Visual perception and application of Gestalt principles in web design. Physiology of human vision. Objectivity as an essential characteristic of visual perception

Advertising as a tool marketing communications largely relies on the characteristics of consumer behavior and psychology. Therefore, it is advisable to begin the analysis of the issue of the role of communication in advertising by identifying the psychophysiological characteristics of human perception of information as such.

In the natural sciences, it is customary to distinguish three main types of perception:

• 1. Auditory perception. It is a way of perceiving information through hearing and auditory impressions (for example, through communication, noise, music).
• 2. Visual perception. It involves the perception of information by activating the visual channel and its subsequent storage in memory in the form of images.
• 3. Kinesthetic perception. It involves the perception of information by creating direct physical contact with an object through tactile (touch), olfactory (smell) and taste sensations.

The most informative channel of perception of the above is visual. According to the results scientific research It has been established that a person receives about 80% of information coming from outside through visual receptors. Through this channel, a person is able to determine many properties of the observed object: its type, color, shape, size, texture, etc. The visual channel plays a key role in a person’s understanding of the reality around him.

Visual perception (visual perception) The concepts of “visual perception” and “visual perception” are equivalent (derived from the Latin words “visualis” and “perceptio”), however, Latin transliteration entered Russian professional use relatively recently, and began to be widely used only in last decades existence of the USSR. defined as:

• - “a set of processes for constructing a visual image of the world based on sensory information obtained using the visual system” Meshcheryakov B.G., Zinchenko V.P. Large psychological dictionary. - M.: Olma-Press, 2004. - P. 124.;
• - “a system of sequential perceptual actions aimed at reflecting phenomena of the surrounding world in visual images” Khilko. N.F. Audiovisual culture. Dictionary. - Omsk: Omsk Publishing House. state University, 2000. - C. 20..

In the framework of this study, the second definition will be adopted as a working one, since it emphasizes the stage-by-stage process of fixing the image of the surrounding world in the human mind. So, first we see big picture, and only after that our perception begins to record details. As a result, a certain established visual image of the surrounding reality is deposited in the consciousness.

Visual perception is a complex multi-level process consisting of two key stages:

• 1) obtaining information at the physiological level (along the chain: light stimulus - retina of the eye - electrical impulses in the neurons of the brain);
• 2) decoding of visual signals (analysis of the electrical signal and awareness of the presence of a particular visual image in the field of view).

However, vision is not a purely automatic response to external stimuli, but is an essential tool for understanding the world around us. Visual perception involves multiple sources of information beyond those perceived by the eye when a person looks at an object. Visual perception is the result of a complex interaction of a visual stimulus with a complex of knowledge, associations, experience, etc. already existing in the brain. Having received information about an object seen, our brain compares it with existing patterns, templates, expectations in order to understand what to do and how to react to this object. Therefore, visual perception is a complex two-way process. On the one hand, seeing the details of the environment, we interpret them into a general whole. On the other hand, we turn to our memory, where all the patterns of our understanding of the world are collected, and, depending on current goals, we interpret the data we see.

There is no single template for the visual perception of a particular object - the assessment of what is seen is always formed on the basis of personal attitudes and principles. Each person has his own vision of the world, which largely depends on the sociocultural environment around him. The system of subconscious decoding of information is based on life experience of a person and his environment, which means that it can be different for people of different origins, upbringing, and education. In other words, “external sociocultural settings are refracted in individual consciousness” Dmitrieva L.M. etc. Philosophy of advertising activities: tutorial. - M.: Master: NIC Infra-M, 2013. - P. 44..

Thus, visual perception is one of the most important human tools for orientation in reality and obtaining information about surrounding objects. This complex multi-level process includes not only a chain of neural reactions to stimuli, but also the entire variety of ideas already existing in the brain, thanks to which a person, through vision, continuously expands his library of knowledge about the outside world.

