Gestalt and
Information Theory
5 Gestalt laws, information and
cognition theory
Prepared by Vijaybahu Joshi / Express KCS, Gurgaon, India
Rationale
Like several other global professional
disciplines such as Medicine,
Engineering, Politics, Law, Finance,
Architecture, Management etc., Graphic
Design too has a governing science,
which drives its core functioning.
If we understand this science then
we can easily speak with each other
beyond cultures and boundaries on any
graphic design product. This is similar
to a situation, where engineers from two
different culture and countries collaborate
with each other in a global engineering
project. Our objective at EKCS is to
bring all the stakeholders (our clients,
managers and designers) on a common
platform by empowering them to adopt
the science of graphic design as a central
reference language for communication.
This will shorten the project life cycle and
will help in the creation of more effective
and economical graphic design products,
such as advertisements, web design,
print collateral etc. This is based on the
concept of Global Skill Development*.
Global skills are packaged learning skills such as
writing, speaking, driving, walking, swimming etc,
where we learn any of these skills as a set of several
components learned over a period of time, which are
automatically integrated together to form one complete
skill set. This is permanently stored inside our brain as
a package. We can learn these skills irrespective of our
nationality, gender, economic-class, race etc.
Developing Graphic Design as a
core ‘Global Skill’ at EKCS
A comprehensive industry and academic
research on graphic design followed by
numerous field trials, lead us to 7-core
scientific graphic design principles, which
if adopted in a phased manner can
help any fellow design or management
professional to develop Graphic Design
as a global skill. Out of these 7-core
principles of design, we selected
the three most important principles
and through this we created our 6
parameters for Design Audit.
The three selected scientific principles
were then converted to two distinct
educational modules, which covers all
the 6 parameters for Design Audit. These
courses helped us to develop global
understanding on graphic design, where
designers adopted a more intellectual
language for design communication
rather than using the conventional
emotion driven communication.
As per our initial surveys, the 6 guiding
design auditing parameters brings down
the design thinking time by as much as
35% in the entire project life cycle for any
graphic design product. This makes any
graphic output predictable and accurate.
The global visual language
of Graphic Design
Most of the nations with connected trade
economies, have developed a global
understanding of the common graphic
design language. This has mainly
happened due to globally available
products and services, which maintain
a similar look-n-feel throughout the
world due to familiarization and quick
recognition.
This has happened across all verticals of
products and services, hence audience
across the globe have developed a
common visual understanding of
any category like: Sports, Kids, Cars,
Lifestyle Male / Female, Business
corporations, Food, Restaurants, Fast
Food, Educational institutes etc. Even
celebration events like Christmas,
Birthdays, Anniversaries etc., too have
developed a global visual language.
It is through this ‘global visual
understanding’ alone, we judge,
comprehend, accept or reject
any communication piece. This
phenomenon is the closely linked to the
5th Gestalt law of Pragnanz. The rejection
primarily happens due to ‘Information
theory’
The global visual language
of Graphic Design
Being exposed to several media
communication over many years,
our mind instantly forms a Pragnanz
once exposed to any graphic
communication. This helps us to
define within milliseconds if the
communication is meant for kids,
adults or it’s a grocery advert or a
primary school advert. Such decisions
are done through a well informed
global visual language, which works
equally across different continents and
cultures.
Something to do with kids/teens
Something to do with Sports / speed
Examples of global visual
language: Different categories
Urban male (Men) not teens.
Kids: young girls
Kids: Boys (science fiction)
Male: Action sports / Rugged
Celebration: Christmas (Family)
Institutional / Educational etc
Core design principles to be
implemented in near future
• Gestalt laws & chunking theory
• Information & cognition theory
Core guiding
principles to begin
with
• Communication semantic theory (iconic, indexical and
symbolic devices)
• Design hybridization and mind-tree methods (new idea
generation)
• Communication structure & visual language (pragmatics,
semantics and syntactic devices)
• Visual ergonomic principles
What is Gestalt?
Gestalt is the ‘mind’s’ ability to
perceive, see or feel objects as a
unified whole, even when some
data is missing.
Gaps are filled by mind’s previous experiences
or from a stored database
What is Gestalt?
For eg., which word is this?
B_LL
BELL
BILL
The five laws of
Gestalt
Law 1: Similarity
Mind is
making
groups on
the following
parameters:
Shape
Size
A
Color
B
Law 2: Proximity
Closer
objects form
stronger
groups
A
B
Law 2: Proximity
in written language
Law 2: Proximity
in written language
Now! read this!
Law 3: Good Continuation
m
i
x
ity
o
r
in
p
typ
ograp
y
h
Law 4: Closure
Closure is ‘the’ most important
Gestalt Law and a fundamental
principle behind the functioning of our
mind and our industry (advertising /
graphic design etc)
B_LL
Law 4: Closure
Objects grouped together
are seen as a whole.
We tend to ignore gaps,
since our minds fill in the
missing information to
create shapes and images
Law 5: Pragnanz
Reality is
organized
or reduced
to simplest
possible
form.
Mind either
answers or get
quizzed.
Mainly due to Long Term Memory
What’s the story here?
Some other examples of
closure in Static images:
How we select images
Feel the confusion in
your mind
Solution :)
Clear profile
Information
and cognition
theory
This is directly related to the
stress generated in mind to
process any data.
What is information theory?
The theory states that mind is confused when presented
with similar choices, without much variation in the value
proposition of both. This leads to anxiety and tension,
which also delays the final decision making process.
What is cognition theory?
The theory states that our mind is comfortable in grouping
several different packets of information or data into 2-3
large packets. Lesser the master packs, easier for the
mind to remember. ( 9 theory)
Which is taller?
A or B?
A
B
In which situation mind has to
process more data? A or B?
A
B
Confusion creates anxiety,
which leads to more processing
inside the brain to solve it.
India Vs Srilanka
India Vs UAE
A
B
1 bit of data
0 bit of data
How the BRAIN works?
Cognitive Model- Two Brain Theory
• Information processing model of the brain (linkages)
• Vision
• Hearing
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch
Thank you