Manage the Eye (Nine Noticeability Factors)

Some web pages just have too much shouting for your attention, so your attention is fractured.

Others don’t try to draw your attention anywhere, and your attention is squandered – which is just as bad!

In order to fix either issue, you need to know the factors that draw attention, and – then – how to balance those factors.

Here are the 9 “Noticeability Factors” that I describe in Save the Pixel:

1. Size
2. Colour
3. Contrast
4. Boldness
5. Space
6. Position
7. Dynamism
8. 3D effects
9. Content

You can use any (and all) of these factors to draw visitor’s attention to one thing or another.

If you try to draw attention to too many things, you will fail to keep that attention, and that’s bad news.

So let every page have a focal point, a simple “Start here” for every visitor. Tip: The focal point should be the most instantly noticeable thing on the page, and it should be in the content. There’s no point drawing attention to the non-content features that are the same on all pages (like branding & navigation).