THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 1

The Psychology in Graphic Design

Lindsay Magnant

Independent Study

Mrs. Graves

June 8, 2016
THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 2

What I Already Know/What I Wanted to Know

Without art, where would humanity be? Although art is not extremely groundbreaking

and innovative, art is a safe place for many people, including myself. It feels as if all my troubles

are behind me when I pick up a paintbrush. This feeling is so special to me that I wanted to go

beneath the surface and explore exactly why it is that good art, is in fact, good art. To further

explain, my research question is: Why are we attracted to certain designs?

One thing I have always been certain of is my passion for the arts. Since I was young I

was one of the more talented kids in my elementary and middle school art classes, and art has

stayed a big part in my life through high school as well. When we were proposed this project, my

mind immediately went to graphic design and how I could incorporate math and science into it.

Fortunately, my ninth grade symposium project had given me a good base to begin from, as the

title of my project was, The Golden Ratio and Its Effects on Beauty. To explain, the golden ratio

is a divine proportion that can be found in many different aspects of life, however, my project

was focused on the golden ratio in human faces. I tested ten different celebrities, five male and

five female, and measured their faces to see how similar their features were to the irrational

constant of about 1.618. This project opened my eyes to the math and science behind art and

nature. I thoroughly enjoyed the symposium project, so when Mrs. Graves told us to find

something we are passionate about and research it, this was my immediate response.

During some of my early research to find my essential question, I came across a

document from Lewis & Clark College, titled Graphic Design for Scientists8. It talks about the

rules for making a great design, including image file formats, tools to use, layout, fonts, and

color. The document then goes on to say, With this information, you should be able to design

high-quality posters and papers, for inclusion in any conference. After reading this I thought to
THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 3

myself that there is no way possible if only those five principles are applied you will have such

great results. Design requires so much more than that to me. With that thought, I found exactly

what I would research: The Psychology of Graphic Design, or more specifically, what makes a

good design and why we are attracted to them.

The Search

After establishing my topic and research question, I started to search for a professional I

could talk to. Having professional research was important to me because I wanted to know if

psychological principles really were used on a day-to-day basis in the graphic design field. I

came across a few options for a professional to interview. One of these people was Ross Johnson.

I came across his successful blog during my research. He has several posts about psychology in

graphic design, and he himself is a web designer. His blog ended up being very helpful to me,

but emailing him seemed to be somewhat pointless because he posted so often on his blog that he

wouldnt be able to tell me anything that I had already read, and he lived in Michigan. Therefore,

I went to my second option.

I found a local graphic designer, Tammy Potter. Before contacting her I did some basic

research to find three of my future five topic points. Those three were the golden ratio,

simplicity, and the design hierarchy of needs. Through family friends I was able to find her and

speak with her in person, as she only lives about five minutes from me, and being self-employed,

she works at home. I asked her some questions about what her daily life was like. Her response

was that she changes jobs frequently, but the majority of the time she works at home doing small

jobs for businesses. Lately she had been working with food advertising, like menus and logos for

restaurants. She showed me a bit of her work on her computer, and the software she used, which

was a combination of Serif DrawPlus and Adobe Photoshop. After that I started to ask her if she
THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 4

used any techniques when starting from a blank slate. She said that she focuses on things like

symmetry, positive and negative space, and arrangement. Those three things all have something

to do with math. I told her about the three principles that I had come up with so far. When I

spoke to her about simplicity and Hicks law, she said that she had learned about that in college

when she took an art theory class. She said most of her work has simple colors like black and

white, and she tries not to overwhelm the design with a lot of colors or shapes. This applies to

Hicks law because if the viewer is exposed to more options than necessary, it takes longer for

them to make a decision. After we spoke about Hicks law and Occams razor, I asked if she

knew about the golden ratio. She responded yes, and although she does not physically measure

every element of her designs, she said that she often keeps in mind the ratio, as well as the rule of

thirds that basically states dividing a piece into thirds will create more energy and tension, and

therefore increases interest. Then we spoke about the design hierarchy of needs. When she said

that she was not familiar with it, I told her the five levels of functionality, reliability, usability,

proficiency, and creativity. I explained them thoroughly to her, and she said that although she had

not heard of the design hierarchy of needs until that moment, she would look into it because she

liked the concept and agreed with it. We ended the interview and I summarized her answers into

a word document.

I was very pleased with how it went, and that same day I did more research on the

techniques that she said she used, like positive and negative space. Through researching that, I

came across Gestalt psychology, and from there, visceral reactions. I read about both on Ross

Johnsons blog, 3.7 Designs. Through periodic researching and committing some time, I was able

to gather all of the research necessary for writing my Independent Study essay.
THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 5

The Results

As a result of my research I have found five principles that make graphic designs

more attractive, being, simplicity, visceral reactions, the design hierarchy of needs, the

golden ratio, and Gestalt principles.

Simplicity is now hard to find in the fast-paced society that we live in. However, the

successful company of Apple has used simplicity in logo, workspace, and products 7. The

sleek box of a new iPhone is attractive because of its simple structure yet innovative

product inside. From this observation, I came to the conclusion that simple objects are

beautiful.

