Disclaimer: The photo which accompanies this article is being used under the Fair Use review and criticism clause. Substantial portions of the picture have been blocked out and the name of the product being advertised has been removed in order to comply with the review and criticism clause. This article and the use of this photo should be considered “educational” for copyright purposes.

This picture has been screen shot taken from an advertisement which has recently appeared on the internet for a skin treatment product. The product makes no claims (within this advertisement) concerning benefits to the eye.

I am not questioning whether or not the pictures have been post-production altered. I suspect that the discrepancies observable within these two photos are due to pre-production work.

Notice that in the lower photo the model’s eye is open wider and the white of the eyes is clear and much whiter than the top photo. Notice also that the green of the iris is more pleasing in the lower photo. Thirdly, notice that both the coloring and the condition of the eyebrow in the lower picture is more groomed and it is possible that the hairs of the eyebrow have been enhanced by makeup.

As a graphic oriented person and as a website coder, I have observed for a long time that the general public is oblivious to details which seem blatantly obvious to me. If you say to the average person who has little experience in the graphic’s world ?”Traditionally American newspaper and periodical publication tended to use San-serif fonts for headlines and serif fonts for body text, while traditional European print publication tended to reverse this usage. But in recent years, quite a few of the more trendy and design conscious American publications have been adopting the European approach to font usage.” — most would react by either indicating that they have no idea what a serif is or by stating that they had never noticed this.

However, if you show an American newspaper reader two pieces of paper with Serif and San-serif styling used throughout in both the American and European styles and with three column formatting below the masthead — and ask which of the two looks more like an American newspaper, the majority of newspaper readers would point to the paper which uses San-serif headlines and serif body text.

I usually refer to this as the Gestalt Effect.

The graphic which accompanies this article shows two photos of a model’s eye. The lower photo is definitely more pleasing to the market audience. Yet what about the Gestalt Effect of these two photos.

The general public may not immediately see the three details which I have singled out, but will still have a Gestalt reaction to these two photos. Although many people may not immediately realize why these two photos seem incongruous they probably will feel a lack of confidence in the reliability of this comparison.

It is comparable to using a font which is intended for use in advertisements which promote the industrial strength of steel to sell silk handkerchiefs. The public does not always know why it looks wrong, but they definitely react negatively to the mismatched font.