Here are five key evidence-based tips that are helpful when the aim is to create effective design layout for graphic design and visual communications design. These tips can also be applied across interior design, fashion and textile design, and design for the built environment, as appropriate.
What attracts visual attention? Strong contrast and movement
Research that focused on eye-tracking studies found that, as we view a scene or image, our eyes make multiple scanning movements (saccades) that take in as much visual information as possible. The scanning eye movements are generally drawn to and attracted by movement and areas of strong contrast.
In addition, eye-tracking studies find that subjects often search for or are attracted to human faces and figures, areas of strong contrast, and detailed visual data (original study, Yarbus, 1967, featured the painting ‘Unexpected Visitors’ by Ilya Repin, 1888).
Designers can use this information by allocating strong contrast (and movement, if possible) to strategically draw attention to key design elements.
Red has attentional advantage
Research indicates that red has an “attentional advantage” in applied design and the built environment, and visual search times are faster for red than other colors (Elliot, 2015). Elliot advises that this evidence-based effect is depedent on contextual color.
In visual communications, red can be used to create focus and draw attention to specific items. In graphic design, red can be used to draw attention to headline, logo, slogan and key messages. In design of the built environment, red can be used to draw attention to key details such as exit/safety doors and key interior spaces.
In this illustration from Vanity Fair Magazine (February 2008), red is allocated to strategically draw the eye around the magazine page. The use of black supports this strategy and, as red takes our eye around the page, the use of strong black/white contrast brings our attention back up to the figure at the top.
Items on the left are better remembered
In an article published in Nature, Della Sala, Darling & Logie (2008) report that items on the left are better remembered. In a series of three experiments, the researchers identified a leftward bias when people try to remember visually presented information. Experiments 1 and 2 showed lateral leftward biases in memory in a large sample of participants, with data collected via the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) web site. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of a leftwards bias in short-term memory with a more intensive data collection.
It's highly likely that this leftward bias occurs predominantly in cultures where reading occurs from left to right. The article can be accessed via this link.
F Patterns
Eye-tracking research studies indicate that scanning pages including webpages, eye movements tend to occur in ‘F patterns’. That is, we tend to read from the left-hand side, and down in horizontal lines that replicate the shape of ‘F’.
Visual hierarchy is underpinned by comparative size
In graphic design, there tends to be a inherent visual hierarchy wherein text is read according to its size relative to other text blocks in the same example of graphic design. That is, our eye tends to be draw to the largest element (text), followed by the next largest element, then down through to the smallest element. It is highly likely that visual hierachy which is underpinned by judgements about importance relative to comparative size occurs in other areas of applied design.
References
Della Sala, S., Darling, S. & Logie, R. Items on the Left Are Better Remembered. Nat Prec (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2008.2540.1
Elliot, A.J. (2015). Color and psychological functioning: A review of theoretical and empirical work. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(4), 1-8.
Monger, B. (2007). Marketing in black and white. Sydney: Pearson.
Nielsen, J. (2006). F-Shaped Pattern for reading web content. Nielsen Norman Group. Accessible at https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content-discovered/
O’Connor, Z. (2015). Colour, contrast and Gestalt theories of perception: The impact in visual communications design. Color Research and Application, 40 (1), 85-92.
Stebbing, P. D. (2003). A grammar of visual composition and its biological origin. Communication & Cognition, 36(3/4), 353-390.
Stebbing, P. D. (2004). A universal grammar for visual composition? Leonardo, 37(1), 63-70.
Teixeira, T. S. (2012). The new science of viral ads. Harvard Business Review, 90 (3), 25-27.
Tufte, E., Beautiful Evidence. 2006, Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.
Yarbus, A. (1967). Eye movements and vision. New York: Plenum Press.
About the author - Dr Zena O’Connor established Design Research Associates in 2006 and has focussed on evidence-based color strategies, insight, and recommendations for applied design and the built environment. Zena has completed numerous color design projects across commercial, residential and the healthcare and aged care sectors. A designer by training, Zena’s PhD research investigated color in the built environment (Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning, University of Sydney). She has developed and taught university courses (Sydney University, University of NSW and Sydney Design School) and published 70+ peer-reviewed academic articles on color in applied design and the built environment. https://zenaoconnor.com