Gestalt Gestalt psychology is based on observations that w experience that are not part of our simple sensations. It was originally observed by Wertheimer’s when he said we percieve motion where there is nothing more than a rapid sequence of sensory events.
Thousands of logos are being created in this technique. Trademarks and famous companies love gestalt theory.
Boeree, 2000
(North, 2012)
There are six principle theories.
There are different variations depending on the source: Figure Ground 02 Similarity Similarity Proximity Anomaly Closure Symmetry
The first group of psychologists to study perceptual organisation around the 1920’s, in Germany was, Johann Wolfgang, von Goethe, Ernst Mach, Christian von Ehrenfels, Max Wertheimer Wolfgang Köhler, Kurt Koffka and Kurt Lewin. Gestalt means when parts individually have different characteristics to the whole (Gestalt means “organised whole”) example, describing a flower its part leaves part petals but when you look the overall flower, you are aware of the overall object the flower.
Letterform Abstraction Practice gure ground compositions by scaling letterforms within a format. Look for designs that make use of scales letters that suggest their true origins.
(Boeree, 2000)
My favouriate image is the tree with the animals, it took me a while to notice them I just saw a tree with shapes around it. Now I cant unsee them images It really is amazing how its been done. Its so interesting to see how they thought to make the animals as part of the tree and background.
Figure Ground I like the image that looks like Hnd strangling someone, you can see the face shape and the hand but you dont just see one of them they are both clear to see. I love how the image is part of the background.
(Posted Graphic, 2015)
(2005, Vanseo)
The concept of figure-ground perception emerged out of the field of Gestalt psychology. According to the Gestalt approach, the whole is more (or different) than the sum of its parts. The term Gestalt itself comes from the German word meaning “form” or “shape.”
(Cherry, 2016)
Similarity Similarity occurs when objects look similar to each other. The principle of similarity states that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color and texture. There are different ways to show similarity. such as dots that are the same colour on one line and a no colour on the other which makes you see them as a horizontal line but there as a whole.
I like the image that looks like circles and a square, I think it is really interesting how its created to make it look like a square without all the circles touching each other. People see it as a square becasue of the shapes created in each circle, it lines up to create a box shape.
The Law of Similarity states that similar objects are perceived as being grouped together. The picture on the left displays a group of squares and circles. It is easy to group the similar shapes together, seeing the squares forming a cross while the circles are grouped together outside of it (Goldstein 105).
Closure Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people percieve the whole by lling in the missing infomation.
The shapes don’t touch each other which makes you believe you can see the a shape and you fill in the missing pieces without them being there. I love these pieces because it makes you see things that arent really there but your brain is filling them in.
Proximity This images makes a shap out of people disapearing into the distance. Nothing is connected together but it still makes the shape.
Occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group. The nine squares below are placed without proximity. They are perceived as separate shapes.
Unity
I like the image that looks like fish coming out of water but is alos people. People will see something different at first but willl eventually see both things and not be able to unsee them. I find this very interesting to look at and learn about becuase it seems like your brain can’t recognise things at first but then it can see them very clearly.
Stable
Stable images usually stand out a lot from the background, like that dot. Its on its own and can be clearly be noticed.
The form or gure clearly stands apart from the background. Most photographs conform to this principle where someone or something is featured within a setting/scene.
The image seems to confuse people because you can’t tell which side it is facing or where the images finishes. I dont like this picture as its hard to understand.
Reversable Occurs when positive and negative elements attract our attention equally and alternatively, coming forward and then receding.
What do you see when looking at images? People see different things first. I think it is very clever how these images have been created. I will be making my own like this to see what others can see first.
I like the question mark as its also a hens head, I think the images is interesting on how its been created. I think most people will see the question mark first but then straight away see the hen because it isnt hidden in it too much.
Ambiguous Challenge viewers to and a focal point. Figure is enmeshed with ground carrying the viewers eye around the surface with dominant position onwhich to foocus.
My favourite image overall is the on to the right, I love how its a tree with a tiger and monkey. I struggles to see the tiger at first but when I did I was very amazed by the piece as a whole. I spotted the monkey first and didnt realise there was anything else.
The image in the bottom corner is difficult to see, I have seen it many times and still struggle to see the old lady. I see the young one very easily but my eyes struggle to adjust to see the older lady.
Victor Vasarely
Victor Vasarely was born in Pecs in 1906. In 1930 he worked as a Graphic artist as the creative consultant in the advertising agencies ‘Havas’ and ‘Dreager ontil 1935. He then went on to produce art using optical illusions. Over years he had developed geometric abstract art using optical illusions. He won some awards over his years and his work is displayed in may museums in different countries such as France.
The image to the right was created at a church in Polos (Pecs). It is a 3D sculpture which is an optical illusion. I like this piece because the colours are all so different but make the piece work together as a whole. It looks like a 3D piece stuck in the ground but it thin and flat.
Wikipedia (2016b)
This is an optical illusion picec created by Victor Vasarely. It is like a typical optical illusion you would see now. I think it is really amazing how it has been created. It looks very interesting and facinating.
(Art, 2016)
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