Closure

=**Closure**=

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Definition
Closure is one of the Gestalt principles of perception that explains people's tendency to "perceive a set of individual elements as a single, recognizable pattern, rather than multiple, individual elements" [1]. I think the best way to learn about closure is to look at examples:

> In this example, the elements are perceived as a whole at first > (i.e. a circle), and then as individual elements (i.e. dashed lines > arranged in a circular manner). ||
 * [[image:closure_circles.png]]
 * ===**Figure 1. Basic Shapes**===

As we learned in visual language, our mind tends to automatically and subconsciously fill-in these gaps / supply the missing information in order to achieve "simplicity over complexity, and pattern over randomness" [2].

Importance to Designers
> ink, but we perceive it as a graphic representation of a panda. It is as > if we are drawing an imaginaary outline to complete the contours of > the panda's "head" and "body." ||
 * [[image:http://www.eventme.com/invite/wwf/wwf.jpg width="118" height="157"]]
 * ===**Figure 2. Logos**=== World Wildlife Fund's logo technically is nothing but a blob of black

The principle of closure, as illustrated in the example above, can be used by designers to make their designs more interesting. It helps in reducing the complexity of a design by "using a smaller number of elements needed to organize and communicate information" [3]. At the same time, the piece becomes more engaging to the viewers since they now subconsciously participate in the completion of the design.

Outside Design
> Closure also allows for the human imagination to wander. > According to Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, > "closure allows...to connect these moments and mentally > construct a continous, unified reality." [4]. He calls the viewer > a "silent accomplice" of the comics artist. ||
 * [[image:scottmccloud_ax.jpg]]
 * ===**Figure 3. Comics**===

Closure, of course, is not limited to design alone. We experience closure in our daily lives in more ways than we think. It is evident in comics, television, photographs, film, etc. We are committing closure every time we look at a magazine when we perceive a cluster of half-tone patterns as an overall image. When we look at a soda can and only physically see the front half, we still perceive the can as a whole cylindrical container. We believe that the Earth exists and is round even though we have only seen and experienced fragments of it.

//"Our perception of 'reality' is an act of faith, based on mere fragments." -Scott McCloud//

**Sources:**
[1],[2],[3] Lidwell, William. //Universal Principles of Design//. Gloucester, Mass.: Rockport, ©2003. 34. [4] McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1994. 68