Donald Jackson

Donald Jackson Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist and artist

The Gestalt Switch Unicorn has eighteen separate parts to it with nine different colors. That is a lot of shapes and other information to comprehend. The unicorn is conceptually designed using representations of high visual entropy; the same state that our brains are always in. The GSU is just a controlled closed structured environment, utilizing the same concept that our perceptual cognition is already wired to understand. 

Moving from a high visual entropy state to a low visual entropy state is a form of meditation. It is a slowing down of your mind and allowing a less confused structuring to take place. This  allows the simplicity of the other shape to stand out. By utilizing the features of a generic face in conjunction with the more open and less visually cluttered space, a strong influence happens and the mind recognizes the facial pattern, solidifying the separation and uniqueness of a new image. Recognition of this open and less visually confused space is a low visual entropy state. This is also why your perception will always revert back to the understanding of a unicorn as it is a high entropy pattern. This process is unique to this Gestalt Shift. The image can be anything but the balance of the size relations have to be precise. 

-Donald Jackson