Design Nomenclature / Composition
Similarity
Also called grouping by similarity
- Composition
- Color
- Type
- 2D & 3D
Elements sharing a visual attribute — shape, size, value, hue, orientation, texture — group across distance. The grouping strengthens with the size of the difference from non-members rather than the closeness of members to each other, so a single distinguishing attribute, pushed far enough, outruns layout.
Not to be confused with
- ProximityElements near one another read as a group before any other cue is weighed. Distance does the work, and it is relative: a field is parsed by comparing gaps across it, not by measuring any one. Where proximity and similarity conflict, proximity usually wins.
- Uniform connectednessA visibly connected region — elements joined by a line, a bar, or an unbroken fill — reads as a single unit. Palmer and Rock proposed it in 1994 as prior to the classical principles: connection groups first, and proximity and similarity only get a vote on what is left.