3. People Identify Objects by Recognizing Patterns

Recognizing Patters

Your eyes and brain wants to create patterns, even if there is not one. Recognizing patterns helps to make sense of the sensory input coming in every second. Grouping like objects creates a pattern. Even whitespace or the lack of whitespace is recognized as a pattern. 

The Geon Theory of Object Recognition

You recognize the basic shapes of what you are looking at. These basic shapes are called Geometric Icons or simply Geons. Geons help to identify objects. It is believed that there are only 24 basic shapes we recognize. These basic shapes are the building block of every object we see. 

The Use of Patterns

Since we already look for patterns, use them in your designs. Design an easy and quickly recognizable object by using basic shapes. Design in 2D instead of 3D. We already communicate what we see to the brain in 2D. 3D representations will slow down recognition and understanding.