There are a variety of lists of Gestalt Principles.

The original principles were listed by Max Wertheimer in 1923 in his paper "Laws of Organization in Perceptual Forms¹":

• Proximity
• Good figure
• Common fate
• Similarity

As pointed out by Stephen Palmer (1999), these are in fact all forms of similarity. Proximity is similarity in location; common fate is similarity in time; etc. He says "As far as stating the Gestalt Principles, it seems that they all have the form 'All else being equal, elements that are related by X tend to be grouped perceptually into higher-order units.'"

Palmer lists the following principles:

• proximity


• similarity of
  • color
  • size
  • orientation
  • texture
  • typefont
  • etc.
• closure


• symmetry


• closure


• parallelism


• closure


• common region


• common fate


• synchrony

• Near (proximity): things that are seen as near each other are seen as being together
• Line (good figure): things that are seen as forming a line are seen as being together
• Shape (similarity): things that are seen as having a similar shape are seen as being together
• Size (similarity): things that are seen as the same size are seen as being together
• Color (similarity): things that are seen as the same color are seen as being together
• Region (good figure): things that are seen as forming a known shape are seen as being together
• Time (common fate):things that occur at the same or nearby times are seen as being together
• Other (similarity): things that are seen as similar on some other dimension are seen as being together