“It’s a visual world, and people respond to visuals.”
-Joe Sacco
The eyes are the window into the soul! But, how do you reach your audience on a deep level through visual mastery? Well, you can achieve this through using the selective arrangements of particular visual elements in a specific order of their importance. This is otherwise known as visual hierarchy. Elements are laid out logically and strategically to guide the viewer through their visual journey. Users tend to act very quickly to decide whether or not they want to stay and read or watch something or not. Their eyes will follow predictable reading paths that are culturally influenced. For example, westerners read left to right whereas Asian cultures will not. These patterns can be followed or broken in order to bring the reader’s attention to certain points on advertisements. You will want to put the most visual things first to make it stand out so they won't miss it. Here are the particular components that can be manipulated to grab the user’s attention:
· Size: users will notice larger elements faster
· Textures and styles: rich textures stand out over flat
· Color & contrast: this will draw the eyes toward something
· Alignments: this helps create focal points
· White spaces: helps create emphasis
· Proximity & repetition: creates unification
There are a couple of questions when creating your ads to find out where you want your visuals to go, such as: what do you want to draw attention to? What actions do you want users to take? What do the eyes naturally land on? Poor visual hierarchy will confuse the reader and then you’ve already lost them in the first few seconds. The right visual path will get your viewers interested at the get go and keep them engaged to stay. The importance of this in advertising could not be stressed enough. The intent must match the execution.
