2 Gestalt Principles

Grouping-Location

Proximity:Combine

  

When elements are placed  close together they are perceived as a group and PROXIMITY occurs. 

It is interesting how our minds puts items together just by them being placed near each other even if they don't go together in the real world. 

Just as Andy Rutledge explains in his blog,  "things that are close to one another are perceived to be more related than things that are spaced farther apart." http://tinyurl.com/4yh75lx

here is a really cool example of proximity: 

 and another, it's amazing how the small elements do not touch but our minds create the borders.

This seems it could work the other way as well. Elements do not need to be touching each other for our mind to see them as a group. So you must be careful how you place elements, if you place elements too close together they may be perceived as a group even if you don't want them to be.

It blows me away how good these artists are, somehow they can see how it all goes together even before they put anything on paper!

This logo over the speaker's shoulder is very creative it uses proximity to use these lines together that create a hawk with faces in it.

wow...

now here is my own original work using proximity I placed images together so they would be perceived as a group and I combined images that would not normally go together.

edit/update: now that I have this in my head I am seeing it everywhere.