Sensory Environment

SENSORY ENVIRONMENT

→ FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS FOR CREATING VISUAL MEANING.

SENSORY ENVIRONMENT: FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS FOR CREATING VISUAL MEANING PUBLISHED BY EYRC ARCHITECTS 10865 WASHINGTON BLVD, CULVER CITY, CA 90232 ©2019 BY JUDY YANG COVER DESIGN COPYRIGHT ©2019 BY JUDY YANG ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE SCANNED, UPLOADED, REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS WHAT SOEVER WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR, EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF BRIEF QUOTATIONS EMBODIED IN CRITICAL ARTICLES AND REVIEWS. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE AUTHOR’S RIGHTS. PUBLISHED 2019 BOUND IN CALIFORNIA OFFICE SERVICE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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GESTALT PRINCIPLE

→ FIGURE GROUND PROXIMITY SIMILARITY CLOSURE CONTINUITY SYMMETRY ORDER Gestalt Principles are a set of laws arising from 1920s’ psychology, describing how humans typically see objects by grouping similar elements, recognizing patterns and simplifying complex images. Designers use these to engage users via powerful—yet natural—"tricks" of perspective and best practice design standards.

The Gestalt Principles of grouping represent the culmination of the work of early 20th-century German psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler, who sought to understand how humans typically gain meaningful perceptions from chaotic stimuli around them. Wertheimer and company identified a set of laws addressing this natural compulsion to seek order amid disorder, where the mind “informs” what the eye sees by making sense of a series of elements as an image, or illusion. Early graphic designers soon began applying the Gestalt Principles in advertising, encapsulating company values within iconic logos.

Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that believes all objects and scenes can be observed in their simplest forms. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Law of Simplicity,’ the theory proposes that the whole of an object or scene is more important than its individual parts. Observing the whole helps us find order in chaos and unity among outwardly unrelated parts and pieces of information.

Gestalt psychology proposes a unique perspective on human perception. According to Gestalt psychologists, we don’t just see the world, we actively interpret what we see, depending on what we are expecting to see. A famous French author, Anaïs Nin, who was not a psychologist, framed that idea in an interesting way: ‘We do not see the world as it is; we see it as we are.’

THE GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO “THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX” AND ALSO LOOK FOR PATTERNS AROUND US.

FIGURE GROUND

In such cases the visual field is perceived as articulated into two components, the figure (patch) on the ground (surround). This figure-ground articulation may seem obvious, but it is not trivial. This type of field organization has a number of remarkable features, first described in the work of Rubin (1915/1921), predating Wertheimer’s publication. The two components are perceived as two segments of the visual field differing not only in color, but in some other phenomenal characteristics as well. The figure has an object-like character, whereas the ground has less perceptual saliency and appears as ‘mere’ background.

The areas of the figure and the ground usually do not appear juxtaposed in a common plane, as in a mosaic, but rather as stratified in depth: there is a tendency to see the figure as positioned in front, and the ground at a further depth plane and continuing to extend behind the figure, as if occluded by it. Furthermore, the border separating the two segments is perceived as belonging to the figure rather than to the ground, and as delineating the figure’s shape as its contour, whereas it is irrelevant to the shape of the ground. Certain displays are bi-stable, in that what is perceived as figure can also be perceived as ground and vice-versa.

The described organization of the display into the figure and the ground is not its only conceivable segmentation. The partition that is actually seen is not a matter of geometric combinatorics and attention to arbitrarily selected subsets: the natural, and often the only way that we can perceive such a display, given the structure of the visual input, is as segmented into the figure and the ground. Such articulation, in which a virtual infinity of geometrical possibilities is pruned down to a single or only a couple of perceptual realizations, is a very basic feature of the working of the visual system.

Although figure-ground perception is a fundamental aspect of field organization, it is not usually itself referred to as a Gestalt law or principle of grouping. Rather, such terms are mostly used for describing the rules of the organization of somewhat more complex visual fields. Everything that is not figure is considered ground, which can be used to create some interesting visual effects and tricks, particularly when the designer or artist introduces deliberate ambiguity—a favorite technique of the surrealist MC Escher.

GESTALT PRINCIPLE ■ PAGE 07

If the visual field is homogeneous throughout, a situation labeled as Ganzfeld (German for ‘whole field’), it has no consistent internal organization. A simple case of an inhomogeneous field is a display with a patch of one color surrounded by another color.

SIMILARITY When objects looks similar to one another, viewers will often see the individual elements as part of a pattern or group. This effect can be used to create a single illustration, image or message from a series of separate elements.

