Gestalt principles, also known as the “laws of organization,” are a set of principles in psychology that describe how people perceive and organize visual stimuli. These principles were first developed by a group of German psychologists in the early 20th century, who were influenced by the work of philosopher and psychologist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The term “Gestalt” is German for “form” or “shape,” and refers to the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Gestalt psychologists believed that the mind organizes sensory information into patterns and wholes, rather than simply processing individual stimuli.