The human brain is wired to see structures, logic, and patterns. It helps us make sense of the world. For example, what do you see when you look at this image?

If you’re like most people, you probably see a triangle. But in reality, what’s really there are three white “pac men.” We see the triangle because our brains take the ambiguous visual information and organize it into something that makes sense to us—something familiar, orderly, symmetrical, and that we understand. 

When this cognitive process kicks in, our minds make a leap from comprehending all of the elements as individual and unrelated components, to seeing the entire shape as a whole. And as a result, we perceive forms and objects where none were actually created.

To further illustrate this process, check out the GIF below. Your brain sees a dog walking, but it’s nothing more than a series of moving dots.

These are simple examples, but they demonstrate the types of shortcuts our brains make all the time in order to quickly make sense of the world. These shortcuts are known as the Gestalt principles of visual perception, and they detail how our brains create structure by default. But why is understanding this important for graphic design?

Great designers understand the powerful role that psychology plays in visual perception. What happens when someone’s eye meets your design creations? How does their mind react to the message your piece is sharing?

—Laura Busche, Brand Content Strategist at Autodesk

Having a solid understanding of how these principles work will help you in three ways:

1. They’ll help you determine which design elements are most effective in a given situation. For example, when to use visual hierarchy, background shading, gradients, and how to group similar items and distinguish different ones.
2. These psychological principles hold the power to influence our visual perception, which allows designers to direct our attention to specific points of focus, get us to take specific actions, and create behavioral change.
3. And finally, at the highest level, the Gestalt Principles help you design products that solve the customer’s problem or meet the user’s need in a way that’s beautiful, pleasing, and intuitive to use.

Principle #1: Figure-ground

The figure-ground principle states that people instinctively perceive objects as either being in the foreground or the background. They either stand out prominently in the front (the figure) or recede into the back (the ground).

Examples:

Principle #2: Similarity

The principle of similarity states that when things appear to be similar to each other we group them together. And we also tend to think they have the same function.

Principle #3: Proximity

The principle of proximity states that things that are close together appear to be more related than things that are spaced farther apart.

Principle #4: Common Region

The principle of common region is highly related to proximity. It states that when objects are located within the same closed region, we perceive them as being grouped together.

Principle #5: Continuity

The principle of continuity states that elements that are arranged on a line or curve are perceived to be more related than elements not on the line or curve.

Principle #6: Closure

The principle of closure states that when we look at a complex arrangement of visual elements, we tend to look for a single, recognizable pattern. In other words, when you’re presented with an image that has missing parts, your brain will fill in the blanks and make a complete image so you can still recognize the pattern.

Principle #7: Focal point

The focal point principle states that whatever stands out visually will capture and hold the viewer’s attention first.

Source for principles and images.

Crafting your story

People love stories - especially real-life ones. Research shows that character-driven storytelling actually stimulates the secretion of oxytocin in the brain. Oxytocin is a neurochemical that motivates cooperation with others by deeming them trustful, kind, and approachable.Your story is incredibly important to convincing recruiters to hire you.

There are two steps we're going to go through to help you craft your story.

Proposition

[your name] provides [target audience] with [unique value proposition] to [mission].

Biography

Go back to your values and your experience and write a 2-3 sentence biography, making sure that things stay close to your proposition

On Day 1, we already started on your story - we each wrote personal mission statements to help you get into the introspective mindset.

Today, we're going to work on writing a proposition and and biography.

Here are examples of my proposition and biography:

Example Proposition:

I provide students with online career acceleration programs to empower them to find jobs they love.

Example Biography:

My name is Andy Page - I was born and raised in rural Virginia, a place of corn and cows, and not much else. Because of my background, I have become very passionate about expanding access to technical education. I am working to create a world where people can pursue the career they're interested in, no matter where they were born. I have been working in education and workforce development for 5 years and have worked in local government, non-profit, and private sectors.