Reviews / Why join our community?

For companies UX Design bootcamps Frequently asked questions Contact

ES IG N
N D FO
IO U
T

N
C

DA
RA
UX Courses Bootcamps Community Literature About Log in Join our community

TIO
INTE

N
Est. 2002

⚡ Black Friday Sale: $ o Bootcamps, % o Courses ⚡

Literature Topics Gestalt Principles

Gestalt Principles
Your constantly-updated definition of Gestalt Principles and collection of topical content and literature

Share Tweet Share

shares

What are Gestalt Principles? Gestalt

Gestalt Principles are principles/laws of human perception that describe Psychology and
how humans group similar elements, recognize patterns and simplify Web Design: The
complex images when we perceive objects. Designers use the principles to Ultimate Guide
organize content on websites and other interfaces so it is aesthetically
pleasing and easy to understand.
Closes in
%
booked

Gestalt Principles – a Background days

“Gestalt” is German for “uni ed whole”. The rst Gestalt Principles were View course

devised in the 1920s by German psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt

Ko ka and Wolfgang Kohler—who aimed to understand how humans
typically gain meaningful perceptions from the chaotic stimuli around
them. They identi ed a set of laws which address the natural compulsion to
nd order in disorder. According to this, the mind “informs” what the eye
sees by perceiving a series of individual elements as a whole. Professionals
in the then-growing industry of graphic design quickly adopted these
principles, and designers have since used Gestalt Principles extensively to
craft designs with well-placed elements that catch the eye as larger, whole
images.

The whole is other than the sum of the parts.

- Kurt Ko ka

E S I GN F
O ND OU
TI
N
AC

DA
I NT E R

T ION

Est. 2002

Gestalt Principles are principles / laws of human perception that describe how
humans group similar

Gestalt Principles
Gestalt Principles are an essential part of visual design. There are more
than ten overlapping principles; four of the most widely recognized ones
are:

Closure (Rei cation): We prefer complete shapes, so we automatically ll

in gaps between elements to perceive a complete image. That’s how we can
see the whole rst. You can apply closure in all sorts of imaginative ways to
win users’ admiration and trust when they recognize pleasing “wholes” in
cleverly placed elements, be they lines, dots or shapes (e.g., segments of a
picture). Iconic logos such as IBM’s and the World Wildlife Fund’s are
examples of applied closure—IBM’s comprising blue horizontal lines
arranged in three stacks; the WWF’s consisting of a cluster of black shapes
set against a white background to reveal the familiar form of a panda. .

Common Region: We group elements that are in the same closed

region. You include related objects in the same closed area to show they
stand

apart from other groups. You can see this principle applied in Facebook, for

example, where likes, comments and other interactions appear within the

boundaries of one post and so stand apart from others.

Figure/Ground (Multi-stability): We dislike uncertainty, so we look for

solid, stable items. Unless an image is ambiguous—like Rubin’s Vase,
below—we see its foreground rst. You can apply gure/ground in many
ways, but chie y to contrast elements: for example, light text (i.e., gure)
from a dark background (i.e., ground). When you use gure/ground well,
alongside other considerations such as a careful application of color theory,
you’ll help guide users in their tasks and lessen their cognitive load.

Proximity (Emergence): We group closer-together elements,

separating them from those farther apart. So, when you cluster individual

elements into one area or group on your design, users will recognize it as
one

entity standing distinct from anything else on-screen. An example of

proximity in

design is the Girl Scouts logo, with its three faces clustered in pro le (two

green, one white).

You can also apply other Gestalt Principles in design work—e.g.,

continuation, uni ed connectedness—whichever work/s best to access
your users and help them achieve their (and your brand’s) desired goals.

Gestalt Principles are in the Mind, Not the

Eye
The Gestalt Principles are vital in user experience (UX) design. When you
design interfaces, users must be able to understand what they see—and
nd what they want—at a glance. The principles of proximity and common
region are a good example, as our landing page shows below. Colors and
graphics divide the page into separate regions. Without this, users would
struggle to make associations between unrelated clustered-together items
—and leave. In your designs, you should never confuse or delay users.
Instead, guide them to their options and so they can identify with
organizations/brands rapidly.

The Gestalt Principles are vital in user experience (UX) design. When you
design interfaces, users must be able to understand what they see—and
nd what they want—at a glance. The principles of proximity and common
region are a good example, as our landing page shows. Colors and graphics
divide the page into separate regions. Without this, users would struggle to
make associations between unrelated clustered-together items—and leave.
In your designs, you should never confuse or delay users. Instead, guide
them to their options and so they can identify with organizations/brands
rapidly.

