To apply Gestalt Principles in my design, I’ll make sure to distinguish information by using colors, similarity, and grouping to avoid confusion.
However, before grouping different info, it’s very important to be aware of information architecture. A good information architecture combined with Gestalt Principles saves users time when processing everything on the screen. They can quickly glance at the different modules on the page and get a general idea of where things are located—provided, of course, that the information is categorized correctly and logically.
If unrelated elements are placed too close together, people will still make associations, but they will quickly discover the information is poorly organized when attempting to use the product. As Jakob Nielsen mentioned at last year’s Insight Out conference, people now have highly developed expectations and mental models regarding interface usability. Even non-designers, after prolonged exposure to well-designed products, become highly sensitive to poor ones. Designers must build upon the work of their predecessors to create better products.
The purpose is to reduce learning curves and let users focus on the information and their goals.
For Fitts’s Law, in my opinion, being aware of information architecture or hierarchy is just as important. In my design, I’ll list the most used functions, place those in the easiest-to-reach areas, and make the size bigger. Not just the size—consideration of user flow is also important. When going through a user flow, adjacent steps should be positioned close together. For example, put Save/Done next to the buttons/functions needed in the last steps.