Insects

The visual apparatus of birds has features that are not preserved in human vision. Thus, bird receptors contain microspheres containing lipids and carotenoids. It is believed that these microspheres are colorless, and also colored yellow or Orange color- perform the function of specific light filters that form a “visibility curve”.

Human eye

Stereoscopic vision

In many species whose lifestyle requires a good estimate of the distance to an object, the eyes look forward rather than to the sides. Thus, mountain sheep, leopards, and monkeys have better stereoscopic vision, which helps assess the distance before jumping. Humans also have good stereoscopic vision (see below, section ).

An alternative mechanism for estimating the distance to an object is implemented in some birds, whose eyes are located on different sides of the head and the field of three-dimensional vision is small. Thus, chickens make constant oscillatory movements with their heads, while the image on the retina quickly shifts, inversely proportional to the distance to the object. The brain processes the signal, which allows it to catch small prey with its beak with high accuracy.

Each person's eyes appear identical, but are still somewhat different, so they distinguish between the leading and trailing eyes. Determining the dominant eye is important for hunters, videographers and other professions. If you look through a hole in an opaque screen (a hole in a sheet of paper at a distance of 20-30 cm) at a distant object, and then, without moving your head, alternately close your right and left eyes, then for the dominant eye the image will not shift.

Physiology of human vision

Color vision

The human eye contains two types of light-sensitive cells (receptors): highly sensitive rods, responsible for twilight (night) vision, and less sensitive cones, responsible for color vision.

Uniform stimulation of all three elements, corresponding to the weighted average daylight, also causes the sensation white(See Psychology of color perception). The three-component theory of color vision was first expressed in 1756 by M. V. Lomonosov, when he wrote “about the three matters of the bottom of the eye.” A hundred years later it was developed by the German scientist G. Helmholtz, who does not mention famous work Lomonosov "On the Origin of Light", although it was published and summarized in German.

At the same time, there was an opposing color theory by Ewald Goering. It was developed by David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel. They received the 1981 Nobel Prize for their discovery. They suggested that the information that enters the brain is not about red (R), green (G) and blue (B) colors (Jung-Helmholtz color theory). The brain receives information about the difference in brightness - about the difference in brightness of white (Y max) and black (Y min), about the difference between green and red colors (G-R), about the difference between blue and yellow flowers(B-yellow), and yellow(yellow=R+G) is the sum of red and green flowers, where R, G and B are the brightness of the color components - red, R, green, G, and blue, B.

Despite the apparent contradiction of the two theories, according to modern ideas, both are correct. At the level of the retina, the three-stimulus theory operates; however, the information is processed and data that is already consistent with the opponent theory arrives in the brain.

Three genes encoding light-sensitive opsin proteins are responsible for color vision in humans and monkeys. The presence of three different proteins that respond to different wavelengths is sufficient for color perception. Most mammals have only two of these genes, which is why they have non-color vision. If a person has two proteins encoded by different genes that are too similar, color blindness develops.

Binocular and stereoscopic vision

• - data from different authors

Most features of human binocular vision are determined by the characteristics of neurons and neural connections. Using neurophysiological methods, it has been shown that binocular neurons of the primary visual cortex begin to decode the depth of the image, specified on the retinas by a set of disparities. It has been shown that the most important requirement for implementation stereoscopic vision- differences in the images on the retina of the two eyes

Due to the fact that the visual fields of both eyes of humans and higher primates overlap to a large extent, humans are better able than many mammals to determine appearance and the distance (the accommodation mechanism also helps here) to close objects, mainly due to the effect of stereoscopic vision. The stereoscopic effect remains at a distance of approximately 0.1-100 meters. In humans, spatial-visual abilities and three-dimensional imagination are closely related to stereoscopy and ipsi-connections.

Properties of vision

Light sensitivity of the human eye

Light sensitivity is assessed by the threshold value of the light stimulus.