T he si m i la r it y bet ween d i fferent element s can be shape, colour, size, texture or value. The

PROXIMITY T h e pr o x i m it y pr i n c ip le: u s e s t h e c lo s e a r ra ngement of element s to c reate a g roup a ssoc iat ion bet ween t hose objec t s. I f t he i nd iv idua l element s a re a l so si m i la r, t hey w i l l tend to be perceived as a single whole, even t hough t hey a re a l l sepa rate elements.

P rox i m it y or g roupi ng ca n be ac h ie ved w it h lot s of d i fferent com mona l it y i nc ludi ng shape, color, tex t u re, si ze or a ny ot her v isua l at t r ibute. Each of wh ich is perceived a s a v i s ua l u n it , a f ig u re on a com mon g round. However, t hey a re a lso col lect ively t he elements of a h igher-order v isua l u n it , t he hor i zonta l row. A ccord i ng to Ges ta lt t heor y, t h is t y pe i nteg rat ion of i nd iv idua l components into a superordinate whole can be accounted for by t he proxim it y pr inciple: elements tend to be perceived as aggregated i nto g roups i f t hey a re nea r eac h ot her.

more commona lit y t hat individua l elements have, t he g reater t he sen se of coherence, t ha n ks to sim i la r it y pr inciple. A pa r t icu la r element ca n be emphasized when it is d issimilar or brea king t he pat tern of similarit y.

T h is effect is nor ma l ly ca l led a n a noma ly.

The similarity principle claims that elements tend to be integrated into groups if they are similar to each other. Nevertheless, they are perceptually partitioned into three adjacent pairs, due to the similarity of visual attributes such as lightness , color, orientation, or shape.

CLOSURE The closure principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they are parts of a closed figure. However, in this particular example, continuity is still relatively effective, and is in strong competition with closure. Similarity can be used to increase the significance of visual sub-whole. The loss of the visual identity of the pattern is due to the effectiveness of the Gestalt principles, mainly continuity and closure, according to which its elements are perceptually integrated with other present elements, and assigned to other, new visual wholes. One way in which its visual identity can be recovered is by simply changing its color to make it dissimilar from the surround.

Note also that when the cursor is removed from the figure and the pattern again assumes the same color as the added elements, it quickly fades from view, and no effort of attention can restore it to a salient visual whole.

CONTINUITY T he cont i nu it y pr i nciple: or iented u n it s or groups tend to be integrated into percept ua l wholes if t hey a re a lig ned w it h each ot her.

T he pr i nciple appl ies i n t he sa me way for element s a r ra nged a long l i nes a s wel l a s for pat ter ns bui lt from cor respond ing lines t hem selves. T he ba la nce bet ween cont inu it y a nd prox i m it y i n t he for mat ion of sa lient sub-wholes may be sh if ted by va r ying sim i la r it y, wh ich ca n be accomplished by color i ng d i fferent bra nc hes d i fferent ly.

USING GESTALT PRINCIPLES CAN MAKE YOUR DESIGNS MORE COHERENT.

→ “PEOPLE USUALLY PERCEIVE AND INTERPRET AMBIGUOUS OR COMPLEX IMAGES AS THE SIMPLEST FORM(S) POSSIBLE.”

Put simply, this principle says that a composition should not provide a sense of disorder or imbalance, as otherwise the viewer will waste time trying to locate the missing element, or fix the problem, rather than focusing on the message or instruction. You can achieve symmetry by providing a good balance or sense of symmetry in your design elements, such as the windmill illustration below. This provides the viewer with a feeling of harmony.

GESTALT PRINCIPLE ■ PAGE 09

SYMMETRY ORDER

→ → → → → → FIGURE GROUND GESTALT PRINCIPLE FIGURE GROUND GESTALT PRINCIPLE FIGURE GROUND

FIGURE GROUND →

FIGURE GROUND Figure Ground usually refers to the relationship between positive elements and negative space. The idea is that the eye will separate whole figures from their background in order to understand what’s being seen. It’s one of the first things people will do when looking at any composition. The figure/ground relationship can be either stable or unstable depending on how easy it is to determine which is which.

The more stable the relationship, the better we can lead our audience to focus on what we want them to see. Two related principles can help us: > Area. The smaller of two overlapping objects is seen as figure. The larger is seen as ground.

You can see this in the right image above.

The smaller shape is the figure regardless of color. > Convexity. Convex rather than concave patterns tend to be perceived as figures.

