Design is often termed as a work of art, when in reality it is also a combination engineering, geometry and most importantly psychology. The best designers today possess proficient abilities to apply knowledge into skills and present us with distinctive designs. Study of psychology can be applied to the creative processes to develop an outcome that stands strong in the competitive market.

Gestalt theory is a study in the same area that originated from Austria and Germany in early 20^th century. The word “Gestalt” means unified and the theory emphasizes the fact that a larger accumulation will always be greater than individual parts of something. Almost a century old theory is still relevant in modern world and is providing guidance to thousands of creative individuals around the world.

In design the theory explains the relationship between the elements and principles of design and approaches towards the direct interest of target audience. Starting with the first principle that talks about the role of resemblance-

The human tendency is to group objects together if they are similar regardless of their proximity. The similarity between objects can be in terms of shape, color, size texture or value.

Continuation is the second principle of Gestalt’s theory that focuses of movement of vision between the elements of design. A proven way to achieve this principle is through curved lines as they allow eye to flow with the line.

Closure, third principle states that a human eye can be tricked into perceiving a closed figure if the missing parts of an incomplete figure are chosen smartly. The human brain fills in the negative space and the object appears to be complete.

The fourth law states that the elements placed closed to each other are perceived to form a single group. The eyes restrain to observe the elements individually to focus on the group as a whole.

In the next principle the object and the background of a design are separately observed by human eyes and they have distinct roles to play. Designers can benefit from either both of these to convey the message or to capture the audiences’ attention.

The understanding of this theory helps in creating powerful yet impactful designs by playing around with elements and applying the principles listed above. The structure as a result helps in a smart application of design elements over a broad range of categories.