Exercise Three - Nolan, Phil, Julian, Andrea

COMMON FATE
Common fate is one of Gestalt’s principles of organization, which look at design compositions as a whole. This principle suggests that elements that move in the same direction or have similar orientation will be seen as a unified group.






straight lines make one group, slanted form another.



INTERFERENCE EFFECTS

The Stroop Effect is an interference effect that occurs when one is forced to interpret the words in this list as colours based on the hue in which they are written. The brain gets confused because we are taught that what a word reads is more important than its colour.

ORIENTATION SENSITIVITY
Orientation sensitivity has to do with the eye’s interpretation of lines. It’s based on the oblique effect and the pop-out effect.
Oblique effect: the ability that a person has to accurately perceive horizontal and vertical lines better than slanted or oblique lines. This effect is caused by a higher sensitivity in the eye for viewing horizontal and vertical lines. In general, people tend to enjoy designs with distinct vertical and horizontal elements, because of this phenomenal effect.

Pop-out effect: The tendency of specific elements in an image to be seen quickly as more prominent because of their angle on the page. If an image in the foreground differs in angle from the background pattern, it will be more easily detected, and will pop out at the viewer.

Orientation sensitivity is important in design because it is necessary to look at the way things are placed in a composition and know how to make a certain object in a series stand out.

Excercise 3 -by Shona, Joanne, Kay and Karan

Highlighting – a useful technique to bring attention to a specific area or image.
Highlighting can be a very effective technique when utilized properly, but there are certain guidelines that one should follow when highlighting:

• Never highlight more than 10% of the visible design
• Bold is minimal noise and clearly highlights
• Italics adds minimal noise but is less detectable and legible
• Underlining adds considerable noise and compromises legibility
• Avoid using different typefaces to highlight, instead try using Caps
• Colour is very effective, but should be used with another highlighting technique.
• Colours should be very distinctive from one another.
• Inversing elements add considerable noise but work well with words.
• Blinking should be used to highlight critical information (ex. Emergency status lights) and should be able to turn on and off.

And so here's a gamble for a bonus mark. I think Jesse's excercise 3 image is using "colour" and "typeface" (all capitals) as a highlighting technique. Um. I think.

Layering
Organizing information into related groupings to manage complexity and reinforce relations in the information. There are two kinds of layering: two-dimensional and three-dimensional. Two-dimensional layering only allows one layer of information to be available at a time, while three-dimensional layering allows multiple layers of information to be available at one time.

For example: Photoshop is a program that allows you to use three-dimensional layering because it allows multiple layers of information to be viewed at one time.

Alignment:Ordering elements by forming rows and/or columns in order to create unity and coherence. e.g. the arrangement of data in a grid or table

Signal-to-Noise Ratio:
In design, "signal" refers to the focus, point or message of the design. "Noise" refers to unnecessary, distracting visual elements that confuse or interfere with the point of the design. A design with a HIGH Signal-to-Noise Ratio then, will be one that conveys its message easily to the viewer. A design with a LOW Signal-to-Noise ratio, will have unneccesary visual elements that make the information in the design harder to comprehend. This term seems to be used mostly when referring to charts, and other quantitative data. The design below shows a chart with a low Signal-to-Noise ratio.

Excercise 3: Josh, Dennis and Dave

Figure-Ground Relationship

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elissaweichbrodt/61743311/

Traditional western art theory that separates the figure (object) from the ground in terms of perspective, lighting, colour, or sharpness. There is a tendency of the mind to separate any stimuli (visual, auditory, olfactory) into the categories of figure and mind, one being clear and the focus of attention, the other being relatively vague, shapeless and irrelevant.




When a person is presented with an ambiguous image, one that does not make immediate visual sense, this law identifies our overwhelming tendency to simplify the object into something easy to comprehend, rather than assume (often more accurately) that it is a piece of something larger and more complicated taken out of context.





One of the strongest indicators of relationships between subjects. This principle makes subjects seem more similar proportional to their physical distance from each other.

Exercise Three: Strategies for Conveying Visual Information: Kristen, Iliana, Miriam

INTEREFERENCE EFFECTS

The event in which mental operations are made slower and not as preciecly by opposing mental developments. This process presents itself when it comes across two or more emotional or unconscious formations are in competition.Human perception and cognition associate with several various mental systems that break up and send knowledge independently of one another.The product of the many systems are transferred to the mind, where they are understood and solved.When the outputs or the product of these systems, are in agreement, the course of analysis or perception develops much faster and the final work is ideal. However when the product of the systems are opposed, a resistance happens and extra processing is requires to fix the problem.This extra time used to fix these issue brings a negative influence on performance.

Examples of Interference

INTEREFERENCE EFFECTS OF PERECEPTION

STROOP INTERFERENCE : An unnecessary manner of a stimulus (anything encouraging an action) provokes the mind where it tampers with parts affecting an important feature of the stimulus.

GARNER INTERFERENCE : An unnecessary difference of a stimulus provokes the mind where it tampers with parts affecting an important feature of the stimulus.

