What does the World Wide Fund for Nature’s logo have in common with a jar of Waitrose Honey? They both use a stylised image of an animal, and are examples of simple yet effective design. They are also both neat practical applications of the psychological theories of Gestalt. 
Developed by German psychologists in the 1920s, Gestalt theories explain how people tend to organise visual elements into groups, and how the whole is often greater than its parts. Their application takes advantage of how the brain self-organises information in a manner that’s orderly, regular, symmetrical and simple. Used in a logo, the Gestalt principles make it more interesting, more visually arresting – and therefore the message more memorable. 
Whether this only vaguely rings a distant bell of your design education, Gestalt and other psychological hypotheses – such as colour theory or semiotics – are still very much in evidence in today’s creative industries. 




Turner Duckworth used the law of closure when it designed these jars of honey for Waitrose

Branding agency Turner Duckworth often plays with the core tenets of Gestalt, having created the design that appears on jars of Waitrose’s own-brand honey, for example. It uses implied shape in three ways: to indicate Waitrose’s ‘E’, as well as the shape of a bee and a honey dipper. 
Its recent design for a limited edition Coca-Cola’s Summer drinks can also uses this tool, creating the shape of a Coke bottle out of the negative space between two flip-flops – forging the association between summer and the soft drink. 




Turner Duckworth also applied the law of closure to the design of a series of cans for Coca-Cola's summer campaign

The WWF logo (designed by Landor) uses the law of closure, its visual elements suggesting a connection between each other, even though they don’t completely touch.
Semiotics, the understanding of signs and how they convey meaning, is evident in most smartphone app logos, for example. Whether through icons (clear representations of the object itself, such as the camera), indexes (signs that have a connection with the object but are not real representations) or symbols that have no visual connection, the logos help users know their function through connecting their meaning to existing associations. 

Theory test 

So does the application of psychological theories make design more effective? And does being a good shrink make you a better designer? Many creatives will remember the core principles of Gestalt, balance, and the golden ratio and the rule of thirds from design school, but should they be applied to make a better design? 
Ed Woodcock, director of strategy at branding agency Aesop, believes that designers might not always be aware of using psychological principles. “It does happen that someone takes psychological theory and applies it to creativity in some way, but it’s more likely that someone creative intuits what’s a truthful way of perceiving and sensing things. And that’s then reflected in their work and gets picked up by psychologists,” he explains.
For a recent campaign for beer brand Birra Moretti, Aesop designed a series of press adverts that featured an archive image of a women looking directly at the viewer. The image and composition were chosen instinctively by the designers, says Ed, but they still use the psychological effect of the direct gaze that makes the viewer more responsive. 
However, today’s use of psychology in design needs to go beyond those basic theories learnt at college, believes Andy Budd, founding partner and managing director at digital design consultancy Clearleft. Understanding of cognitive behaviour, for instance, can hugely affect a design, and tools such as Stephen P Anderson’s Get Mental Notes card deck can help designers apply psychology to the creative process.
“To be a good designer in today’s society, you need to have an understanding of psychology, human behaviour, and the little shortcuts, the little quirks, in the way people operate,” he says. “Then you can use them to make it easier for people to engage with your products.” 
Great design requires great psychology, agrees Simon Norris, managing director at Nomensa, a design consultancy that combines psychological insight with design. “Psychology is the science of behaviour and the mind. When design and behaviour match, the design will be superior,” he explains.
“It’s about trying to remove barriers of friction and trying to nudge people in a direction that’s ultimately going to be best for them,” explains Andy. There are a number of cognitive biases that are “psychological shortcuts that humans make to basically avoid thinking”, he adds. 
Social proof is one such bias. It purports that people are more likely to do something if others are doing it too, and is used by Amazon to great effect. The company’s product pages are crammed full of items of social proof, such as reviews, recommendations and top 10 lists.  
Meanwhile, the latest Audi poster campaign, ‘Everything You Need, Nothing You Don’t’, arguably uses cognitive dissonance to draw your attention. Making the script marginally more difficult to read engages the brain more effectively, and therefore allows you to process the message more easily.