Gestalt psychologists carried out numerous studies in which they showed that the various parts of the visual field interacted with one another. For example, the perceived size, brightness, and shape of a figure depends on other figures in its neighborhood. A general Gestalt principle is that everything in the perceptual field influences everything else.

Figures that work well in isolation may not work well when they are put in the context of a complete page or screen design.

Because every element within the visual field interacts with other elements, it is important to flesh out the major and minor text elements early in the document design process. Document designers must consider the interactions among the elements and orchestrate their interplay so that the main points of the content can be inferred quickly and easily. The principle that a figure’s appearance depends on its surroundings that everything in the visual field influences everything else suggests avoiding the all-too-frequent practice of changing major elements of the design after it has been deemed finished. One last minute change can ruin the whole thing. It is not that last minute changes should not happen (they inevitably do). Rather, it is that time must be allotted to assess the effect of changes on the whole. Moreover, time must be allocated to make other modifications to the design in the event that the strength, cohesiveness, and continuity of the design are diminished by changes.