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Our ability to interpret the world around us through the sense of vision is something we take for granted: our sensory perceptions are treated as facts that are “obviously correct” (Wade & Finger, 2001; Wade & Swanston, 2013), and we assume that others’ perceptions are identical to our own. Through the course of our evolution, we developed an appropriate ability to perceive and recognise shapes, patterns, and colour in our environment to identify food, predators, weather, and other factors essential to survival. In the present day, our use of vision may be less existentially pressing, but we nevertheless utilise it constantly to assess our situation and to make decisions on how to react accordingly. Given its role in our interpretation of the world around us, the association of vision with knowledge is reflected in the terminology we use: I see is to know, far-sightedness equates to anticipation, to see through something demonstrates perceptive ability, and so on.
From a neuroscientific perspective, visual perception is described as the “mental representation of the original stimulus” (Gazzaniga et al., 2014), and the processing undertaken by the brain is still far beyond the reach of our most advanced computational systems. However, our perception is not always an accurate interpretation of what we see. Our interpretations can be significantly influenced by a range of factors such as mismatches in expectation, sensory imbalances, and the viewing context. When the perceived object differs from that of the original stimuli, this is said to be a visual or optical illusion.
This has implications for design, particularly in product form and aesthetics. The plethora of 2D optical illusions that have been documented show how particular combinations of line, shade, and colour can have a tremendous effect on the viewer’s understanding of what they are viewing. Misinterpretations of shape, dimensions, and movement are effects that a designer may wish to avoid in the generation of a form. There are particular properties that could imbue a design with a particular emphasis. However, given that the majority of work in optical illusions has been focussed on 2D formats, this work seeks to explore these can be translated for 3D contexts. By identifying which types of illusions are applicable and important, we can consider guidelines, frameworks, and tools that can support designers in the refinement of their product forms.
To achieve this, the paper is split into a number of sections. Firstly, the nature and types of common illusions are discussed, along with an examination of the challenges of translating these to 3D. Secondly, the experimental methodology is outlined. This describes the derivation of four prototype illusions and a controlled experiment to determine their effectiveness is outlined. The data derived from the experimental measures are then discussed in terms of perception and applicability to 3D contexts. Finally, we conclude on the implications of this work for designers, and ways in which the findings can be adapted for use in practice.