Order refers to the organization of the whole. Things that are closer together in the whole group together spatially, with the whole perceived in its simplest form. Enhanced comprehension occurs if the whole pattern has a stable, consistent and identifiable structure. Viewers experience a cognitive process that comprehends the whole from the organized parts of the object. Perception is an active process in which created patterns emerge from chaos.
People organize what they see into simple structures. Identified shapes come to recognition before backgrounds, depending on the number of variables, complexity and characteristics of the whole structure. Camouflage patterns are the antithesis of simple shapes and prime examples of visually disruptive patterns. Shapes adorned in camouflage patterns are more difficult to distinguish due to the complexity of the camouflage pattern against a similar background.
Similar objects, things which share the same characteristics such as shape, color or size, group together in the mind of the viewer. Both similarity and repetition of characteristics in an object often represent harmony and interconnection in cognitive processes. Changing the relative size of an object will change the perceived importance of the object, just as adjusting the intensity of a color will influence its predominance to the percipient.
The proximity of objects in the visual perception causes viewers to visually gather those parts of the whole that are closest to each other into groups. The resultant perceived group, despite inherent differences of shape or size of individual elements, has more impact than the separate elements in the mind of the subject seeing the object. Elements that suggest visual lines also group together with an assumption that the pattern continues beyond the end of the pattern itself.
Closure is the Gestalt ability of the mind to identify a structure without the presentation of the complete structure to the mind. The mind identifies a potential pattern as the intended perception. It adds missing details to the perceived structure to complete a potential pattern of identity. Once the mind creates and fills in the missing information, it identifies an object by elements that are not a part of the whole.