive objects from different perspectives, despite their different appearance.
Gestalt is based on proximity. Elements arranged close to each other are perceived as more related than those placed further apart. This way different elements are viewed mainly as a group rather than as individual elements. We can use the Proximity principle in UI design for grouping similar information, organizing content and decluttering layouts. Its correct use will have a positive impact on visual communication and user experience. As the principle states, items that are related should stay close to each other, while the unrelated items should stay further apart. White space plays a vital role here as it creates contrast guiding the users’ eyes in the intended direction. White space can boost visual hierarchy and information flow, contributing in easy to read and scan layouts. It will help users achieve their goals faster and delve deeper into the content.
With proximity, also comes common regions. Similarly to the Proximity principle, elements placed within the same region are perceived as grouped. The Common Region principle is useful. It can help with information grouping and content organization, but it can also achieve content separation or act as a focal point. It boosts hierarchy, scanability and assists in promoting information. The Common Region principle can hold together many different elements keeping them unified within larger groups. We can achieve it with the use of line, color, shape and shadow. It can be used to bring elements into the foreground, indicating interaction or importance.
Elements sharing similar visual characteristics are perceived to be more related than those not sharing similar characteristics. We tend to perceive similar to each other elements as grouped or a pattern. We also might think that they serve the same purpose. Similarity can help us with organizing and classifying objects within a group and linking them with a specific meaning or function. There are different ways of making elements perceived as being similar, and thus, related. These include similarity of color, size, shape, texture, dimension, and orientation. When Similarity occurs, an object can get emphasized by being different from the rest. This anomaly can be used to create contrast or visual weight. It can draw the user's attention to a specific piece of content (focal point) while assisting with scanability, discoverability and the overall flow.
A group of elements are often perceived to be a single recognizable form or figure. The Closure also occurs when an object is incomplete, or parts of it are not enclosed. As the closure principle states, when presented with the right amount of information, our brain will jump to conclusions by filling in the gaps and creating a unified whole. This way we can decrease the number of elements needed to communicate information, reducing complexity and making designs more engaging. Closure can help us minimize visual noise and convey a message, reinforcing a concept within a pretty small space.
User Interface Design isn't all about pretty pixels and sparkly graphics. It’s mainly about communication, performance and convenience. Gestalt principles are always current helping us achieve these goals; creating a pleasant experience for the users and a great success for the business.