Commercial artists can use psychology to create image associations. According to Judith Williamson, author of "Decoding Images," the associations people have with one image in a piece can be transferred to a second image present in the piece. Williamson discusses the example of an advertisement for a tire in which a car is pictured sitting on top of a jetty. Williamson notes that the jetty is tough and strong, and it withstands water and erosion. Consequently, we assume these qualities are true of the tire as well. In other words, we transfer the associations we have with one image to a second image.
Commercial artists can use neuropsychology to make their pieces more effective. According to neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni, successful commercial advertising depends on whether the ad creates activity in the parts of the brain concerned with reward and empathy. Iacoboni conducted an experiment measuring the brain activity of individuals watching Super Bowl advertisements in order to determine what images activated various parts of the brain. If commercial artists can better understand what parts of the brain are activated based on certain colors and images, they may be able to design more effective pieces.
Commercial artists can use Gestalt theory to make their pieces more effective and pleasing to the eye. Gestalt theory originated in Germany in the early 1920s. The theory focuses on visual perception and how the brain relates individual parts to a whole structure. There are three principles of Gestalt theory that commercial artists often use: closure, continuance and proximity. The closure principle states that the mind will supply the missing pieces in a composition. Continuation is the idea that the eye will continue to another object when it is compelled to move in a certain direction. A simple example of this would be an arrow pointing at an apple. Your eye would stare at the arrow and naturally move toward the apple. The third principle of proximity states that when separate objects are close together they are perceived as a group, whereas if far apart, they are perceived as separate objects.