Hicks Law states that with every additional choice, the time it will take to make a

selection will increase4. In regards to design, the best approach is to have the necessities

and not much more. When trying to establish a point in a design, simplicity is key, and more

people will pay attention and remember it.

Occams razor is another psychological principle that explains why simplicity in

design is important. It basically states that one should not make more assumptions than the

minimum needed2. When applying this to design, Occams razor basically means that

something done in the simplest manner possible is usually better. A common

misunderstanding of this theory is compromising the strength of the design for more

simplicity. The message that is trying to be conveyed should still be obvious and clear, but

the Occams razor theory can help eliminate unnecessary distractions from the message.

Visceral reactions are instinctive responsesofthebodythatarentintellectual,but

similartosurvivalinstincts5.Indesign,elementscanbeusedthatcantriggerthat
THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 6

reaction,becauseitistriggeredwheneverweareexposedtoarepresentationoffood,

shelter,danger,orreproduction.Forexample,brightcolorscouldlooklikefruit,oraqua

blueforwater,oracleanandopendesigntosimulateawelcomingandsafeenvironment.

Next is the design hierarchy of needs. There are five levels of the design hierarchy of

needs, ranked from most important to least important: functionality, reliability, usability,

proficiency, and creativity1. A design has to function well before anything else. A phone can

be visually pleasing, but without doing its job of making phone calls and text messaging,

the design has failed.

Once the design has met all of the functional needs, it should offer stable

performance. The phone should consistently do its job and not crash.

Designs must also be user-friendly. It should be simple and understandable. If the

phone has ten different buttons without labels, the design has failed.

Proficiency is more of a want than a need in regards to design. If the design can go

above and beyond the basic function, that would make the design a lot more successful. If

the phone has a feature like Siri that talks to you and does tasks for you without having to

touch the phone, the design is more likely to be successful.

Creativity is the last level, and although it is not needed to make a design succeed, it

does help significantly. If the phone is able to access my thoughts and perform actions for

me, that would definitely increase its success rate.

Next, the golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant that is said to be found

in art, nature, biology, architecture, and much more. The number is approximately

1.6180339887. The ratio can be seen in a rectangle, which shows that the sum of the

quantities of the larger quantity will equal the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller
THE PSYCHOLOGY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN 7

one3. It is said that when the golden ratio is used in art, it is more appealing to viewers. This

has been proven many times, including my ninth grade symposium project.

Lastly, Gestalt psychology states that humanshavetheabilitytocreate

meaningfulperceptionsofdesignsthataren'tnecessarilymeanttobemeaningful.For

example,wecanstareatcloudsandcreateshapesfromthem,likeaboat,oradog,oran

apple.Thisappliestodesignwhenyouusethepositiveandnegativespaceaswellasthe

rightchoiceofcolorstocreateadoubleimage,ormimicanotherobject.Whenthe

viewersrecognizetheimage,theyaremorelikelytobedrawnin.

My Growth as a Researcher

Creating a blog that I could have freedom with was a completely new experience for me.

I liked the independence, but I also wished I had set more strict deadlines for myself because at

some points I became a little bit behind with little motivation. I have learned that I work the best

when I am under pressure, and late nights are not a good time to research and absorb all of the

knowledge. The times that I best work are on weekend mornings and right when I get home from

school. I learned that blogs are a good place to get opinions, but backup sources are needed to

provide confidence that the information is correct. Databases are very reliable and although they

are sometimes difficult to find, they are worth it. I feel like I am now prepared for what comes

ahead in the academy, and I know myself more than I used to when it comes to researching,

deadlines, and my passion for graphic design.

CITED REFERENCES

1. Bradley, S. (2010, April 26). Designing For A Hierarchy Of Needs. Retrieved May 21, 2016,

from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/designing-for-a-hierarchy-of-needs/

2. Duvall, A. (2015, May 21). Taking the Occam Razor Approach to Design. Retrieved May 10,

2016, from https://speckyboy.com/2015/05/21/taking-the-occam-razor-approach-to-design/

3. Huang, A. (2011, June 09). 12 Laws and Principles to Aid You in Your Design. Retrieved May

21, 2016, from http://www.onextrapixel.com/2011/06/09/12-laws-and-principles-to-aid-you-in-

your-design/

4. Johnson, R. (2010, July 27). Ten Laws to Design By. Retrieved May 10, 2016, from

http://3.7designs.co/blog/2010/07/ten-laws-to-design-by/

5. Johnson, R. (2012, August 02). 10 Psychological Principles to Design With. Retrieved May

10, 2016, from http://3.7designs.co/blog/2012/08/10-psychological-principles-to-design-with/

6. Occams Razor: A Great Principle for Designers. (2010, July 08). Retrieved May 10, 2016,

from http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/07/occams-razor-a-great-principle-for-designers/

7. Pahwa, D. (2014, April 24). Why are we attracted to beautiful things? Retrieved May 08,

2016, from http://blog.crew.co/why-are-we-attracted-to-beautiful-things/

8. Smith, A. (2013, July 12). Graphic Design for Scientists [PPT]. Portland: Lewis & Clark

College.