IT CAN ALSO BE DESCRIBED AS THE CONTRAST BETWEEN POSITIVE SPACE (FIGURE) AND NEGATIVE SPACE.

FIGURE GROUND â– PAGE 13

BASIS OF FIGURE_ GROUND

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A FORM OR FIGURE AND ITS BACKGROUND.

FIGURE GROUND

FIGURE GROUND â– PAGE 17

T h is pr inciple descr ibes t he eye's tendency to see a nd sepa rate objec t s f rom t hei r su rrou nd i ng bac kg rou nd . A c la s sic exa mple uses a vase/ca nd lest ick i l lust rat ion to show t wo faces peer ing at each ot her, but you ca n also see this effect in a variet y of logo designs.

It works because human eyes want to see t he fig u re (foreg round object) a nd backg round (g rou nd) a s t wo d i f ferent pla nes of foc u s.

GESTALT PRINCIPLE PROXIMITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE PROXIMITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE

GESTALT PRINCIPLE PROXIMITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE PROXIMITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE PROXIMITY

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PROXIMITY →

PROXIMITY Proximity uses the close arrangement of elements to create a group association between those objects. If individual elements are also similar, they will tend to be perceived as a single whole, even though they are separate elements.

Proximity or grouping can be achieved with lots of different commonality including shape, colour, texture, size or any other visual attribute.

T he Gesta lt P r i nc iple of prox i m it y states t hat "objects or shapes t hat a re close to one a not her appea r to for m g roups." Even if t he shapes, sizes, a nd objects a re rad ica l ly d ifferent , t hey w i l l appea r a s a g roup i f t hey a re c lose. It a l so refers to t he way sma l ler element s a re "a ssembled" i n a composit ion .

OBJECTS OR SHAPES THAT ARE CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER APPEAR TO FORM GROUPS.

Grouping of this sort can be achieved with tone or value, color, shape, size, or other physical attributes. Elements which are grouped together create the illusion of shapes or planes in space, even if the elements are not touching.

Proxim it y is sim i la r to com mon reg ions but uses space as t he enclosure. W hen elements a re posit ioned c lose to one a not her, t he y a re seen as pa r t of a g roup rat her t ha n as ind iv idua l elements. T h is is especia l ly t r ue when t he element s i n t he g roup a re c loser to each ot her t ha n t hey a re to a ny elements outside t he g roup. T he objects don’t need to be si m i la r i n a ny ot her way beyond bei ng grouped near each ot her in space in order to be seen as hav ing a proxim it y relat ionsh ip.

PROXIMITY â– PAGE 23

BASIS OF PROXIMITY

P rox i m it y ca n a l so ca l led "g roupi ng", t he pr i nc iple concer n s t he ef fec t generated when t he collective presence of t he set of elements becomes more meaningf u l t han t heir presence a s sepa rate element s. Groupi ng t he words a lso cha nges t he v isua l a nd psyc holog ica l mea n i ng of t he composit ion i n non-verbal ways unrelated to t heir meaning.

→ “MOST SCREAMING SIRENS, OVERCROWDING, TRAFFIC; LIFE IN THE CITY IS NOT ALWAYS RELAXING.” These stressors aren’t simply inconvenient or irritating, though; research has suggested that urban living has a significant impact on mental health. found that those living in cities were 21% more likely to experience an anxiety disorder—mood disorders were even higher, at 39%. People who grew up in a city are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as those who grew up in the countryside, with a suggesting this link may even be causal.

Urban stressors appear to have a biological impact, too. A 2011 study from the Central Institute of Mental Health at the University of Heidelberg found that city living was associated with greater stress responses in both the amygdala and the cingulate cortex—areas linked to emotional regulation, depression and anxiety. This increased activation, the research team said, could have a “lasting effect”, both on the brain’s development and its ongoing susceptibility to mental illness.

The studies are also part of a wider field of environmental psychology that seeks to understand how individuals interact with their living environments, and how those environments can affect our social lives, relationships and even our mental health.

PROXIMITY We perceive elements as belonging to the same group if they are laid out close together. As an example, think about how proper kerning can help the eye understand which letters make up individual words. In some cases, excessive spaces between letters can cause confusion as to when one word ends and the next begins.

The issue is hotly debated. For example, it’s often believed that open plan offices promote pro-social working and avoid the drab monotony of cubicle working, but claim that it can instead be bad for productivity and wellbeing.

