Gestalt

what is gestalt?

when we look at a complex combination of different elements, firstly we see the whole, the the individual elements which forms the whole. this basic idea is called gestalt.

gestalt principles in editorial design

alignment & ambiguity & grouping:

alignment is the first principle in order to create a system, organizing elements and materials. almost all texts use alignment to organize type. alignment works best with elements which have straight edges like rectangles. you can use edge alignment and center alignment with rectangular elements. if you have elements which have no straight edges (like a circular shape), most used system is center alignment. if you have a working system on your page, you can make the audience to see your system clearly by aligning elements perfectly. but also you can decide to break the system and alignment on purpose. i said ‘on purpose’ because sometimes it might be seen like ambiguity. if it is explained by an example, a symmetrical design can be boring, you may want to distort the symmetry and create an asymmetrical design. asymmetry does not mean unbalanced. you can use negative spaces to create a perfect balance. in my opinion russian constructivists did that in a perfect way. in editorial design grouping (clustering) can be made by location, size, color etc… even the typeface that used can make grouping. in most cases, if the page has a lot of texts, and the designer needs a grouping system on 12pt texts, they put texts on a colored or outlined box to separate from the others.