A person with good eyesight can see the light from a candle at a distance of several kilometers at night. However, the light sensitivity of vision of many nocturnal animals (owls, rodents) is much higher.

The maximum light sensitivity of the rods of the eye is achieved after a sufficiently long dark adaptation. It is determined under the influence of a light flux in a solid angle of 50° at a wavelength of 500 nm (maximum sensitivity of the eye). Under these conditions, the threshold light energy is on the order of 10 -9 erg/s, which is equivalent to the flux of several quanta of the optical range per second through the pupil.

The sensitivity of the eye depends on the completeness of adaptation, on the intensity of the light source, the wavelength and angular dimensions of the source, as well as on the duration of the stimulus. The sensitivity of the eye decreases with age due to the deterioration of the optical properties of the sclera and pupil, as well as the receptor component of perception.

Visual acuity

The ability of different people to see larger or smaller details of an object from the same distance with the same shape eyeball and the same refractive power of the dioptric ocular system is determined by the difference in the distance between the cylinders and cones of the retina and is called visual acuity. The Snellen chart is used to test visual acuity.

Binocularity

Looking at an object with both eyes, we see it only when the axes of vision of the eyes form such an angle of convergence (convergence), at which symmetrical, clear images on the retinas are obtained in certain corresponding places of the sensitive macula (fovea centralis). Thanks to this binocular vision, we not only judge the relative position and distance of objects, but also perceive impressions of relief and volume.

The main characteristics of binocular vision are the presence of elementary binocular, depth and stereoscopic vision, stereo visual acuity and fusional reserves.

The presence of elementary binocular vision is checked by dividing a certain image into fragments, some of which are presented to the left eye, and some to the right eye. An observer has elementary binocular vision if he is able to compose a single original image from fragments.

The presence of depth vision is tested by presenting silhouette vision, and stereoscopic vision - random dot stereograms, which should evoke in the observer a specific experience of depth, different from the impression of spatiality based on monocular features.

Stereo visual acuity is the reciprocal of the stereoscopic perception threshold. The stereoscopic threshold is the minimum detectable disparity (angular displacement) between parts of the stereogram. To measure it, the following principle is used. Three pairs of figures are presented separately to the observer's left and right eyes. In one of the pairs the position of the figures coincides, in the other two one of the figures is displaced horizontally by a certain distance. The subject is asked to indicate figures arranged in increasing order of relative distance. If the figures are indicated in correct sequence, then the test level increases (disparity decreases), if not, disparity increases.

Fusion reserves are conditions under which motor fusion of the stereogram is possible. Fusion reserves are determined by the maximum disparity between parts of the stereogram, at which it is still perceived as a three-dimensional image. To measure fusion reserves, the principle opposite to that used in the study of stereo visual acuity is used. For example, a subject is asked to combine (fuse) two vertical stripes into one image, one of which is visible to the left eye and the other to the right eye. At the same time, the experimenter begins to slowly separate the stripes, first with convergent and then with divergent disparity. The image begins to “fall apart” at the disparity value , which characterizes the observer’s fusion reserve.

Binocularity may be impaired with strabismus and some other eye diseases. If you are very tired, you may experience temporary strabismus caused by the non-dominant eye switching off.

• See also Binocular, Stereoscope.

Contrast sensitivity

Contrast sensitivity is a person’s ability to see objects that differ slightly in brightness from the background. Contrast sensitivity is assessed using sinusoidal gratings. An increase in the contrast sensitivity threshold can be a sign of a number of eye diseases, and therefore its study can be used in diagnostics.

Vision adaptation

The above properties of vision are closely related to the ability of the eye to adapt. Adaptation occurs to changes in illumination (dark adaptation), color characteristics of lighting (the ability to perceive white objects as white even with a significant change in the spectrum of incident light, see also White Balance).

Adaptation is also manifested in the ability of vision to partially compensate for defects in the visual apparatus itself (optical defects of the lens, retinal defects, scotomas, etc.)

