Words: Figure-Ground Relationship, Proximity, Law of Pragnanz
By: Nicole Hieter, Sarah Sien, Katie Goulet and Justine Galea
Figure-Ground Relationship
The Figure-Ground Relationship is the concept that allows the human eye to tell the difference between the foreground or “figure” and the background (ground elements) in an image. Figure elements are the objects in focus and the ground elements are the often unclear or “big-picture” background.
Optical Illusions are the best example of how figure-ground relationships can be played with and make pictures appear to be different depending on how we are looking at them.
For example, the picture below (Image 01), The Rubin Vase, can either be seen as a white vase or two black faces looking to each other. The eye cannot make the differentiation between the images, and cannot detect what is a figure element and what is a ground element.
Image 01 - Figure-Ground Relationship
Proximity
Proximity is one of Gestalt's principles of perception, and it happens when elements that are closer together seem to be more related than elements that are further apart. When looking at these elements it is easier to see that elements that are together are in a single group or chunk and therefore more related than elements that are further away.
Proximity can reduce the complexity of many designs, by grouping elements together it reduces confusion and reinforces the relatedness of those elements. The same can be said for a lack of proximity, which reinforces the elements differences. As well, using connecting or overlapping elements is useful for portraying that those elements have one or more attribute in common. Proximal but non-contacting elements means that those elements are related but independent. Also when using proximity in a design it is usually helpful to have labels and or supporting information that describes the relationship of the proximal elements.
Image 02 - Proximity
Sign useful for showing that proximal elements are similar
Image 03 - Proximity
Drawing of Gestalt's theory. The large square is all proximal and therefore related. The smaller rectangles are in groups which makes them seem like they are now individually different.
Law of Pragnanz
Part of the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization, the Law of Pragnanz is when reality is organized or reduced to the most basic form possible. The Law is also referred to as The Law of Good Order or The Law of Simplicity.
Image 04 - Law of Pragnanz
Image 04 is chosen because we see the image as a series of rings, rather than the complex shapes its actually made up of.
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