Understanding the

perceptual process
PERCEPTION AND SENSATION
GESTALT PRINCIPLES
Perception and sensation

 Sensation
 refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed result of
stimulation of sensory receptors in the eyes, ears, nose,
tongue, or skin.
 Perception
 A process by which organisms interpret and organize
sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the
world.
 Better describes one’s ultimate experience of the world
and typically involves further processing of sensory input.
Perception and sensation
How do we perceive?

 Organizing raw sensory stimuli into meaningful

experiences involves cognition, a set of mental
activities that includes thinking, knowing, and
remembering.
 Knowledge + experience
Perception process

 Perception is the process of selecting, organizing,

and interpreting information
 theprocess by which one screens, selects, organizes,
and interprets stimuli to give them meaning.
 Itis a process of making sense out of the environment
in order to make an appropriate behavioral response.
 Perception does not necessarily lead to an accurate
portrait of the environment, but rather to a unique
portrait, influenced by the needs, desires, values, and
disposition of the perceiver.
Visual Perception

 visual
perception - the way our eyes and brains
make sense of what we see
 Good design thinking requires an
understanding of how the relationship between
visual elements affects the way we perceive
them, as well as an understanding of how to
control and exploit them.
Visual unity

 the whole must

predominate over the
parts
 you must first see the
whole pattern before
you notice the
individual elements
How do we see?

1. Personal experience
2. Context
3. Cultural systems of signs and Symbols
4. Interpretation
5. Gestalts principles
How do we see?

1. Personal experience
CONTEXT

Rat?

Man?
Cultural systems of signs and
Symbols
Interpretation
Gestalt principles

 viewer is looking for some sort of

organization, something to relate the
various elements
 The designer must provide some
clues, but the viewer is already
attempting to find some coherent
pattern and unity.
 Gestalt theory of visual psychology:
perception studies
GESTALT

The whole and the parts

 the whole is more than the

sum of its parts.
▪ This whole cannot be
perceived by a simple
addition of isolated parts.
▪ Each part is influenced by
those around it.
GESTALT
 A unified configuration or
 pattern of visual elements
whose properties cannot be
derived from a simple
summation of its parts.
GESTALT PRINCIPLES

 Knowing how the eye seeks a gestalt can help

you analyze and create successful designs.
PROXIMITY
SIMILARITY
CONTINUITY
CLOSURE
FIGURE/GROUND
 PROXIMITY
 The degree of closeness
in the placement of
elements.
 grouping by similarity in
spatial location
Proximity in Composition

simply putting the elements

close together.
Proximity in Composition
SIMILARITY
 occurs when we see
similar shape, size,
color, spatial location
(proximity), angle, or
value.
SIMILARITY
SIMILARITY
CONTINUATION

 means that something

“continues”—usually a line,
an edge, or a direction from
one form to another.
 viewer’s eye is carried
smoothly from one element
to the next.
 The viewer’s eye will follow
along a line or curve.
CONTINUATION
CONTINUATION
CLOSURE

 A closed contour tends to be seen as an object.

 When the eye completes (closes) a line or curve
in order to form a familiar shape
CLOSURE
CLOSURE
FIGURE / GROUND

 The eye and mind separate an object (figure)

from its surroundings (ground).
FIGURE / GROUND

Categories
 The three main categories in figure/ground
shaping are stable, reversible, and ambiguous.
Stable
Figure/Ground
 Each two-dimensional
mark or shape is
perceived in an
unchanging, stable
relationship of object
against background.
Reversible Figure/Ground

 Figure and ground can

be focused on equally
when positive and
negative elements
attract our attention
equally.
 What was initially
background becomes
foreground.
Ambiguous Figure/Ground

 In some puzzle
pictures, one figure
may turn out to be
made up of another
figure, or of several
different figures
Summary
Class sketch
exercise
Thank you