Gestalt and letterpress

In my last blog post I introduced Gestalt theory and how this has influenced graphic design and informs decisions designers make, whether that’s whilst laying out copy for a multi-page document, creating a compelling poster or producing logos and branding.

I decided to use a letterpress studio induction as a good opportunity to explore the theory first hand and put it into practice. I planned to carry out an exercise for each law of gestalt I wrote about previously, but I definitely underestimated how long it takes to become familiar with the printing process. So instead I mainly focused on the laws of similarity and proximity, which are probably the most commonly used gestalt principles in typographic design.

My first task was to set up a few lines of type within a chase and then become familiar with using the press machine. I set up the words ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ over a few lines to create a small paragraph of copy and then used a slightly larger type size above that with the word ‘similarity’. I printed this several times on one piece of paper by moving the chase along the press each time, to form four stacked groups of copy (Fig.1).

Fig.1

This exercise demonstrates how the laws of similarity and proximity help to form and distinguish between a heading and a body copy paragraph. The mind recognises that the word ‘similarity’ is a heading as it’s not only the first line of copy, but it’s slightly bigger than the body copy and is spaced slightly further away but close enough to be associated with the type underneath. The law of proximity is then explored further, as I placed the blocks of type with enough space between them so the mind sees them as four separate elements on the page.

I then decided to introduce some wooden block type to form the word ‘gestalt’. The wooden type is much bigger and all in upper case. I printed this in red above the original group of copy to form a larger heading. However, when I first printed it I discovered that the T in the centre was sat very slightly lower on the press bed than the rest of the word, so the impression left behind on the paper was lighter than the rest (Fig.2).

Fig.2

Although this was an accident it was actually interesting to see how the mind initially splits the word in two, so you read ‘ges’ then ‘alt’ as two separate words. It is then with closer inspection that you may notice that the T in the middle belongs to the same group of type and then read ‘gestalt’ as a whole word. This is probably helped by the fact that the whole word is in the same colour and close enough together to be associated.

I put a few sheets of paper under the T to raise it slightly then printed again, and this time it came out perfectly (Fig.3). By adding the larger, red copy it forms a more dominant main heading, then the mind reads the word ‘similarity’ as a secondary sub-heading.

Fig.3

I also created another composition by printing Gestalt vertically on the page and stacked the original copy next to it three times (Fig.4), with a similar effect as before.

Fig.4

As part of my induction I also experimented with creating different printed textures with the wooden block type using white spirit along with the oil based inks. By dripping, dabbing or splattering a small amount of white spirit it removes part of the ink leaving behind some interesting textures (Fig.5).

Fig.5

I noticed that in Fig.5 because there is a slightly bigger gap between ‘gest’ and ‘alt’ the mind fights between grouping them as a whole or two separate words.

In one of my last two experiments I hand printed the words ‘too far’ and ‘too close’ (Fig.6) to demonstrate the importance of proper kerning and proximity law. By using two different colours in this piece the law of similarity is also very apparent.

Fig.6

Lastly, I played around with the type to form a creative, less rigid design (Fig.7). By printing the random black letters in different orientations they appear more like objects within a pattern, surrounding the word gestalt in the centre, rather than recognisable letters.

Fig.7

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This whole exercise proved very successful, as just by carrying out a few basic letterpress printing techniques I was able to analyse and reflect on each piece and clearly identify gestalt theory within them. Although these experiments and designs are very simple, I feel they help to prove how gestalt theory informs typographic design and the decisions designers make when laying out copy and designing with type.