Gestalt Theory and Instructional Design
- 1 April 1993
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
- Vol. 23 (2) , 137-157
- https://doi.org/10.2190/g748-by68-l83t-x02j
Abstract
Research on the visual presentation of instructions (and other texts) tends to be repetitious, unsystematic, and overly complex. A simpler yet rich approach to analyzing the visual dimension of instructions is Gestalt theory. Gestalt principles of proximity, closure, symmetry, figure-ground segregation, good continuation, and similarity provide a powerful approach to making instructions more inviting and consistent, as well as easier to access, follow, and understand. This article applies six Gestalt principles to a badly designed instruction to show what improvements result when Gestalt theory is considered in instructional design.Keywords
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