It emphasizes that our perception is not simply a collection of individual elements, but rather, it is influenced by the way these elements are organized into meaningful patterns or “Gestalts.” In this section, we’ll delve into the key concepts and principles of Gestalt theory. Gestalt theory is a psychological framework that focuses on how people perceive and experience the world around them. By understanding these underlying principles, we can gain a deeper appreciation for how our minds construct meaning from the world around us. Overall, gestalt theory offers valuable insights into human perception and cognition by highlighting our innate tendency to organize sensory information into meaningful wholes. Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders.I hope you found this article to be of value. For further reading on this topic I suggest the following article:īelow are links to the other posts in this series.Īpplying the Gestalt Design Principles to Form Design So that’s it for the principle of similarity. The dissimilar field is the active field.įigure 5: Breaking the pattern of similarity to emphasize an element. In Figure 5 below, the form fields have been modified to highlight when selected. Highlighting a selected field is an example of an anomaly. It might save some users 0.1 seconds if you pick the "right" choice for certain circumstances, but it's simply not worth it to conduct sufficiently elaborate research to find out what that choice is.”Ī particular element can be emphasized when it's dissimilar, breaking the pattern of similarity. Either choice has good arguments in its favor, and no choice is likely to cause usability catastrophes. “In cases like this, it often doesn't matter what you do. Read the following quote from the Nielson Norman Group. The correct answer is that there is no correct answer. What about the placement of the Save and Cancel buttons? Should the order be SAVE CANCEL or CANCEL SAVE? What do you think? Which do you prefer?įigure 4: Order of Save and Cancel buttons Note: Nintex Forms is programmed to automatically place the * in the label when a field in the SharePoint list is marked as required.įigure 3: Similarity of label alignment and of special markings.Īll buttons should be of similar appearance. Don’t be creative and use another character or color to identify required fields – it just does not work. For example, the red asterisk ( *) is commonly used to identify a required field. Similarity can also be achieved by using generally accepted design elements in your form design. You don’t want to have some labels that are left aligned, some right, aligned, and some center aligned. What do you notice first - rows, columns, the two blue stars, or the 14 gray stars?įigure 2: Similarity of color helps the user focus on a specific area.Ī few areas on forms where the similarity principle comes into play are, but not limited to, labels, buttons, and fields.Īs Figure 3 demonstrates, all field labels should maintain similar formatting throughout the form. Is there anything that immediately captures your attention? Let’s take a look at the star diagram that we used to help describe proximity. The most memorable question ever asked of my brother and me was “Are you all twins or brothers?” Our answer was always “Yes.”Īs Figure 1 shows, similarity can occur in the form of size, color, shape, shading or other qualities.įigure 1:The Similarity Variances of Share, Size, and Color Source: Interactive Design Foundation I am an identical twin, so I completely understand this principle as I have been living it all my life. To put it in simpler terms, things that are similar are perceived to be more related than those that are dissimilar. It states that elements within an assortment of objects are perceptually grouped together if they are similar to each other. Of all the Gestalt principles, the principle of similarity is probably the easiest to understand. In this post I talk about the Gestalt Principle of Similarity. This is the third post in my series about the Gestalt Principles as relates to form design.
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