GESTALT PRINCIPLE SIMILARITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE SIMILARITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE SIMILARITY

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SIMILARITY

BASIS OF SIMILARITY

SIMILARITY W hen objects looks sim i la r to one a not her, v iewers w i l l of ten see t he i nd iv idua l element s a s pa r t of a pat ter n or g roup. T h i s ef fec t ca n be u sed to c reate a si ngle i l lu st rat ion , image or message from a ser ies of sepa rate elements. T he sim i la r it y bet ween different elements can be shape, colour, size, tex t u re or va lue. T he more com mona l it y t hat ind iv idua l elements have, t he g reater t he sen se of coherence, t ha n k s to si m i la rit y. A par t icu lar element can be emphasized when it’s dissim i la r, brea king t he pat ter n of sim i la r it y. T h is effect is ca l led a n a noma ly.

SIMPLICITY IS HELPING THE EYE FIND “COMFORTABLE” FIGURES USED TO TRIGGER AN INTERPRETATION OF WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO SHOW.

SIMILARITY ■ PAGE 33

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SIMILARITY T he pr i nciple of si m i la r it y states t hat percept ion lend s it sel f to seei ng st i mu l i t hat physica l ly resemble eac h ot her a s pa r t of t he sa me objec t. T h is a l lows for people to d ist ing uish bet ween adjacent a nd overlappi ng objec t s ba sed on t hei r v isua l tex t u re a nd resembla nce. Ot her st i mu l i t hat have d i f ferent feat u res a re genera l ly not perceived as pa r t of t he object. A n exa mple of t h is is a la rge a rea of la nd used by numerou s i ndependent fa r mers to g row c rops.

O u r bra i n u ses si m i la r it y to d i s t i ng u i s h bet ween objec t s wh ic h m ight l ie adjacent to or overlap w it h eac h ot her ba sed upon t hei r v isua l tex t u re. Eac h fa r mer may use a unique planting st yle which disting uishes h is field from a not her. A not her exa mple is a field of f lowers wh ich d iffer on ly by color.

SIMILARITY â– PAGE 37

GESTALT PRINCIPLE CLOSURE GESTALT PRINCIPLE CLOSURE GESTALT PRINCIPLE CLOSURE

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GESTALT PRINCIPLE CLOSURE GESTALT PRINCIPLE CLOSURE GESTALT PRINCIPLE CLOSURE

CLOSURE →

CLOSURE C losu re i s a com mon desig n tec h n ique t hat uses t he hu ma n eye's tendenc y to see c losed s hapes. C los u re work s where a n objec t i s i ncomplete or t he i nter ior space of a n eleme nt i s not f u l ly c lo s e d , b ut t he v ie w e r perceives a complete shape by fi l ling in t he missing information. T his technique is often a ssociated w it h stenci l-led a r t work , but is a l s o c los ely a s s oc iate d w it h logo for m s.

T he pr inciple of closure refers to t he m ind’s tendenc y to see complete f ig u res or for m s e ven i f a pic t u re i s i ncomple te, pa r t ia l ly h idden by ot her objec t s, or i f pa r t of t he i n for mat ion needed to ma ke a complete pict ure in our m inds is m issing. For exa mple, i f pa r t of a shape’s border i s m i ssi ng people st i l l tend to see t he shape a s completely enc losed by t he border a nd ig nore t he g ap s . T h i s re a c t ion s t e m s f r om o u r m i nd’s nat u ra l tendenc y to recog n i ze patter n s t hat a re fa m i l ia r to u s a nd t hu s f i l l i n a ny i n for mat ion t hat may be m i ssi ng.

C lo s u re i s a l s o t h o ught t o h a v e e v olv e d f rom a nces t ra l s u r v iva l i n s t i nc t s i n t hat i f one wa s to pa r t ia l ly see a predator t hei r m i nd wou ld automat ica l ly comple te t he pict ure a nd know t hat it was a t ime to react to potent ia l da nger even i f not a l l t he necessa r y i n for mat ion wa s read i ly ava i lable.

PREFERRING COMPLETE SHAPES, WE AUTOMATICALLY FILL IN GAPS BETWEEN ELEMENTS TO PERCEIVE A COMPLETE IMAGE; SO, WE SEE THE WHOLE FIRST.

According to the Universal Principles of Design, this principle states that we have a tendency to perceive a set of individual elements as a single, recognizable pattern, rather than multiple, individual parts. Using closure effectively decreases complexity by reducing elements to the fewest possible parts needed to complete an object. Provided with enough information, we will fill in the missing parts to create a whole. This is achieved through the use of positive and negative space. For example, our minds complete the lines to form a circle, even though the shape doesn’t exist. Positive and negative space combine to form our perception of the circle.

