Applying the three Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, and common region.

Designing community icons using UX Gestalt principles

3 examples to define iconic UI elements for your design projects

What is community as a concept?

Community is in essence a feeling of fellowship with others, a combination of sharing common attitudes, closeness of interests, and similarity of goals. We can also refer to community as a social group, a collective of friends, or a neighborhood.

There are many ways to interpret community. To design community in an iconic and expressive way, we can use a foundational UX design tool, the Gestalt principles, as an ideational guide.

What are Gestalt principles?

Gestalt principles are conceptual perceptions that the human brain will organize visual content in a most effective way.

For instance, using the Gestalt principle of closure, our brain waves will effectively close a line to process visual information fully.

The Gestalt principle of closure works on the perception on what is it that our brain wants us to see, versus what information are we actually given.

In this example of a Gestalt principle, looking closely at the three illustrations, we realize that each one is a combination of a bunch of shapes…