DAAE2011 Intro to Visual

Communication Design (Online)

Quiz 3: Gestalt Principles

Which of the following best describe Gestalt principles?

Group of answer choices

Theories of visual perception that can be used to group elements, guide designs and create visual
hierarchy.

Branding guidelines that dictate whether a design should use serif or sans-serif fonts.

A form of user-centered design that relies on field interviews and the creation of personas.

Theories of colour perception that ensure that design elements are legible for all users, including
those that have a deficiency of colour vision (anecdotally known as "being colour-blind")

A user navigates to a well known company's landing page. The landing page has a button that is
placed within the centre of a blurred, dimmed, desaturated background image of a beautiful
mountain landscape. The button is white with dark grey text. The text reads 'Signup now for free'.
Out of all the other elements on the page, this button is the first element that the user's eyes are
drawn to, and it appears to 'pop' out of the page. What would be the best explanation for this?

The landing page has a very recognisable brand

In considering the placement of the button and its context, the designer followed the principle of
common fate, because it is a theory that attempts to explain what a user might do next.

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In considering the placement of the button and its context, the designer followed the principle of the
figure ground relationship, as it is a theory of visual perception.

The page loaded quickly and the button was the first thing the user saw.

A user looks at a random assortment of visual elements. These elements are spaced equally within
a grid, so that they are all the same distance from one another. However, they are all different
shapes, sizes and colours. Some elements have the same shape as one another; some elements
have the same size as one another; and some elements have the same colour as one another. A
user could perceptually ‘group’ elements by looking at elements that have the same shape, size or
colour. Out of everything else being equal, which groups of elements would the user most likely
notice first?

The user wouldn't notice any distinct groupings because the elements are all different shapes, sizes
and colours.

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Elements that have the same size as one another.

Elements that have the same shape as one another.

Elements that have the same colour as one another.

Which of the following best describes the principle of closure?

When humans perceive a complex range of visual elements, they tend to look first for a single
recognisable pattern AND when there’s missing or incomplete information, our minds can easily fill
in the gaps.

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Elements that move towards each another are perceived as being more related than elements that
move away from each other.

When humans perceive a complex range of visual elements, they tend to look first for a single
recognisable pattern.

When there’s missing or incomplete information, our minds can easily fill in the gaps.

When elements are arranged in a way that follow a straight line or curve, we have a tendency to
look at the line or curve as a compositional whole, rather than the individual elements — even if
there’s no actual line or curve. Which principle best explains this?

Good continuation

Graph Perception

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Uniform Connectedness

Common Fate

Sharon sits down and starts working on her word search puzzle. The word search puzzle consists of
a 32 x 32 grid of uppercase letters, arranged in a grid, with no borders around the grid or between
the letters. Within this group, there are words — arranged horizontally or vertically — within the
grid of otherwise random letters. The objective of the game is to find these words hidden within
the crossword puzzle. At first the words are very hard to find, but once Sharon finds them, she
circles the words within the puzzle. The words that are circled are very easily recognisable, even
though nothing about the letters — their arrangement, colour or positioned — has changed.
Which principle BEST explains this?

Uniform Connectedness

Closure
Negative Space

Proximity

You can employ principles of similarity and proximity to:

Arrange elements into distinct groups.

Suggest visual relationships between elements; organise elements on a Web page AND arrange
elements into distinct groups.

Suggest visual relationships between elements.

Organise elements on a Web page.

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Imagine a grid of squares are arranged in a 4 x 4 formation — 4 columns of 4 squares. The columns
are labelled — from left to right — A, B, C and D. The squares are of the same shape, size, colour,
and orientation. There is equal spacing between all squares. Which of these following actions
LEAST refers to the principle of proximity?

A box is drawn around the first column. The squares do not move and remain close together. The
squares in the first column are now seen as a single group.

Columns A & B move closer to each other by 5 mm. Columns C & D move closer to each other by 5
mm. As a result, there is a gap between columns A & B and columns C & D. The grid is no longer
perceived as a single group, but as two distinct groups.

Columns A & B move 2 cm to the left. Columns C & D move 2 cm to the right. As a result, there is a
gap between columns A & B and columns C & D. The squares in columns A & B appear related to
each other in their own group. The squares in columns C & D also appear related to each other in
their own group.

Two squares in column D ‘detach’ themselves from the grid and move to the right by 2 cm. The
‘detached’ squares remain close to each other. These squares are now perceived to be related to
one another.

Which of the following LEAST describes a Gestalt principle?

User perceive elements that are arranged on a line or a curve to be more related than elements not
arranged in a line or on a curve.

Users are less likely to engage in brands that they are not familiar with.

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In a complex arrangement of visual elements, users tend to first look for a single, recognisable
pattern.

Users perceive elements that are connected by uniform visual properties as being more related than
elements that are not connected.

Which of the following best describes the principle of common fate?

When you see elements grouped inside a box, you see them as related.

A theory that describes what the user might do next.

When you see elements arranged on a line or curve, your eyes naturally follow the direction of line
or curve.

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When you see two elements moving together, you see them as related.