CLOSURE ■ PAGE 43

BASIS OF CLOSURE

C losure ca n be t hought of as t he glue holding elements toget her. It’s about t he huma n tendency to seek a nd find pat ter ns. T he key of c los u re pr i nc iple i s prov id i ng enough in for mat ion , so t he eye ca n fi l l in t he rest.

I f too muc h i s m i ssi ng, t he element s w i l l b e s e e n a s s e pa r at e pa r t s i n s t e a d of a w h o l e. I f t o o mu c h i n f o r m a t i o n i s p r o v ided , t here’s no need for c losu re to occ u r.

C losu re ca n be u sed to ma ke u s perceive obje c t s or pat ter n s u s i ng t he s m a l le s t a mou nt of i n for mat ion. Ou r m i nd s a re so eager to fi l l in t he m issing in for mat ion t hat it ca n be done w it h ver y few elements. However, if we don’t provide enough information to complete t he pat ter n , t hen we ca n not perceive t he objec t a nd c losu re fa i ls, ma k i ng t he circle much more difficu lt to for m in our m inds. Ta ke a look a nd see if you ca n complete it in your m ind. It’s a lot more d ifficu lt , isn’t it? We can’t quite put it together now with t he spa rse a mou nt of i n for mat ion g iven .

CLOSURE

CLOSURE ■ PAGE 47

I ncrea si ngly, bu i ld i ngs a nd publ ic spaces a re bei ng desig ned—or at t he ver y lea s t , cr it ica l ly a na lyzed—w it h menta l wel lbeing in m ind. A sma l l number of col lect ives a nd cent res have been establ ished to exa m i ne t he ways urban spaces intersect wit h menta l hea lt h, and architects and policyma kers are slowly becom ing more m ind f u l of t he ways t heir projects impact on t he hea lt h a nd happiness of cit y-dwel lers. Desig n ing spaces to promote good menta l hea lt h—and to suppor t people w it h menta l hea lt h problems—is a n integ ra l pa r t of bui ld ing a susta inable cit y.

GESTALT PRINCIPLE CONTINUITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE CONTINUITY GESTALT PRINCIPLE CONTINUITY

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CONTINUITY →

CONTINUITY Elements are visually associated if they are aligned with each other. Lines are perceived as a single figure insofar as they’re continuous.

The smoother their segments are, the more we see them as a unified shape. Continuation is the principle through which the eye is drawn along a path, line or curve, preferring to see a single continuous figure than separate lines.

This can be used to point towards another element in the composition, and is seen where a line is cut through one object, often in a curve, aligning perfectly with a secondary element.

PREFERRING COMPLETE SHAPES, WE AUTOMATICALLY FILL IN GAPS BETWEEN ELEMENTS TO PERCEIVE A COMPLETE IMAGE; SO, WE SEE THE WHOLE FIRST.

According to the principle of continuity, elements arranged in a line or curve are generally assumed to continue beyond their defined end point. In other words, once our eyes begin to follow a line or curve, we believe that line will continue in the same direction until it encounters another object. Think about when you look at a road. Many times, it will expand into the distance further than the eye can see. But that doesn’t mean you believe the road stops at the horizon. Instead, you automatically assume it continues along the same line beyond what you can see.

CONTINUITY â– PAGE 53

BASIS OF CONTINUITY

→ CITY LIVING CAN ALSO CHIP AWAY AT YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL IMMUNE SYSTEM, WHICH CAN BE ERRATIC FOR THOSE WITH A FAMILY HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS. THIS LIVING ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS MIGHT INCREASE THE RISK OF DEVELOPING A PSYCHIATRIC CONDITION, SUCH AS ANXIETY OR DEPRESSION. CONTINUITY Hav i ng a good menta l hea lt h ca n i mprove ou r enjoy ment of l i fe, ou r copi ng sk i l l s a nd relat ionships, our educat iona l achievement, employ ment , housing a nd econom ic potent ia l , help reduce physica l hea lt h problem s, ease t he dema nd for hea lt hca re a nd socia l ca re, bu i ld soc ia l capita l , dec rea se s u icides; a nd help people to live toget her in a posit ive, product ive, cost-effect ive a nd u lt imately happy way. T hat benefits ever yone.