Vision defects

The most widespread drawback is fuzzy, unclear visibility of close or distant objects.

Lens defects

Retinal defects

Literature

• A. Nagel “Anomalies, refraction and accommodation of the eye” (1881, translation from German doctor Dobrovolsky);
• Longmore, “Guide to the study of vision for military doctors” (revised by Lavrentiev, 1894);
• A. Imbert, “Les anomalies de la vision” (1889).

The theory of aesthetic perception is based on the fact that perception basically represents cognitive process, determined by the forms and type of visual perception.

We will place special emphasis on the fact that aesthetic perception is not a passive, contemplative act, but an active creative process.

According to Arnheim - author most interesting book"Art and Visual Perception", each act of visual perception represents an active study of an object, its visual assessment, selection of existing features, comparison of them with memory traces, their analysis and organization of all this into complete image.

In the 20s of the 20th century, a new direction in psychology appeared - Gestalt. The term gestalt cannot be unambiguously translated into Russian; it has a number of meanings: holistic, image, structure, form. And it can be used without translation, meaning a holistic unification of elements of mental life, irreducible to the sum of its constituent parts. In their works, Gestalt psychologists focused on great attention problems of perception. They opposed primarily the associative theory of perception, which dominated psychological theories of the 19th century. They sought to prove that perception is holistic in nature and is built on the basis of the creation of integral structures - gestalts. Instead of abstract questions about how we see three dimensions, what sensory elements are, how their unification is possible, Gestalt psychologists put forward real and concrete problems: how we see things as they really are; how the figure is perceived separately from the background; what is a surface? what is form; why is it possible, without changing anything in an object, to “change” its weight, dimensions and other parameters.

Let's try to figure out how we see and help ourselves learn to manage visual perception.

So - any perception is also thinking, any reasoning is at the same time intuition, any observation is also creativity. And each person sees and hears only what he understands, and rejects what he does not understand.

It is often believed that the eye is like a camera. However, there are signs of perception that are completely different from the camera. The eye supplies the brain with information that is encoded into neural activity - a chain of electrical impulses, which in turn, with the help of its code and brain activity, reproduces objects. It's like letters when reading, symbols are not pictures. There is no internal picture! For the brain, this structural excitation is the object.

Our brain groups objects and simple figures and continues (completes) the unfinished lines. A few lines are what the eye needs, the rest will be completed by the brain as it develops and understands.

The process of visual perception also includes knowledge about an object obtained from past experience, and this experience is not limited to vision, there is also touch, taste, color, olfactory, auditory, and other sensory characteristics of this object.

Perception goes beyond the sensations directly given to us. Perception and thinking do not exist independently of each other. The phrase: “What I see is what I understand” indicates a connection that truly exists.

When describing objects and things, we constantly point out their correlation with environment. No object is perceived in isolation. Perceiving something means attributing to this “something” a place in the system: location in space, degree of brightness, color, size, size, distance, etc. Changing our hairstyle, we suddenly notice that our face has become a little rounder. When choosing a dress style, we dream of “stretching” your legs and neck and “reducing” your waist size. We see more than what hits the retina. And this is not an action of the intellect!

It seems incredible, but any line drawn on paper or applied to the surface of an object (in our case, on clothing or on a face) is like a stone thrown into the calm water of a pond. All this is a disturbance of peace, mobilization of space, action, movement. And vision perceives this movement, this action.

This is where perceptual powers come into play. Are these forces real? In perceptual objects, no (of course, your height did not increase because you wore a vertical striped suit), but these forces can be considered as psychological counterparts or equivalents to physiological forces operating in the visual area of ​​the brain. There is no reason to call these forces illusions; they are no more illusory than the colors inherent in the objects themselves, although colors from a physiological point of view are just a reaction nervous system to light of a specific wavelength.

