RESEARCH POINT - Visual dynamics

Becoming aware of how you look at things is useful in understanding how best to construct the visual dynamic of your own design work. Go back to your visual diary, how do your eyes travel around the items you have collected? What do you look at first? Where is the contrast in what you are looking at?

Depending on what the image or object is, my eyes will travel slightly differently. For example if I was looking at a magazine, my eyes are drawn to the biggest type (usually the headline) first, then the smaller type (the subtitle). So I would read from left to right starting at the top.

For this photograph opposite taken from my visual diary, the first thing that draws my eye is the vase on the table because it's in the middle, then the table. Then I look more closely at the details of the rings on the table the colours, unique shape and the texture.

In this image the woman wearing the yellow draws my attention first because of her size, she dominates and catches my eye first. followed by the others in the background. The contrast of solid black and yellow makes me see the this woman first. My eye then travels to the children and then to the lady in green.

This painting makes me look at the yellow lines on the side of the road first because the rest of the painting is in black and white. The perspective of the yellow line draws my eye to the side of the road where I look at the fields and hills, then to the horizon. Yellow is the bright colour and catches my eye first.

My eyes look and see tiles with lots of patterns, then my eye is drawn to the contrast of the solid colours like the yellow and the green tiles. I then scan around and look at the patterns on the tiles and look more closely at their detail.

In this picture I look at the white tree first because it is more dominant than the other trees in the background.

When looking at images there are many different elements that contribute to where your eyes go:

• The size of the subject is likely to dominate and capture the eye first.

• The colour of the subject, bright colours catch the eye more quickly than muted, dull colors.

• The contrast, if there are strong contrasts between elements it will draw the eye to the brighter element.

• The alignment, viewers would expect certain elements to be located in the same place.

• The repetition, repeated elements (e.g., coloured text) draw attention first.

• The proximity, when elements are close to each other, they are related (e.g. headers with accompanying text).

• The whitespace, separating the elements allows them to be recognized as particular groups of information.

• The texture and style, distinct textures and styles (e.g. chunky buttons on a screen/website) draw the eye.

Many of the photos and images that I have in my visual diary are things that have caught my eye, which I then photographed. It could be because of the bright colour, the size or the texture or style.

This is a good thing to remember when designing: what do you want people to look at first?