Learn More about the Gestalt Principles

Learn more about how designers employ Gestalt psychology, by enrolling
in our online course: https://www.interaction-design.org/courses/gestalt-
psychology-and-web-design-the-ultimate-guide

For more on building relationships via Gestalt Principles, see Smashing

Magazine’s article:
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/05/improve-your-designs-
with-the-principles-of-closure-and- gure-ground-part-2/

Usertesting.com’s blog features many tips and examples:

https://www.usertesting.com/blog/2016/02/24/gestalt-principles/

Content strategist Jerry Cao’s piece on Gestalt Principles for Designers

o ers many helpful insights: http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/gestalt-
principles-designers-applying-visual-psychology-modern-day-design

Literature on Gestalt Principles

Here’s the entire UX literature on Gestalt Principles by the Interaction
Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Featured article

The Law of Similarity - Gestalt

Principles ( )

Gestalt is a German word that carries much importance, especially for us as

designers. Let’s have a close look at its principles so that we can see how
much information this little word encompasses!

Show full article

Learn more about Gestalt Principles

Take a deep dive into Gestalt Principles with our course Gestalt Psychology
and Web Design: The Ultimate Guide . Gestalt
Psychology and
One of the key ingredients to a successful product is the creation of
Web Design: The
e ective, e cient and visually pleasing displays. In order to produce such
Ultimate Guide
high-quality displays, whether they are graphical (e.g., websites) or
tangible (e.g., remote controls), an understanding of human vision is
required, along with the knowledge of visual perception. By observing,
Closes in
researching, and identifying examples of our perceptual abilities, we can %
booked
days
design products according to these unifying qualities. In order to spread
such skills within the world of interaction design, we have developed
View course
“Gestalt Psychology and Web Design: The Ultimate Guide.”

Gestalt psychology is a theory of mind which has been applied to a number

of di erent aspects of human thought, action, and perception. In
particular, Gestalt theorists and researchers attempt to understand visual
perception in terms of the way in which underlying processes are organized
and how they help us make sense of the world. The organization of these
cognitive processes is important to our understanding of how we interpret
the constant stream of visual information entering our eyes and how it
becomes a cohesive, meaningful and usable representation of the world.
Over the last twenty years, the work of Gestalt psychologists has been
adopted by interaction designers and other professionals involved in the
development of products for human users.

Within this course, we have compiled and consolidated some of the best
resources currently available on the subject of Gestalt psychology and
visual perception. To help you appreciate how you can apply Gestalt
psychology to web design, we have provided many di erent examples from
existing designs. These draw attention to the exact qualities, quirks, and
features of visual perception. Moreover, they discuss how these have been
accommodated and, on a number of occasions, exploited so as to support
either the user's intentions or those of the designer or client.

The application of Gestalt thinking to design provides us with insights and

new ways of approaching problems and challenges. By cementing in our
own minds the many ways we organize visual information, we can improve
our designs for all users.

All Literature
Order literature by:

Most shared in this topic

Gestalt principles of form perception The Law of Similarity - Gestalt

Principles ( )

Gestalt psychology attempts to understand psychological Gestalt is a German word that carries much importance,
phenomena by viewing them as organised and structured… especially for us as designers. Letʼs have a close look at its pr
Book chapter k shares year ago

Read book chapter Read article

The Building Blocks of Visual Design Laws of Proximity, Uniform

Connectedness, and Continuation –
Gestalt Principles ( )

Visual design is about creating and making the general In this, the second part of our examining Gestalt principles,
aesthetics of a product consistent. To create the aesthetic… weʼll look at another Law – the Law of Proximity. This one
k shares year ago shares year ago

Read article Read article

The Laws of Figure/Ground, Prägnanz,

Closure, and Common Fate - Gestalt
Principles ( )

Weʼre now going to take a look at some more Gestalt

principles, building on what weʼve learned in the first two…
shares year ago

Read article

With 119,003 graduates, the Interaction Design Foundation is the biggest

online design school globally. We were founded in 2002.

Connect With Us Get Inspired Weekly

Reach us at [email protected] or through Join 278,987 designers and get
our online contact form. weekly inspiration and design tips in your inbox.

Your email Subscribe

Have questions? Check our frequently asked questions.

UX Courses Community Literature About

Beginner UX Courses Master Classes UX Daily Articles About Us

Intermediate UX Courses UX Design bootcamps UX Topics The People Behind

Advanced UX Courses Local Groups UX Books Contact Us

Discussions Careers

Terms of Use / Privacy For companies What is UX Design? Give as gi Want a new job in UX?