The ability to read text seems to be a simple process: we direct our eyes to the letters, see them, and know what they say. But in fact, it is an extremely complex process that relies on a series of brain structures that specialize in visual perception, as well as in recognizing the various subcomponents of vision.

To perceive means to interpret information about the environment received through the senses. This interpretation depends on our cognitive processes and existing knowledge. Visual or visual perception can be defined as the ability to interpret information reaching the eyes through light in the visible region of the spectrum. The result of the interpretation our brain makes based on this information is what is known as visual perception or vision. Thus, visual perception is a process that begins in our eyes:

• Photoreception: Light rays pass through the pupils of the eyes and excite cellular receptors in the retina.
• Transfer and basic processing: The signals these cells create are transmitted through the optic nerve to the brain. The signal first passes through the optical chiasmata (where information from the right visual field is sent to left hemisphere, and from the left field of view - to right hemisphere), then the information goes to the lateral geniculate body and the thalamus.
• Information processing and perception: Visual information received through the eyes is then sent to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the brain. These brain structures process information and send it to the rest of the brain so we can use it.

Characteristics that shape visual perception

To get an idea of ​​how complex this function is, let's try to imagine what our brain does when we see a simple soccer ball. How many factors does he have to determine? For example:

• lighting and contrast: we see that there is a concentration of lines, more or less illuminated and having its own diameter, which distinguishes it from other objects in the environment and background.
• Size: This is a circle about 70 cm in diameter.
• Form: Shaped like a circle.
• Location: located three meters from me, to the right. I can reach it easily.
• Color: white with black pentagons. In addition, if the lighting suddenly changed, we would know that its colors were black and white.
• Measurements: Exists in three dimensions as it is a sphere.
• Movement: currently without movement, but can be given movement.
• Unit: There is one, and it is different from the environment.
• Usage: used for playing football, intended for kicking.
• Personal relationship with the object: Similar to the one we use in training.
• Name: soccer ball. This last process is also known as .

If this seems like a lot of steps, consider that our brains perform this process constantly and at incredible speed. Additionally, our brains do not passively perceive information, but rather use existing knowledge to "package" information about what it perceives (which is why we know that a ball is a sphere even when we see it as flat in a photo). IN occipital lobe brain and adjacent parts ( temporal and parietal lobes) there are several areas specializing in each of the previously described processes. Correct perception requires coordinated work of all these departments.

When we look at our desktop, our brain instantly identifies all the objects on it, allowing us to quickly interact with them. Knowing this, it is easy to understand the enormous importance of this process in our Everyday life and how important it is for normal functioning in any life situation.

Examples of visual perception

• Driving is one of the most complex everyday tasks involving multiple cognitive functions. Visual perception is one of the fundamentals of driving. If one of the processes of visual perception is disrupted, the driver puts his life and the lives of other people at risk. It is important to quickly determine the position of the vehicle relative to the road and other Vehicle, the speed at which they move, etc.
• When a child is in a lesson, his visual acuity and perception must be optimal so as not to lose sight of the details of the material being explained. Violations of this ability can lead to a decrease in the child's academic performance.
• IN fine arts, for example in painting, visual perception is everything. When we want to paint a picture and dream of making it realistic and attractive, we must test our visual perception and work out every detail, shade of color, perspective... Of course, to appreciate works of art, we also need good visual perception, it is not enough just to see.
• Visual perception is essential for any monitoring or surveillance activity. A security guard who, due to impaired perception, cannot correctly assess what is happening on surveillance cameras will not be able to properly perform his job.
• Of course, in everyday life we ​​constantly use visual perception. If we see an approaching bus on the road, its image becomes larger in our mind. However, our brains are capable of interpreting changes that are not real. We continue to see a regular-sized bus no matter how close or far it is from us. We also need visual perception to move through space, not to mix up medications, prepare food, clean the house, etc.

Pathologies and disorders associated with problems in visual perception

Visual perception disorders can be accompanied by various problems and difficulties at different levels.