INTEREFERENCE EFFECTS OF LEARNING

PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE : Past memories meddle with learning. When learning a new language, mistakes can occur when the person learning the language begins to relate to former language and starts to put to use the past grammar into the new language.

RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE : Learning conflicts with memories. When remembering a new phone number, it can be effected with past phone numbers already in the mind.

In order to intercept any interferences, the only solution is to avoid designs which produce these mental processes which are the opposition. The Stroop and Garner Interferences (Interference effects of Perception) are a cause of code mixtures such as a red GO button, or a green STOP button and it can also be caused from a correlation of subject which are closely placed together which visually correspond with each other. To put a temporary block to the interferences of learning, Proactive and Retroactive by using a combination of teaching techniques such as videos or activities and leaving time to breaks in between.

REFERENCES

http://blogs.ipswitch.com/archives/Go%20sign.jpg

http://www.usu.edu/psycho101/lectures/chp9memory/stroop.gif

http://www.gpc.edu/~bbrown/psyc1501/memory/interference.jpg

http://blogs.ipswitch.com/archives/Go%20sign.jpg

Exercise 3:Gestalt Laws of Pattern Perception. Kristen, Miriam and Iliana

COMMON FATE

The Common fate principle (movement) that determines that when we see something move together, then we see it as a unit.

• For example, imagine a camouflaged military vehicle in the field. When stationary, the vehicle blends in with the background, and the vehicle is difficult to detect. However, the vehicle is easily visible when it moves. We perceive the vehicle, with all its elements moving in unison, as a unitary figure, distinct from its background.

Orientation Sensitivity is visual processing, which occurs when certain line orientations are more quickly and easily detected than others. This strategy of conveying information is based on two phenomena: oblique effect and pop-out effect.
Oblique effect is the phenomena where line orientation is more accurately noted and judged when close to horizontal and vertical orientation, as opposed to oblique.
Pop-out effect is the phenomena where certain elements are perceived quicker and easier when in a display since they tend to pop out as figure elements.

The example to the left is one of the strongest orientation sensitivity effects, which happens when both pop-out and oblique effects are combined. The target element in each case is easily detected as it differs from the rest by 30 degrees of more. The pop-out effect is caused by a change of visual stimuli, which helps detect differences in line orientation and patters. The oblique effect is seen by the perfect orientation of the elements in rows, forming a kind of vertical line orientation.

INTEREFERENCE EFFECTS was posted by Miriam on another post

By: Kristen, Iliana, and Miriam

Gestalt Laws of Pattern Perception - Gio Petrucci

Figure-Ground Relationship
Elements perceived as figures (objects of focus) or ground (rest of perceptual field)

The relationship between the two essentials asserts that people divide visual elements into either category. The relationship can be represented in pictures, and other visual stimuli. When both are clear within a composition, the affiliation is successful. The figure must be better remembered than the ground in order for this to be achieved. How to determine each category:

- figure has shape/ground shapeless
- figure closer/ground continues behind figure

Law of Pragnanz
Interpretation of ambiguous images as simple and complete versus complex and incomplete

The interpretation of ambiguous imagery which has a simple form, simple being with lesser detail or elements, symmetrical rather than asymmetrical compositions. The human mind has been shown to process simple imagery more easily than complex ones. Eliminating parts of a composition make it clearer to the viewer which helps in bringing across the message of the piece.

Proximity
Relativity based on closeness of elements

This Law of Gestalt asserts that when things are closer together they are interpreted as being related. This overwhelms other competing visual elements. For example: ensuring that a label and supporting information is near an element in which it directly explains or refers to enforces the idea of relation between the two.

by Gio Petrucci, Gillian Chen & Kaylyn Frecker

3 Gestalt Properties: Closure, Good Continuation, and Uniform Connectedness!

Closure: Whenever possible, we're inclined to see a group of separate  elements as one identifiable pattern. In our first example, although the picture is made up of 3 individual black shapes, your mind "fills in the blanks" and creates the whole idea of a serpent-like creature moving through water.

Good Continuation: Aligned elements are seen as keeping their set pattern as opposed to deviating from their familiar path suddenly. In example #2, even though the pattern branches off downwardthe viewers eye is still lead curving upwards with the smiley faces.

Uniform Connectedness: The newest and most overpowering  Gestalt principle, it says that elements attached to eachother by uniform visual properties are percieved a one single grouping seen as being more related than elements that are not connected. In our final example, the dots being connected by a similar series of line seem to be all related.

 

-by (in no particular order) Che, Lena, Derek, and Katie

Info from "Universal Principles of design

Exercise Three: Strategies for Conveying Visual Information

Your group for Project One has been assigned 3 or more examples of strategies derived from the Gestalt Laws of Pattern Perception that can be employed to successfully convey information.



Locate the relevant pages in Universal Principles of Design. In your Project One groups, create a post to the blog that summarizes this strategy for the class. Include at least one example (with a visual) that is not found in Universal Principles of Design. Be prepared to briefly present your post next week.

Exercise Three is due on Sunday, January 20, at 11:59PM. Remember to put the names of your group members in the title of your post.