

If users don’t understand what the icon means, it doesn’t matter that it’s minimalist or aesthetically pleasing. While using the principle of closure may simplify the visual complexity of your icons, you must still test whether users understand what the icons represents and augment the icons with clear labels. Despite the incomplete shape, we can easily fill in the blanks. The icon depicts a circle overlaid on an object that our minds perceive as a square. Google Slides’ shape icon uses the principle of closure. The icon communicates function through a minimalist visual design. However, icons serve as another vehicle for the principle of closure.įor example, Google Slides applied the principle of closure to one of its icons. Most user-experience practitioners do not have much control over our company’s logo design. The design suggests a baseball player prepared to swing at an approaching ball. Major League Baseball applied the principle of closure to its logo design. The logo for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) applied the principle of closure to communicate 3 heads (2 in positive space and 1 in negative space). The shapes and objects depicted are recognizable (faces and baseball player respectively) and though each could be depicted with greater visual complexity, the application of the principle of closure creates simple yet interesting designs. In each of these examples, our minds fill in the blanks to perceive complete shapes. For instance, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Major League Baseball both apply the principle of closure to their logo design. This principle is commonly implemented in logo design. This principle is frequently associated with logo design, but it can influence other visual-design decisions related to icons and various page elements.

The principle of closure describes our tendency to perceive segmented visual elements as complete or whole objects, even when we’re missing information. Incomplete objects, like the open circles and square, are perceived as closed shapes, as described by the principle of closure. As designers, we can apply these principles to create usable interfaces.ĭefinition: The principle of closure states that people will fill in blanks to perceive a complete object whenever an external stimulus partially matches that object.Įven when we’re missing information, we tend to make sense of our environment by filling in the gaps to see a complete object.

Some of the most popular principles include proximity, similarity, common regions, and closure. These principles are commonly referred to as Gestalt laws or the Gestalt principles. In the early 20th century, Gestalt psychologists developed a set of principles aimed at describing how people visually perceive and organize the world.
