barebones communication

It is really good that I have all these pictures, right . Since they all speak more than a thousands words.

Each.

Well I enjoy it, and if you too participate in the initial stages of the barebones community building, you will as well .

So here is another notebook brief for you. The white bus in Berlin. Shot this August.

I could ask you how this fit will a couple of gestalt factors, but that would be too easy. Obviously both proximity and similarity are at work here, as the two most dominant factors. Nearness and similarity of objects have me perceive this picture as a picture of two groups of people (not six individuals): one group upstairs and another group downstairs.

Let’s however make this notebook brief a bit more interesting by pointing to two levels of closure potent in the image. Do you remember, that I talked about a physical closure and a mental closure in the post on gestalt closure.

Closure is, in a quick word, the human capacity to perceive a bit more than you actually get. The whole is more than the sum of its physically given parts.  This is the gestalt basic.

Now, the picture that you find in this post is a pretty complete one. There are no blank spots or areas. Things that you need to fill in to comprehend them. You should be able to recognize, at first glance, what the picture is all about.

On the other hand, there are still things “missing” in the picture. Let me point to a few:  you don’t see the bodies of the talking heads on the bus, and you don’t see the whole bus. Yet, that is what you perceive; people with intact bodies, and a bus that will certainly drive away if the driver tends to it.  Your are not in doubt about these things.

So for reason that will be clear in future posts, I will introduce two additional layers within the closure concept. These are layers 2 and 3 below.

1) Closure, as the capacity to mentally close figures where visual information is actually lacking (as in the example with the dog in the blog post on closure). This is the gestalt original. 

Then, let me add some layers to this: 

2) Closure, as the capacity to mentally close figures where the visual information is actually hidden or cropped away (as the bodies of the talking heads or the parts of the bus that are not actually there).

3) Closure, as the capacity to mentally elaborate on the context of the actual visual stimuli. You clearly have a notion of what these people are doing on that bus, don’t you? And you have an idea of how they are going to spend the next hours, haven’t you? You even may have an idea of why these guys are in Berlin in the first place? How will you close this open context and continue the story?

It does not really matter how you close it. The important thing is that you have the ability to close it. Any way you want . Remember the last pitstop. I do .

So much for the nostalgische rundfahrt, apart from that tiny, but important thing, that what I just did was to link a gestalt factor to that popular idea of telling a story, as a communication means.  That passport to success, would you believe it? I think they call it storytelling, right? .

I also introduced another gestalt factor: the factor of experience or habit. 

More on this later, so stay tuned to a barebones blog near you.

And, sorry for taking all the notes myself.  I will make up for it .

Both gestalt proximity, and gestalt similarity works well here.

I would suggest, that this image would probably be perceived as two groups of two people each. Not as four separate people in a picture.

What other gestalt “tricks” have been engaged here? Can you figure that out? If any? I am sure you have an answer.

Good luck with it . 

More on barebones notebook. 

Yes, it is a bit artificial splitting things up like this. However, it is useful if you want to pin down a certain point.

So, even if all the Gestalt factors spin together in the routines of our everyday life, here I will handle them one by one. For reasons of clarity. Later on, I will comment on more factor at once, and in more length.

These are pretty useful tools, if you want to be in control of your communication.

What does proximity mean, then? Closeness, nearness, not far from. I am sure you all get it, but below are one of the “official definitions” of the word “proximity”: 

This is just one of the definitions that you find on the net. It is from dictionary.com. If you want more, then just follow the link.

The factor of proximity simply states, that all things equal, it is likely that you will consider objects being close to each other also belonging to the same group. 

A couple of examples. Images of course .

Both pictures are from Nice. Shot August 2002. I am sure that you recognize the place if you have been there. Promenade des Anglais.

First picture. How will you describe it? Two people at the beach? Two hats at the beach. Or would you say, maybe, one couple? These two guys are not only close to each other, there are also a certain similarities between the two, wouldn’t you say? 

Second picture. How would you describe this picture? Would you say, oh, I see 14 objects here; 9 chairs, on plant, and 4 people? Probably not. You would not even say, oh, I see two men and two women, would you? My guess is that you would describe this as two couples. One older, one younger.

Areas of use:  

Well, it is pretty easy.

If want two, or more, objects to be conceived as a group, then place them close to each other. The human mind does the finishing work for you; grouping them.

For instance; if you have a dominant visual element, and a logo that you want perceived as being one unit, then place them close to each other. If you have a text, and you desire to link themes, then one of the ways you can do that, is by grouping the themes in the text (all others things being equal).

And you can play around with the proximity factor. Use it straight forward for straight grouping, or once you have established the group, then play around with it for different effects.

If you, for instance, replace the standing guy, right, with a bottle of Bacardi, you still keep the proximity, but you add connotations, that are quite different from what you find in the picture as it is now. Right? Could be a suggestion that younger couples, particularly men, drink more than older people. Or, for that matter, have more fun. Or wives have more fun? Or maybe just the opposite will come out of it? They don’t have more fun? In this example, you need to be in control of connotations as well.

There are lots of ways, in which you can use the proximity factor in your communication. 

Question:

What happens if you replace both men with bottles of Bacardi?  See what I mean?