Week 5: Nicole Buckbinder

The poster for the broadway play musical "Hairspray" is a good example for how the Gestalt theory is used to help convey a message. First of all a very important principle of the Gestalt theory that was used in this poster is the rule of figure/ground. Even though the womans face isnt actually drawn in or outlined and you can only actually see one half of it you get the point that it is a face and the hair of the woman on the poster outlines the missing face. The hair itself is supposed to be the center focus of the picture. The rule of repition is used for the way in which the type of the word "hairspray" is layed out. Every other letter of this word is either outlined with a box or isnt outlined by a box. The rule of simplicity is used because there isnt much going on in the poster to distract the viewer. The main focus of the poster is the hair and the logo. Also the rule of similarity is used by the same color scheme that is consistent in this poster. The rule of proximity is also used by the way in which the letters are arranged. They are evenly lined up with the womans hair in the poster. In addition the letters themselves are staggared a little bit but not to much that they arent distracting or take away from the picture of the woman.