Visual Innovation through Findings in Perception

Whether through natural ability or educational training, designers possess advanced knowledge of visual form. Designers acquire most of this special knowledge through experience creating visual objects such as drawings, color symbols, and layouts. Although designers immerse themselves creating effects for visual perception they mostly do so without awareness of the causes of these effects. Designer’s form knowledge is more tacit than explicit. Perceptual scientists on the other hand have explicit knowledge of perception of visual form. They have identified physiological processes that directly relate to designers, such as: pop-out, visual illusions, and mental images. The question is less whether designers should be aware of these findings than how the growing understanding of visual perception and cognition can stimulate visual innovation and design practice. This paper reports on initial attempts to integrate this knowledge into design education at the University of Cincinnati.