Gestalt Theory & Psychology of UX design

Principle of Visual Perception

With the age of AI & “Human Centered Machine Learning”, it’s essential to understand the needs & behavior of people interaction with technology. This is hugely prevalent for UX designers. To create work that better serves the users needs, it’s important to understand fundamental principles of psychology, including Gestalt Theory. With these principle you can consciously design user experiences that are truly user focused.

     published July 9th 2017

Introduction of Gestalt psychology

Gestalt theory was established by Max Wertheimer early in 20th century. This psychological philosophy addresses perception, perceptual experiences, and related patterns of stimulation.

When perception meets complex elements, we identify the whole before we see the individual parts. As a designer if you understand these psychological principles, you can be more conscious in the design phase. One of the fundamentals of Gestalt principles stated by Max Wertheimer in 1923, called the Laws of Organization in Perceptual Forms, defined basic principles on how the mind tends to perceive visual stimuli.

 

Law of Proximity

“Law of Proximity” states when things are close to each other, they tend to be perceived as one group. Fundamentally proximity is closeness by association. By using clear structure & visual hierarchy you will reduce the cognitive resource of users and they will more easily recognize and react.

     published July 21th 2017