People often assume art is a natural talent, not a studied discipline, and that the reason things look nice is because they just do. But there is actually a whole range of psychological study dedicated to understanding why certain things work together and appear pleasing to the eye.
One line of thinking is called Gestalt psychology. A movement that took off in Berlin in the 1920s, Gestalt seeks to make sense of how our minds perceive things as a whole. This line of psychology, combined with color theory and font psychology, are tools that designers can use to better sell a business or product. You can tell a whole story about a person or brand by simply looking at their website, if it’s done well.
Mood board inspired by Golden Wolf’s website
A good example of using visuals to tell an audience who you are and what you do is the animation company Golden Wolf. Specializing in character design and social media campaigns, the company describes themselves as a mix of “irreverent humour, intensely dynamic action and psychedelia”. They’ve worked with brands like Nike, Disney, and Adult Swim, so their overall vibe is very youthful and current. A consumer would probably say that you can tell from a one glance at their website that this is a highly creative company with a lot of energy – but what elements are giving that impression, and how are they working together to help you perceive that information?
Color Theory and the Psychology of Font
The overall color palette of a black-to-gray gradient gives the site a sense of sleek edginess that is clean and modern. The pop of neon lime green is a little shock of color that draws the eye in and gives a sense of fun. The colors work well together to show that the company is young and edgy but still professionally polished.
Hand-drawn elements play off the dynamic style of animation the company produces, combined with playful graphics and GIFs; the overall motion of the website’s design works well with the company’s art style and the type of work they put out.
The logo is a script font, which lends the brand a little authenticity – old-style script fonts tend to conjure an idea of a company that has longevity, and thus authority. The rest of the font on the site is bold sans serif. Besides being easy to read, the font helps the website appear innovative and adventurous, welcoming to anyone looking to commission.
Going deeper, we can use Gestalt principles to explain why all these elements work so well together.
Simplicity
The layout of the website is simple and to the point. All of the work under the work tab is on display and largely allowed to speak for itself, making the minimal amount of explainer information easy to read. The information under the About and Contact tabs is organized neatly into easy-to-read sections, written in another clean sans serif font. The font, combined with the simple background, prevents clutter in sections that can be afterthoughts for some designers.
Similarity
All the work examples are the same size, and all the social media posts are the same size, which helps designate the category of post. All of the icons on the site are easy to recognize, efficiently labeling different posts and making the site easily navigable.
The grouping gives a sense of organized business, which I feel reflects the company’s style. It’s busy and dynamic but grouped with the same three colors to create a hierarchy that makes it easy to make sense of all the information being presented.
Symmetry
Everything on the site is neatly set up. All of the information is either presented in two rows or two columns. The set up encourages scrolling around the site, and the layout actually makes it enjoyable to click around and peek into different sections. The balance combined with the simplicity makes the information on the site easy to read and understand, even with all the colorful elements.
Golden Wolf definitely has a lot of personality and that shines through with their web design. By utilizing aspects of Gestalt and color theory, they create a dynamic and engaging experience for potential clients to interact with.
Bushe, L. (2015, October 6). Simplicity, Symmetry and More: Gestalt Theory and the Design Principles it Gave Birth to. Canva.com. https://www.canva.com/learn/gestalt-theory/.
Fussell, G. (2020, May 16). The Psychology of Fonts (Fonts That Evoke Emotion). Design & Illustration Envato Tuts+. https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/the-psychology-of-fonts–cms-34943.
Putting Some Emotion into Your Design – Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions. The Interaction Design Foundation. (2021, February). https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/putting-some-emotion-into-your-design-plutchik-s-wheel-of-emotions.
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