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SEMIOTICS AND THE PRINCIPALS OF GESTALT IN PHONE DESIGN
SEMIOTICS AND THE PRINCIPALS OF GESTALT IN PHONE DESIGN
INDEX
1: …………………………………………………………….…………….Front Cover
2: ………………………………………………………………………………….Index
3: ……………………………………………………………..…………….Essay Brief
4: …………………………………………………………….…………….Introduction
5: …………………………………...………………….Mobile Phones & Their Design
6: ……………………………………………………………………….……….Gestalt
7: …………………………………...….Principle of Proximity, Similarity and Closure
8: ……………………………………………………………………..……....Semiotics
9: …………….……..….Examples of Products using Gestalt Principles and Semiotics
10: …………………………………………………………………….…….Conclusion
11: ……………………………………………………………..………….Bibliography
ESSAY BRIEF
Essay question:
For this essay you will focus on one historical or contemporary visual cultural production of your choice. For example, this could be (but is not limited to) a painting, an exhibition, or a piece of architecture; or it could be an aspect of a film, theatrical production or animation, such as its costume, set, props, film editing, etc. Analyse your chosen example using selected ideas from the lecture and seminar programme and from further research into theoretical ideas around perception.
Your essay must contain at least one illustration of the work discussed.
Word count: 1500 – 2000 words.
Your essay must include the following:
1) A clear introduction (approx 150-200 words) to your investigation, which should outline the topic of the essay and briefly mention the different published sources you have used. You should use no less than 5 published sources to inform your research.
2) Clear definitions of the theoretical ideas that you will be using to analyse your example, with supporting evidence in the form of no less than 3 quotations from 3 different published sources. Quotations must be introduced and commented upon, not ‘dropped in’ to the essay with no discussion. Ensure all information or ideas taken from published sources is referenced correctly using the UCA Harvard referencing guide
3) Illustration(s) of your chosen example. Ensure all images used in your essay are referenced correctly using the UCA Harvard referencing guide
4) A conclusion in which you tie together the strands of your discussion (approx 150-200 words).
The essay should be referenced correctly using the UCA Harvard method explained at the web address above, and should contain a bibliography and an illustration list.
Essay submission date:
MONDAY 12TH DECEMBER
Essay hand-in 10am – 12 Noon
(Faculty Admin office, Ground floor)
Ensure your essay is submitted with a signed plagiarism declaration form, which you can download from myUCA, and a that a copy is submitted on Turnitin.
Trying to understand psychological subjects by perceiving them as organized and planned instead of viewing them as the sum of their parts, Gestalt psychology separates itself from more traditional techniques and makes itself stand prominent with such concepts as holism and context. Gestalt goes hand in hand with the study of signs, or ‘semiotics’ as it is commonly referred to. This essay means to explore the subjects of Gestaltism, Semiotics and design and to dive deeply into what they mean.
The main sources that I will use will be “Semiotics: The Basics” (2002) by Daniel Chandler, “Designing with the Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules” (2010) by Jeff Johnson, “Information Dashboard Design” (2006) by Stephan Few, “Our Cell Phones, Ourselves” (2004) an online article by Christine Rosen and “Mobile Phones as a Status Symbol” (2011), another online article by Andrena Markley.
To begin with, the assignment introduces the concept of phones and what impact they have on society followed by the model of the phone this essay will be studying. It will then go on to explain what exactly the gestalt principals of perception are, what semiotics is and how they both link in with the design of the phone. The essay will then show other examples of these aspects of design in action. In conclusion, it will round off by discussing how useful Gestalt psychology and semiotics are in designing products that are to be interacted with, both visually and physically.
To briefly explain, Semiotics is the study of signs and why we as humans perceive them as we do. Such examples are traffic lights, handheld controllers and keyboards. This proves useful in design because, if semiotics is considered, it makes the product easier to use. Likewise with the Gestalt principals of perception, which is the study of shapes, design is one of the main departments of which this subject can fall into and be taken into great use.
