Gestalt Principles in Graphic Design: Understanding Key Concepts

Gestalt theory adopts the ideology that the human brain organizes and interprets small features to visualize the larger/whole picture or intentions of a design. The design above is a depiction of the Bible story of Noah and the Ark, where animals were to enter the ark in pairs of opposite genders. The animals of interest in the picture are the two lions and the violating characteristics are the appearance and completeness of the lions. The principle of similarity is violated as it guides the audience’s mind in judging that the designer wanted to portray homosexuality in the story of Noah and the Ark According to the Gestalt theory, human brains group things as similar based on their appearance. Looking at the lions, they both appear similar in size and with conspicuous shaggy mane and hence it is justifiable to conclude that both are males. The completeness of the mane also violates the principle of closure as it leaves no room for arguing that one could be a lioness.

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The designer should improve the design in various ways to avoid the controversy. The graphic designer should apply the principle of proximity to allow the audience to establish the strongest proximity relationship in their minds. In this respect, the design should portray one of the lions in a faded manner so that it is not clear at first sight whether both are lions or one is a lioness. Moreover, the designer can also adopt the principle of closure by creating spaces around the animals’ necks to allow the audience to fill in the missing parts of the lion or lioness in conformity with what their minds visualize. The closure aspect will allow the audience to recreate a whole lion on one side and a whole lioness on the other side to affirm the directive of allowing a pair of opposite genders of each species to enter the ark.