There are seven Gestalt web design principles:
1)Principle of proximity: The principle of proximity refers to how close items are to each other. The brain groups together elements that are next to each other and separates them from elements that are further away. These elements can overlap or group together in the same space. This may also include separating similar elements by putting space in between them. By putting items near each other, you can help viewers understand the structure you want them to see and make the correct associations between icons, spaces or other visual elements.
Example: Putting field labels on forms, just under the space reserved for the answer..
2)Principle of closure: The principle of closure, also called reification, indicates that when viewers look at an image that contains a complex arrangement of various elements, the brain seeks a clear, recognisable pattern. This means that if they see an image that has missing pieces, viewers still have the ability to imagine the entire shape. The brain can fill in the missing aspects to create the image in its entirety.
3)Principle of similarity: 3. Similarity
The principle of similarity, also called invariance, implies that the human brain tries to find differences and similarities in one image and connect comparable elements. In design, viewers may visually group similar elements according to size, colour or shape, regardless of their proximity to each other. This principle connects elements that might not be close to each other.
Example: Using repetitive design elements to make it easy for a user to scan through them is an example of the principle of similarity..
4)Principle of continuity: The principle of continuation suggests that the human eye follows the easiest path when viewing lines, regardless of how the designer or artist drew them. This means the brain flows with how the lines appear, rather than how the artist created them. This law is useful in design when the objective is to guide the visitor’s eye in a specific direction.
5)Principles of Figure-ground:
The figure-ground principle of Gestalt psychology states that viewers looking at an object perceive it as either distinctly in the foreground or distinctly in the background. This principle, also called multiple-stability, operates on the understanding that the human brain prefers stable shapes and figures, and uses this preference to categorise images as a figure or the ground. Sometimes, designs combine two distinct images in the foreground and background. Some people may see one or the other image first.
Example: Rubin’s vase, a famous image of two faces looking at each other, is an example of this principle because the faces also create the image of a vase between them.
6)Principle of Common Region: The Gestalt law of common region says that when elements are located in the same closed region, we perceive them as belonging to the same group.
When dots are placed at a same place inside a circle, and circles are closely placed. Then common region is perceived by the mind as a same group.
7)Principle of symmetry: The principle of symmetry and order, also called prägnanz, which means good figure in German, states that the human brain organises symmetrical elements of an image into a unified group. This allows people to perceive an ambiguous figure as a simple image and helps individuals make meaning out of unfamiliar elements. In graphic design, professionals may use this principle to create aesthetically pleasing and recognisable logos that consumers immediately connect to a particular brand or organisation.
Example: Five rings of Olympics.
Impact of Gestalt principle: Major elaborations of the new formulation occurred within the next decades. Wertheimer, Köhler, Koffka, and their students extended the Gestalt approach to problems in other areas of perception, problem solving, learning, and thinking. The Gestalt principles were later applied to motivation, social psychology, and personality (particularly by Kurt Lewin) and to aesthetics and economic behaviour. Wertheimer demonstrated that Gestalt concepts could also be used to shed light on problems in ethics, political behaviour, and the nature of truth. Gestalt psychology’s traditions continued in the perceptual investigations undertaken by Rudolf Arnheim and Hans Wallach in the United States..