Thanks for your reply Jeff. Sorry for the lack of sources, but this is mostly from the top of my head and not an academic paper. Plus, having just finished a PhD thesis I’m fed up with citations and footnotes…
I do think this is mostly the basics of visual design (and branding) and you can probably learn this on any solid Design course. Judging from some of the responses I’ve had to this article, I guess most Design courses aren’t that solid… and I was fortunate enough to get my basic Design education in an old-fashioned, Bauhaus-inspired Design school. Gestalt psychology is very important and I always find it baffling that so many young designers are unaware of it, specially considering I actually started leaning about it in 7th grade art lessons. I suspect this lack of knowledge might be due to over-specialization (and false specialization), but that’s the subject of another discussion.