instruction design · user research
Gestalt
A workshop to understand perception.
The Problem
Early design education runs on vague, hard-to-teach language like “these two areas aren’t speaking to each other,” “this needs more balance” … First-time design students often struggle for a long time before they develop an “eye” for what that even means.
Part of the problem is there’s no concrete vocabulary bridging the abstract perceptual judgment instructors are making and something a beginner can actually apply.
Once abstract perceptual concepts get concrete names like proximity or common fate, students can start critiquing their own work directly, and instructor feedback that used to sound like jargon suddenly makes much more sense.
While doing the market research, there were no tools to explain Gestalt principles, no applications or mobile apps teaching basic perception principles to new designers without assuming a specific track like graphic or UI design. That gap confirmed the workshop concept was worth building rather than adapting something that already existed.
Objectives
Help students understand the Gestalt perceptual grouping principles
Spark curiosity about the broader topic of perception
Inspire students to actually use these principles to design more intentionally rather than just recognize them academically.
Interaction Design
I built the interactive part of the workshop in Rhinoceros/Grasshopper, a visual-coding tool for manipulating geometry through parameters rather than direct manipulation. Grasshopper made it easy to generate interesting patterns quickly; because the geometry was driven by code, students could reverse-engineer the underlying rule just by playing with the parameters enough. Each session used a simple, consistent square grid as the visual stimulus and kept every non-essential design element minimal, so the principle being taught stayed the clearest thing in the room.
The instructor explains the Gestalt principle for the session. Then demonstrate briefly how to interact with the interface.
Students take turns playing with the interface, narrating what they observe.
Afterward, they write reflections on the experience and how they might apply the learning to their own designs.
Testing
I tested the workshop as the instructor of Core Design Studio DSN S 102, offering it as optional extra material. Sessions ran in small groups of 4–5, keeping the format personal, with students interacting with the interface one at a time while discussing what they noticed. I also ran a separate one-on-one test with a senior software engineering student — similar baseline knowledge, but less built-in motivation and without the group dynamic. All sessions were recorded and transcribed, then the recordings were deleted; only carefully chosen, non-identifying gifs were kept.
Results
Feedback was mixed by principle. Symmetry and parallelism sessions landed weaker — those principles are tied to figure-ground perception as much as grouping, and demonstrating them with a basic shape group alone didn’t capture that. Common fate and prägnanz were also confusing at first, though studio participants said it clicked once they saw the interaction in motion. On the whole, studio students found the material genuinely useful for future design work and came away with a stronger sense of how much these principles actually matter in practice.
Reflection
A few things I’d change: adding a dedicated figure-ground discussion, introducing a separate discussion on how past experience shapes perception, and refining instructional language. The most consistent critique was that the interaction was slow and occasionally frustrating, a real accessibility issue, since Grasshopper’s computation is heavy and the software isn’t free, which points toward a mobile app as a more accessible way going forward.
Applicability
The core format isn’t limited to design education, the same parametric, play-to-learn structure could teach visual perception in other contexts entirely like representing molecules in a chemistry class.
The instructor explains (or revisits) the gestalt principle(s) for the session, taking student questions for clarity. They then demonstrate how to interact with the program. Students take turns playing with the interface, narrating what they observe. Afterward, they write reflections on the experience and how they might apply the learning to their own designs.
Let’s create together.
I’m open to new opportunities and collaborations. The fastest way to reach me is by email.
© 2026 Pınar Adanır. UX/UI Product Designer.
Designed & built with intention.