Complete or partial loss of vision as a result of damage to the sensory organs leads to inability to perceive (blindness). This may be caused damage to the eye itself(for example, eye injury), damage to information transmission paths from the eyes to the brain (eg glaucoma) or damage to parts of the brain responsible for analyzing this information (for example, as a result of stroke or traumatic brain injury).

However, perception is not a unitary process. There are specific damages that can disrupt each of the above processes. Disorders of this type are characterized by damage to areas of the brain responsible for certain processes. These disorders are known as visual agnosia. Visual agnosia defined as inability to recognize known objects despite maintaining visual acuity. Classically, agnosia is divided into two types: perceptual agnosia (the patient can see parts of an object, but is not able to understand the object as a whole) and associative agnosia (the patient can recognize the object as a whole, but cannot understand which object is being referred to). It is difficult to imagine how perception functions in people with these disorders. Even though they can see, their sensations are similar to those experienced by those suffering from blindness. In addition, there are even more specific disorders, such as, for example, akinetopsia (inability to see movement), color blindness (inability to distinguish colors), prosopagnosia (inability to recognize familiar faces), alexia (acquired inability to read), etc.

In addition to these disorders, in which the ability to perceive is lost visual information(or part of it), violations are also possible in which the information received is distorted or does not exist at all. This may be the case hallucinations in schizophrenia or other syndromes. In addition, scientists have described a type visual illusions in people who have lost their vision: Charles Bonnet syndrome. In this case, a person who has lost his sight, after a long period during which his brain does not receive visual activity, experiences self-activation of the brain, provoking visual illusions in which the patient sees geometric figures or people. However, unlike the hallucinations of schizophrenia, people with this syndrome know that the things they see are not real.

How to measure and evaluate visual perception?

Visual perception helps us perform many daily activities. Our ability to move and interact with an environment full of obstacles depends directly on the quality of our visual perception. Thus, perceptual assessment can be useful in various areas of life: in education (to know whether the child can see school board or read books), in the medical field (to know that the patient may mix up medications or needs constant supervision), in professional circles (almost any job requires reading, observation or supervision skills).

With it, we can effectively and reliably assess various cognitive abilities, including visual perception. The test offered by CogniFit to assess visual perception is based on classic test NEPSY (Corkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 1998). Through this task, one can be able to decode the elements presented in the exercise and the amount of cognitive resources the user has to understand and complete the task in the most efficient manner. In addition to visual perception, the test also measures memory for names, response time and processing speed.

• : Images of objects appear on the screen for a short period of time and then disappear. Following this, four letters appear, and only one of them corresponds to the first letter of the object's name. The task is to choose this letter correctly. You need to complete the test as quickly as possible.

How to restore or improve visual perception?

Visual perception, like other cognitive abilities, can be trained and improved. CogniFit makes it possible to do this professionally.

Restoration of visual perception is based on. CogniFit offers a series of exercises and clinical games aimed at rehabilitating visual perception and other cognitive functions. The brain and its neural connections are strengthened by the use of functions that depend on them. Thus, if we regularly train visual perception, the connections of brain structures involved in perception are strengthened. Therefore, when our eyes send information to the brain, the neural connections will work faster and more efficiently, improving our visual perception.

CogniFit consists of an experienced team of professionals specializing in the study of synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis. This made it possible to create personalized cognitive stimulation programs, which adapts to the needs of each user. The program begins with an accurate assessment of visual perception and other basic cognitive functions. Based on the assessment results, the CogniFit cognitive stimulation program automatically suggests a personal cognitive training regimen to strengthen visual perception and other cognitive functions that the assessment shows need improvement.

To improve visual perception, it is extremely important to exercise regularly and correctly. CogniFit offers assessment and rehabilitation tools to improve cognitive function. For correct stimulation, you need to spend 15 minutes a day, two or three times a week..

