focus - How to draw attention to a specific area of a design?

What are the best practices for drawing attention to specific parts of a design?

Answer

Here are some ways you can draw attention, roughly from the least subtle to the most:

• Movement - While effective, this should be used sparingly because it can grow distracting and annoying.


• Size - If a design element is larger than everything else, it will stand out.


• Color - Any deviation from the background colors or other colors used throughout the design will draw the eye.


• Contrast - A dark object on a light background will stand out. You should also consider logical contrasts in your subject matter, such as the following list: apple, orange, pear, bicycle.


• Text/Copy - Certain words draw the eye: Free, Secret, etc.



• Whitespace - Giving a design object enough whitespace around it will help differentiate it.


• Guiding the eye along a path - This can be as subtle as the direction a person's eyes are looking in a photograph or as blatant as an arrow.