Learning Activity – Gestalt Principles

• Look at the following logo and consider the shape, form, simplicity of design and the way it communicates –
  
  – I look at this logo and what catches my eye is the variations of shape and patterns there are. The logo is shaped like a ‘U’ with different representations of their sub brands that they own and manage. The logo is of the colour blue and refreshing, the typography is very simple especially since the logo in itself has a lot of noise going on. There are a lot of details in the logo, but the shapes are simple and similar and are also grouped so they fit within each other and therefor does not give an impression of being overcrowded or overfilled. The shapes within the neatly packed ‘U’ have about same space between them creating air within the logo, and the edges on the outline of the U letter are strong and clean, which helps keep an order to the logo and all the different elements within it.
  Unilever is the name of the company and I did not have knowledge about them before I researched them. The name does not really reveal their business or their brand but is in correlation with their logo and the letter U that they have decided to use. The font makes it seem very relatable and homely because of the non-formal handwritten font and is very welcoming, the font is in the same blue as the logo. The logo is made up of 24 different elements which if you look closer can see, some of them are; a dove, a palm tree, a leaf, a heart, a bee, drops and more. These illustrations gives of a very organic and natural vibe, I immediately thought of water, especially when coming together with the colour of the logo. The whole logo gives off a very ‘good for you’ feeling and is very welcoming.
  
  
• In your own words explain what you consider the different Gestalt Principles in this logo to be –
  
  – When I look at this logo I see a whole lot of similar illustrations that seem to belong together, which makes me think of grouping also called proximity. The illustration are not completely similar but they have the same design, shape in different forms and edges that are soft and help showcase the illustrations. The full picture of these grouped objects is a ‘U’ which is what you notice at first glance, but as you look closer the shapes become more clear and show; a dove, palm tree, a hand and so on.
  Because of the illustrations in the logo being closed shapes but the logo as a whole is not making an illusion to the eye that is called closure which is also used in this logo. Because we can see all the little illustrations within the logo making up a shape, our brain can fill in the gaps and make up the whole complete picture in our heads. We also do this with this logo, whereas there is some space and air between the elements in the logo, we can still make up a clear image of it being an illustration of the letter U. The defining lines on the outline of the logo helps manifest the shape of the logo.
  
  
• Pick any three Gestalt Principles and recreate 3 versions of the logo according to your chosen principle. Be creative and innovativ with how you do it.
  
  At first I did research on the company to get a sense of their brand, who they are and what they stand for. Unilever is a brand that owns a lot of different sub brands, among them the skincare brand ‘Dove’. They represent a lot of different departments and provide services all over the world. I felt they represented people all over the world, different products to any people, anywhere. They provide, beauty products, food and beverage, cleaning and so on. Because Unilever is a company with a lot of different sections and departments they have chosen to use a classy way to illustrate that in their logo. They have used a very elegant way to showcase the massive corporation they are and not overcrowded the logo with too much. And I took that into consideration when sketching and trying to come up with a logo. When I read about them I understood that they had worldwide reach and wanting to bring people together, and together with their products. The company is also environmental conscious and wanting to make the world a better place for generations to come. This makes me perceive the company as a company wanting to represent they are unifying the world, people and their products, to also make better for the future and for our world. I decided I wanted to try different forms of ‘earth’ illustrations, I knew I wanted to showcase the globe (earth) in the logo and still using the ‘U’, not only for the company name but also because they are unifying the world with their products all over the world. I decided to go for closure as my principle, but in a different way than the original logo, wanting the U to showcase the different ‘flakes’ of continents and making it non-symmetrical but more funky lokking, then the circle around meaning the world (earth.) I chose to do a blue/green colour that looks a bit like both colours, to give it a vibrant look, a mixture of how the earth is represented; blue sea with green land.
  The font I chose was ‘Zapfino’, which I though was very clean looking but keeping a bit of the handwritten feeling, not being to corporate but still classy and simple.
  
  

There ended up being some final changed from the final sketch. The product could have been better and I see a lot of improvements I can make on my ability to bring my visualisations to life.