The importance of mobile phones in modern society is high to the point of being an almost mandatory requirement for people to have across the world. They enable their users to keep in close touch with businesses, family, and friends and grant the user access to email. These abilities of the phone today are only a small taster of what phones can do and are just a few reasons as to why the mobile phone is so popular. The technology of phones today enables them not only to receive calls, but to store data such as pictures and music. “Connection has long served as a potent sign of power. In the era before cell phones, popular culture served up presidents, tin-pot dictators, and crime bosses who were never far from a prominently placed row of phones, demonstrating their importance at the hub of a vast nexus.” (Rosen, 2004)
Rosen tells us that having at least some kind of connection with the outside world is revered as being higher in society. This is true because, for example, even during the times of Ancient Greece, connection and communication with others was invaluable even if said communication were in the form of scrolls and ink or oral recitation. The same still goes today for figures of authority that require phones as a vital part of their every day jobs.
Mobile phones, when first introduced, were cumbersome and costly. They also needed a base which was required to be carried along with it. Mobile phones could sometimes only work in specific places as decent reception became an issue, but as the technology of mobile phones progressed, so did the ability to receive better signals.
To keep ahead with the most recent technology serves as acceleration in status, particularly with mobile phones. More often than not, one can see highly polished, pristine businessmen in crisp, black suits with a slick, high-tech phone in their hand on their journeys. The high-tech appearance of the phone is usually nothing more than to simply build up their formal appearance and status, “slicing out the juice from the latest trend fruit to help them in building their image and business.” (Markley, 2011) as Andrena Markly cleverly states. He tells us that these technological advancements are simply a series of ‘phases’. We have a talent for flaunting the ‘in’ gadgets and gizmos of the season in an attempt to heighten our status in society. It’s become an easily accessible trend.
Design often comes into play within the race for technological advancement and status-strengthening, whether it’s from the sleek designs of Apple to the ingenuity of Nokia or Sony. The particular phone this essay will focus on will be the T-Mobile ZTE Vairy Touch. (Fig 1)
(Fig 1)
As it is immediately apparent, the phone itself looks to be ideally small enough to fit in the palm of the hand. The design itself was intended to be as far away from the bulky phones of the 80s and 90s and to be as compact as possible for the year this phone was created. The design is also very simplistic and easy to use, making for a winder range of marketing audience. What the designers seem to have taken into effect while this model phone was merely a design concept on paper are the principals of Gestalt, which is German for ‘Shape’.
Gestaltism or Gestalt physiology is ultimately the theory of brain and mind. The Gestalt School of Psychology started to study how we see organization, pattern and form in 1912. “Gestalt” is simply translated to “Pattern” from German. We organize what it is we see in these patterns in order to make sense of what is in front of us, which is what the school researched, resulting in the famous Gestalt Principals of Perception which reveals why we as humans organize patterns together into groups. “We really are—“wired”—to perceive our surroundings in terms of whole objects (Stafford & Webb, 2005; Ware, 2008)” (Johnson quoting Stafford & Webb, 2010:11). With Johnson quoting Stafford & Webb, they say that it is instinct to perceive objects like this. As humans, we cannot help seeing certain things a certain way and this gestalt principle explains what we perceive to great accuracy.
The principals still exist today and are still very accurate in their descriptions of the human psyche. The six principals are Proximity, Closure, Similarity, Continuity, Enclosure and Connection. To name and explain a few of these principles, the principal of proximity states that if we see certain patterns that are close to each other, we automatically assume that they are in the same group. (Fig 3)
(Fig 3) (Fig 2)
Because we see these dots are close together, we automatically perceive them as being in the same groups (Fig 2).This is hardwired into out brains and is the quickest way to receive data. We also group up patterns that are alike in shape, colour and size. As we also see from the diagram, we think that all 12 red dots are in the same group as well as belonging to three separate groups simply due to the fact they are red (Fig 2). This is likewise with the black dots, too. This is the principle of similarity. These principles are reminiscent of the T-Mobile Vairy Touch’s main buttons that control the display at the bottom of the phone. They’re grouped up into one interface surrounding the scrolling dial, which is a circle. This design is both pleasing to our eyes and easy to use.
(Fig 4)
Loose ends are one of the banes of the human mind and so when confronted with a vague visual representation of a pattern that would be seen as either incomplete or open, we want to see them as closed, whole objects and so our minds perceive them as so. This is the principle of closure and tells us that we see or want to see opened structures as complete and closed. Figure 4 gives us an example of this.
Working along side the Gestalt principles in design is the study of semiotics, also referred to as Semiotic Studies. It is the study of signs and their processes, designations, likeness, metaphors, indications and communications. It is related to linguistics which examines the meaning and structure of languages. It also sheds light on why we associate certain signs and visual queues with certain concepts such as the red light on a traffic light meaning ‘Stop’ while the green light signifies ‘go’. The Study of Signs is separated into three subjects: Semantics, Syntactics and Pragmatics. Semantics is the most used in terms of design for products like the T-mobile Vairy Touch. Referring back up to figure 1 we see that the bottom left and right buttons sport small red and green phone symbols, yet these phone shapes aren’t mobile phones. They are they classic ‘banana phone’ that we are all accompanied to. When we think ‘phone’ we automatically think of this type of phone, and ringing up a family member, business partner or otherwise is what we most think of doing with a phone, thus we associate the two together, creating a red button that hangs up a call and a green button which initiates one. The symbols are coloured green and red, primarily because we associate the colours with the ‘stop’ and ‘go’ philosophy of a traffic light.
Product semiotics deals with the right way to design products so they are simple to use. Contemporary Semiotics moved less towards straightforward sign systems and more towards what meanings they have, being more engrossed with the maintenance of reality and communication. We go through our daily lives constantly associating signs with things we have encountered just by looking at our surroundings and becoming more aware of our reality. Studying semiotics essentially helps us realise that meaning and information aren’t contained in the world and meaning doesn’t come to us. We create it every day with a complicated net of codes as our boundaries of which we’re not aware. Semiotics doesn’t study signs alone. “Semiotics could be anywhere.” (Chandler
The Magic Mouse from Apple, at first appearance, has the trademark white, sleek apple design. The shape itself is made to fit the palm of the user and the wireless functionality enables free movement, freeing the user from the needs to be fondling with a mouse wire to get it out of the way to get a comfortable grip. (Fig 5)
(Fig 5)
This web camera from the Argos
(Fig 6)
This Jacob Jensen brand alarm clock has yet another sleek design, grabbing our attention right away. As we can also see, this product uses the gestalt principle of proximity, grouping the four buttons together either side of the clock for a clear, neat appearance. The buttons don’t use pictures to signify their function, but instead use text to literally tell us. (Fig 7)
(Fig 7)
In conclusion, the design for this phone was well considered and well thought out. The processes behind it and how it would interact with the user are clear in that most of functions and appearances are based around the principles of perception. It provides a clear user interface for the user to work with and its strong use of semiotics make it clear to us that the designers knew what they were doing.
The concepts of gestalt and semiotics play a big part in product design and breaking the gestalt principles can more often than not lead to a product’s downfall and to make an attractive product, companies would do well to follow the guidelines set by these studied subjects.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LINKS
(Accessed 08/12/11)
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/133863/cell_phones/mobile_phones_as_a_status_symbol.html
(Accessed 08/12/11)
BOOKS
Daniel Chandler (2002) Semiotics: The Basics. Routledge Abingdon
Jeff Johnson (2010) Designing with Mind in Mind. Morgan Kaufmann Burlington
IMAGES
Fig 1- http://www.mobilephonereviews.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/t-mobile-vairy-touch-mobile-phone.jpg
(Accessed 08/12/11)
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Fig 5 -http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u7LB2QTYMI/S8NncrO0TLI/AAAAAAAAABA/XidZpt0j9kg/s1600/Apple-Magic-Mouse.jpg
(Accessed 08/12/11)
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