Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
The art side of the field refers to the scope for unleashing design flair and
encouraging innovation, where you strive to design communications that appeal
on an aesthetic level and then survive in the mind on an emotional one. Some of
the modern-day creative output from across the field is extraordinary and we'll
see a few examples of this throughout the chapters ahead.
The science behind visualization comes in many shapes. I've already mentioned
the presence of computer science, mathematics, and statistics, but one of the key
foundations of the subject comes through an understanding of cognitive science
and in particular the study of visual perception. This concerns how the functions
of the eye and the brain work together to process information as visual signals.
One of the other most influential founding studies about visual perception emerged
from the Gestalt School of Psychology in the early 1900s, specifically in the shape
of the Laws of Perceptual Organization ( http://www.interaction-design.org/
encyclopedia/data_visualization_for_human_perception.html ).
These laws provide an organized understanding about the different ways our eyes
and brain inherently and automatically form a global sense of patterns based on the
arrangement and physical attributes of individual elements.
Here, we can see two visual examples of Gestalt Laws.
On the left-hand side is a demonstration of the "Law of Similarity". This shows a
series of rows with differently shaded circles. When we see this our visual processes
instantly determine that the similarly shaded circles are related and part of a group
that is separate and different to the non-shaded rows. We don't need to think about
this and wait to form such a conclusion; it is a preattentive reaction.
Images republished from the freely licensed media file repository Wikimedia Commons, source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gestalt_similarity.svg and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gestalt_proximity.svg
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search