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The theory of visual communication that I’m researching is The Gestalt Principles. While I was unfamiliar with some of these theories of visual communication before, once I started researching Gestalt, I started to recall various images that I’ve seen that would fall under this theory. The most common one would probably be Figure and Ground, such as this image:

Gestalt is the word used to describe design concepts that show unity and variety (Saw, 2000). Gestalt theorists believe that a whole image can carry a different and/or greater meaning then the individual parts, and that when viewing a “whole” image, a cognitive process takes place (“Gestalt Principles,” n.d.). Your mind can move back and forth from viewing parts of the image to viewing the whole image.

This theory, which first started in the 1920’s in Germany, tries to show how we tend to visually group images together when certain principles are applied (“The Gestalt Principles,” n.d.). These principles include Similarity, Continuation, Closure, Symmetry/Order, Proximity, Figure and Ground (“Gestalt Principles,” n.d.). The prominent founders of this theory are Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka (“Gestalt Principles,” n.d.).

The objective of Gestalt is that the designer is in control of what the viewer is seeing (Saw, 2000). This video I found on YouTube does a nice job further explaining The Gestalt Principles.

Webliography

Boeree, C. G. (2000). Gestalt Psychology. Retrieved September 13, 2010,

from: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/gestalt.html

Figureground. [Graphic]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2010, from:

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/gestalt.html

Gestalt Principles. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2010, from:

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/gestalt_principles.htm

The Gestalt Principles. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2010, from:

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

Gestalt Principles of Perception. (2008, August 25). Retrieved September

13, 2010, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxKcpfFvuf8

Saw, J. T. (2000). Design Notes. Retrieved September 13, 2010, from: