What we see is just a manipulation of information that our eyes process. Wolfgang Metzger book, the Laws of Seeing, introduces the concept that although objects are present in the world, our eyes have a tendency to follow rules that can eliminate objects from our mind. “Wolfgang Metzger’s main argument, drawn from Gestalt theory, is that the objects we perceive in visual experience are not the objects themselves but perceptual effigies of those objects constructed by our brain according to natural rules.” These natural rules lead to perspective. All the different topics that Metzger covers – visible and invisible forms, groups, shape, brightness, and form – can affect perspective.
Each type of principle has several laws that govern sight. The book Laws of Seeing not only introduces them, but discusses them in detail. One interesting topic was the chapter on camouflage. Within this one chapter there are six different laws ranging from the Law of Similarity to the Law of Good Continuation. Each of these laws has a certain jurisdiction on how we see objects. Making the distinction between an object and its background can be difficult when they look the same. Although Metzger uses animals as examples of the different laws, these same rules are also applied to design. By understanding the laws that govern sight, you can break them to create focus and interest in a design.
As Metzger mentions, visible sight is not the only area affected by the different laws. The Law of Greatest Order is one rule that struck me as interesting and as having great impact on other fields. This law impacts how a person categorizes information and develops an order of importance. One example that Metzger brings up is how police investigators can look through details and eye witness reports and eliminate unnecessary information from the story. Knowing the Law of Greatest Order can impact the design field in a similar way.
Design is a form of communication: it sends messages, relates stories, and holds information. A design audience is required to process the detailed information within a design and use it in some fashion. The Law of Greatest Order allows the audience to be drawn into the design and take away the information they need. As a designer, it is important “to consider [this] processes as fundamental to productive thinking.” A reader needs to have an order to follow – a beginning, middle and an end. With the Law of Greatest Order the designer is giving the reader a line to follow through the design without actually creating any obvious structure.
Perspective has become a theme in the concepts that I have taken away from the different books I have read this quarter in my design theory class. In the Laws of Seeing, perspective is influenced by the information that is processed by our eyes. The different laws explain how our perceptions can change based on the information gathered by our eyes. With the Law of Similarity, our eyes perceive that there is no line between the object and the background. What we see and how we see it depends on the different factors of the environment around us.
In another recent text, the Ways of Seeing, what the eye sees and how it is translated into art and design is centered around perspective. Perspective is based on the individual seeing an object and can change from individual to individual. Even the with rules and laws of seeing, different people see different things even when looking at the same thing. The impact of perspective changed with the camera, but the rules of seeing only became clearer. With the camera we were able to reproduce images of camouflage working in the natural world and to see the difference brightness makes on an object.
Metzger, Wolfgang; Spillmann, Lothar (Translator). (2006) Laws of Seeing. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/lwtclearningcommons/Doc?id=10173707&ppg=1
