PERCEPTION

PRESENTER : HEART XYRIEL CANDIE TIMBANG

 OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson the students will be able to:

1.

2.

3.
 SEEING AND BELIEVING
• Graphic designers do more than decorate a surface. They work
with fundamental principles of visual perception.
• The brain is sifting and cataloging the images.
• The visual illusion created through this process is a real part of
perception.
• Realism in art and design is not an absolute but a convention
that our culture and personal background create from visual data
SEARCH FOR SIMPLICITY
• Gestalt psychologists have investigated the way humans process
information from a two-dimensional surface. There is an interplay of
tensions between shapes on a flat surface.
• The experiments of Gestalt psychologists led them to describe a basic law
of visual perception: Any stimulus pattern tends to be seen as a structure
as simple as conditions permit. This law is similar to the principle of
parsimony known to scientists, which states that when several hypotheses
fit the facts, the simplest one should be accepted.
INTERPRETATION

• Visual perception, and thus communication, is always colored by

interpretation. Context, personal experience, and culturally inculcated
systems of signs and symbols play a strong role in perception.
INTERPRETATION
 FIGURE AND GROUND
• The most fundamental organizational
principle of sight for an artist
working on a flat, two-dimensional
surface is figure/ ground.
• An ability to see and structure both
figure and ground is crucial to the
d e s i g n e r.
• This distinction is the fundamental
first step in perception.
 FIGURE AND GROUND

It shows a contemporary illustration with

a dynamic figure/ ground relationship that
encourages varied readings.
 FIGURE AND GROUND
It makes playful and
effective use of
reversible figure/ground
grouping.
 CATEGORIES

The three main categories in figure/groun

shaping are stable, reversible, and
ambiguous
 STABLE FIGURE/GROUND

Each two-dimensional mark

or shape is perceived in an
unchanging, stable
relationship of object against
background.
 REVERSIBLE FIGURE/ GROUND
• Figure and ground can be
focused on equally.
• What was initially ground
becomes a figure.
• Because we cannot
simultaneously perceive both
images as figure, we keep
switching between them.
AMBIGUOUS FIGURE/ GROUND

Japanese symbolic picture. Nineteenth

century. An example of ambiguous
figure/ground
 CONDITIONS
Once mastered, figure/ground grouping is an
invaluable tool. It is complex and deserves study.
Here are some conditions under which one area
appears as figure and another as ground.
 ■ The enclosed or
surrounded area tends
to be seen as figure; the
surrounding,
unbounded area as
ground
■ Visual texture makes
for figure perception.
The eye will be drawn
to a textured area
before it is drawn to a
nontextured area
■ Convex shapes are
more easily seen as
figure than concave
 Simplicity (especially
symmetry) predisposes
an area to be seen as
figure.
 Familiarity causes a
shape to pull out from
its surroundings. As we
focus on it, it becomes
figure while the
surroundings become
ground
 ■ The lower half of a
horizontally divided
area reads as the solid
figure to which gravity
anchors us
 LETTERFORMS

you will realize that

figure/ground affects
letterforms the same as
any mark on the page.
 SHAPE
• Design is the arrangement of shapes. They
underlie every drawing, painting, and
graphic design.
• Shape occurs in both figure and ground, in
both type and image.
 SHAPE VS. VOLUME

• A shape is an area created by an enclosing boundary that defines the outer

edges.
• Shape describes a two dimensional artwork; volume describes a three-
dimensional work, such as a ceramic pot, a sculpture, or a piece of
furniture
 GROUPING SHAPES
Every visual experience is seen in the context of space and
time. Research has demonstrated that grouping letters into words
makes it possible to recall the letters more accurately than when
they are presented alone. If it is possible to group marks into a
recognizable or repeating shape, the eye will do so, because it is
the simplest way to perceive and remember the marks.
 SHAPE VS. SUBJECT
For the graphic designer, the shape of a circle may represent
the letter O, a diagram of a courtyard, a drawing of a wheel, or a
photograph of a musical instrument. Through basic shape you
can bring unity to a group of seemingly disparate
objects.Repeating similar shapes in different objects is an
excellent way to bring visual unity to a design.
 THE FORM OF SHAPES
An artist may choose to represent an
object or a person realistically, by an
image similar to an unaltered photograph.
Also, an artist/designer may also
represent an object in a purposeful
distortion or stylization that can
emphasize an emotional quality,
 ABSTRACTION
Abstraction is another approach to illustration
and design. It implies a simplification of
existing shapes. Details are ignored, but the
subject is often still recognizable. Often the pure
design shapes of the subject are emphasized, as
in Figure 3-16—a Japanese portrait created in
the late 20th century that uses squares.
 DIGITAL FOCUS

There are two kinds of image files in computer graphics: vector graphics
and raster graphics. Vector graphics are like a cross-stitch embroidery pattern
in which the yarn stays as separate interwoven strands. Raster graphics, on the
other hand, are like a woven fabric in which the color pattern is dyed into the
cloth.
 LETTERFORM SHAPE
The ability to see shapes is especially
important with letterforms. True, they
are symbols of something, but first and
foremost they are pure shape, a
fundamental design element
PARTS OF LETTERFORMS
TYPE SIZE
• TYPEFACE is a style of lettering. Most typefaces vary a great
deal, as you can see when you develop an eye for the
differences. Each family of typefaces may contain variations
such as italic and bold in addition to regular, or Roman.
• FONT is a specific size and variation on a typeface
• STRESS is the distribution of weight through the thinnest part
of a letterform.
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!
REFERENCE :

Amy E. Arntson(Graphic Design

Basics, Fifth Edition)