Tutorial 110 - Similarity (Patreon)

Here's a simple graphic illustration of a scene from Game of Thrones when Jon Snow battles a white walker. I've tried to use the gestalt principle of similarity to make a distinction between the white walker and the rest of the image as a whole. 

It's true that when we perceive a group of objects we will naturally group the things that share qualities like shape, size and color. We will then single out any things that don't seem to belong to that group. These things grab our attention. Visually, we'll be compelled to look at these areas with interest. 

In this example image I've tried to guide the eye from the blue face, down along to the swords, to the face of Jon Snow, and back again to the face of the white walker. The eye should keep returning to the face of the white walker as the blue color is a strong accent. 

Let's take a few examples using bowls of fruit and compare our perceptions. 

A bowl of fruit containing a banana, an orange and an apple.

- we see each fruit as distinct from one another. It's an image conveying variety.

A bowl of fruit containing a banana, and several green apples.

- we see the banana as very distinct from the apples. It's an image conveying both an abundance of green apples and a scarcity of bananas. 

It's interesting how this last arrangement might influence us . We're much more likely to focus on the banana than on the apples.