CogniFit cognitive stimulation program is available online. The program contains a variety of interactive exercises in the form exciting games for the brain, which can be played using a computer. At the end of each session CogniFit will show a detailed improvement chart cognitive state.

Let's say we need a booklet about castles in Germany. Information for one page of the booklet was prepared in Word and looks like this:

Elements on the page can be grouped differently: a heading, two subheadings, two blocks of text, two pictures:

This grouping is based on one of the principles of visual perception - principle of similarity: Elements with a similar shape, size, shape, or color are perceived as related.

The similarity is similar, but the meaning is lost. This is the sin of many novice designers who, when arranging layouts, create beautiful but meaningless solutions in their own way.

Creating a Booklet Page

Instead of placing photographs and texts on the page in a natural way, the designer decided to be original:

Hm. Somehow it worked out as usual.

Maybe so? No, that's not it, it's boring.

Oh, I came up with it!

In the first two “ordinary and boring” layouts, images and text are related unambiguously, there is no ambiguity. Let's now take a look at the “original design solution”. The description of Neuschwanstein Castle is in its rightful place under the photograph, but Linderhof was unlucky - the text is located above the image. Our designer naively believes that this knowledge will spontaneously appear in the head of the person viewing the booklet. Naturally, this is not so.

Try to answer the question: which of the descriptions matches the top left photo? To his right or below? “In the top photo is Linderhof!” - the absolute majority of readers will say. Their answer will be determined by the eye movement we are accustomed to, although it is essentially erroneous.

Show or hide eye movement.

The designer misled us by creating a meaningless design. It turns out that original design cannot be made? Should everything be the same for everyone? Of course not. It is possible and necessary to create an interesting design, but not at the expense of the meaning. Let's look at what it is impossible to create an interesting and meaningful design without.

Principles of Visual Perception

First of all, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that our initial composition is integral and further manipulations should not violate this integrity.

Let's start with proximity principle- objects located closer to each other are perceived together. Let's bring the photographs together with the corresponding descriptions and move the left and right halves of the layout apart to enhance the effect.

It immediately became clear what belonged to what, but at the same time the integrity was violated, the composition fell apart into two separate columns.

Let's try it differently. Let's draw a vertical line that will divide the plane of the page into two separate areas. In this case we use common area principle- elements that are in the same area are perceived together.

The line leaves no other option but to correlate the image and text, which are on one side. However, it again spoils the integrity and looks foreign. Is it possible to do without it? Yes.

Common area can be set as background. Let's remove the line and create a colored background in the right half of the layout. This is a visual demonstration principle of connection— elements that are graphically related (for example, by lines or solids) are perceived as related.

In this case, Linderhof will be highlighted, which again violates the integrity.

Still relying on communication principle, let's draw pointer arrows.

To strengthen the connection, we use the previously described principle of similarity according to the visual “mass” between the subheadings (names of castles) and arrows - let’s turn the latter into triangles. In addition to the fact that they themselves act as pointers, the void between the photograph and the description is filled and additionally works for us proximity principle.

Notice how two seemingly insignificant in size “spots” with a correctly selected shape and located in in the right place change the meaning.

Dies, lines, color, mutual arrangement individual elements are not just graphic techniques. When used correctly, they convey the desired meaning, and, conversely, their inept use can lead to the creation of very beautiful, but absolutely meaningless work. The next time you create or evaluate a design, keep this in mind.

Separating Objects

Before last paragraph the reasoning was about connection, the unification of objects. What if you need to separate objects from each other? Obviously, they need to be made different in shape, size, color, location. Let's see how this is implemented in practice using the teaser for this article as an example.

Teaser (Wikipedia) is an advertising message that contains some information about a product, but the product itself is not shown.

What do you see first? The words "heat" and "loft". Please note that neither the background nor the letters of different colors can interfere with our usual eye movement from left to right and from top to bottom. Only then do we see the words “sting” and “raft” on multi-colored dies. The opposite color of the letters is used here to enhance the separation effect.