Design perception is entirely visual.^[1] Our perception of a design is influenced by things like color, shape, patterns, typography, light, images, and organization of elements. Designers need to have a solid understanding of visual perception since graphical user interfaces are perceived entirely through a user’s vision. 

Gestalt theory forms the basic study of perception in design, and was developed in the 1920s.^[2] Our perception of designs is heavily influenced by artistic tradition (which largely influences our perspective), our writing systems (which determines where we start looking on a page), and real-world experience (which influences things like our understanding of heavy and light elements).