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Gestalt and Graphic Design Criticism: an investigation of the humanistic and therapeutic effects of visual organisation

This paper provides a fresh perspective on the role of gestalt psychology within studio-base

cultures. Gestalt approaches are recognised for assisting in the development of visual grammar within the field of graphic design and yet only two key publications exist that discuss this topic in detail. They propose that gestalt is deployed as a rigorous methodology within Modernist teachings on the spatial organisation of graphic artifacts (such as posters, layouts and typographic arrangements). My own paper adds to this thesis, offering a detailed case study on the work and writing of Gyorgy Kepes, a designer who consciously employed gestalt principles when he approached the making of graphic artifacts.

My paper re-visits Kepes’ classic design primer, The Language of Vision (1947), and generates

an alternative view of his original thesis. The interpretation offers a fresh insight into the value of

gestalt principles in graphic design, building an historical connection between gestalt thinking

and the development of a therapeutic strand within this area of creative practice. A close textual

analysis of Kepes’ publication provides strong evidence that the therapeutic aspect of graphic

design was as important to this Modern practitioner as the idea of efficient communication: a

substantive empirical finding of this paper is Kepes’ belief that good design makes the world a

better place (a place of emotional integration and well-being). The paper was peer reviewed and welcomed for its methodological precision and depth of scholarship, which is at once both historical and philosophical. Design Issues (MIT) is the first American academic journal to examine design history, theory, and criticism. Citations indicate that this paper is enhancing understanding of gestalt principles within the history and theory of graphic design, and supporting the development of sustainable models of practice – sustainable in the sense of being user-centred and focused on human values.