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SYMMETRY ORDER GESTALT PRINCIPLE SYMMETRY ORDER GESTALT PRINCIPLE SYMMETRY ORDER

SYMMETRY ORDER →

SYMMETRY ORDER Sy m met rica l elements are perceived as par t of t he sa me g roup. Have you ever looked at f ig u res t hat look l i ke m i r ror ref lec t ion s of eac h ot her? T h is relat ion sh ip helps us perceive t hese elements as a single fig u re. T he pr i nc iple of s y m me t r y a nd order i s a l so k now n a s präg na n z, t he Ger ma n word for “good f ig u re.” W hat t h i s pr i nc iple says i s t hat you r bra i n w i l l perceive a mbig uou s shapes i n a s si mple a ma n ner a s possible.

SYMMETRIES APPEAR IN THE DESIGN OF OBJECTS OF ALL KINDS.

SYMMETRY FINDS ITS WAYS INTO ARCHITECTURE AT EVERY SCALE, FROM THE OVERALL EXTERNAL VIEWS OF BUILDINGS

SYMMETRY ORDER â– PAGE 63

BASIS OF SYMMETRY ORDER

→ “SYMMETRY IS ONE OF THE MOST COMMON WAYS TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARTS OF A BUILDING.”

SYMMETRY ORDER In architecture, we can’t really understand a structure just by knowing what its components are. We need to know how they interact.

There are many criteria we can use to compare the components of a structure, and they are collectively are called ordering principles.

One of the most commonly used ordering principles throughout history is symmetry.

In a rch itect ure, sy m met r y is t he ref lect ion of sha red for ms, shapes, or a ngles across a cent ra l l i ne or poi nt ca l led t he a x i s. Ba sica l ly, component s t hat m i r ror eac h ot her ac ross a n a x i s a re s y m met r ica l . T h i s i s one of t he oldest a nd most cont i nuou sly u sed order i ng pr i nc iples i n a rc h itec t u re.

Sy m met r y helps bi nd va r ious element s of a st r uc t u re toget her i nto a si ngle, u n i f ied whole. It is a lso com mon ly u sed to create a sen se of rat iona l order a nd ca l m log ic , a favored aest het ic of t he a ncient Greek s a nd Roma ns. We ca n look at sy m met r y on many sca les, from t he relat ionship bet ween single deta i ls, to t he layout of t he complete st r uct u re, a nd even to ent ire urba n centers bui lt on a sy mmetrica l grid pat tern. So, how about some rea l-world exa mples of sy mmet r y in a rch itect ure? Look at t he image of t he C h r ist ia n sborg Pa lace i n Copen hagen.

T h is is a h igh ly sy m met r ica l bui ld ing, so it shou ld n’t ta ke you too long to find t he a xis, t he line sepa rat ing m ir ror ing components.

COLOPHON → IS A BRIEF STATEMENT CONTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT THE PUBLICATION OF A BOOK SUCH AS THE PLA-CE OF PUBLICATION, THE PUBLISHER, AND THE DATE OF PUBLICATION.

DESIGN

→ IMAGERY

TEXT

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This book was set in Acumin Pro and DIN Slab Serif. The headlines are set in Acumin Pro, designed by Robert Slimbach and published through Adobe in 2015. The body copy is set in DIN Slab Serif, designed by Akira Kobayashi, type director at Monotype GmbH.

Designer: Judy Yang Printer: Epson SureColor P600 Paper: Moab Lasal Photo Mat te 235gsm Book cover: Moab Lasa l Photo Mat te 235gsm Per fec t Bou nd : Ca l i for n ia Of f ice Ser v ices

Unsplash.com/ Freepik.com/ Google Image

unsplash.com/ stoutbooks.com/ interaction-design.org/ 99design.com/ toptal.com / e-flux.com/ canva.com/ scholarpedia.com/ creativeblog.com/ uisidc.com/ smashinmagazine.com/ aplusd.org/ interaction-design.org

COLOPHON ■ PAGE 71

TYPEFACE →

In t he 1920s, Gesta lt pr inciple was founded

by German t hin kers Ma x Wer t heimer, Wolfga ng Koh ler, a nd Ku r t Koff ka a nd focused on how people inter pret t he world T he ter m Gesta lt mea n s ‘u n i f ied whole’, wh ic h i s a good way of desc r ibi ng t he over-a rc h i ng t heme beh ind t he Gesta lt pr inciples. T hese refer to t he way i n wh ic h hu ma n s, when look i ng at a g roup of objec t s, w i l l see t he whole before we see t he i nd iv idua l pa r t s.