Design & Perception : How Can I Influence the Way a Design is Perceived?

What is Gestalt Principles of Actions?

Gestalt Principles of Actions are basically a set of rules of the organisation of perceptual scenes. We perceive things as soon as we see saw it by the way it looks, size, colour, shape, and so on. These features can affect the way users think of a design whether it looks appealing, easy to use or the other way round.

Here are some principles related to the Gestalt Principles of Actions:

(a) Figure-ground Articulation

* we perceive our environment by differentiating between objects and their backgrounds.
* this means there are 2 different components in the object; in which they are different in terms of colour, shape, and size. The first component will have an object-like character, whereas the background of the object appears as a "mere" background.

For example, this blue badge (left) from our faculty's open day consists of 2 components; the picture of a head and the wording "WE'RE GREAT" in white which represents the faculty's slogan and the blue background of the badge that acts merely as a plain background with no specific meaning.

(b)Orientation Sensitivity

* refers to visual processing of line orientations; in which certain orientations are easier and quicker to process than the others. 

*it also means that there is one odd object in the midst of similar orientation, in which it differs from the normal condition that we usually see.

Based on the picture, we can see that the orientation of the design is similar except for one which is in the third row. The other shapes are slanting from upper right to bottom left but that one particular shape in the third row is slanting from upper left to bottom right.

(c) Proximity Principle

* objects that are close to each other will be seen as belonging together.

* usually this principle is used in grouping objects in a design.

The picture above is an interface screenshot from a Samsung Tablet 7.0" that uses Android KitKat 4.4.2 version. As we can see at the right side of the picture, the applications are grouped together to indicate that they are the frequently used apps in the tablet device.

(d) Interference Effect

*an event in which mental processing is made slower and less accurate by competing mental processes. 

*it usually occurs when the design is different from the normal universal designs that we were adapted of, and resulted in confusion and slower thinking process in the user's mind to interpret the meaning of the design. 

Lets take a look at these pens. Normally, the colour of the pen's cap indicates the colour of its ink colour. However, when the caps of these two pens were changed (pink-coloured ink in purple cap and purple-coloured ink in pink cap), the user might get confused for a while and might be deceived by the cap's colour and might end up using the wrong colour pen.

(e) Consistency Principle

*the design of the object is the ame everywhere and can be understood by people anywheree.

*the users know what it means/how to use it as soon as they see it.

The mouse is used everywhere and can be used by anyone as soon as the users see it. The users can predict how it works and immediately know how to use the mouse efficiently. There are 2 components on the mouse which are the left and right click buttons and the scroll button in the middle. Users don't have to think for too long on figuring out on how to use it as its function is the same regardless its size, colour and brand.