Visible Narratives Understanding Visual Organization

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Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organizationby Luke Wroblewski

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Art vs. engineering. Aesthetics vs. usability. Usability experts

are from Mars, graphic designers are from Venus . The

debate between design (of the visual sort) and design (of the

technical sort) remains ongoing. A website, however, can't

take sides: it needs both to be successful.

Interactive design [is] a seamless blend of graphic arts,technology, and psychology.Brad Wieners Wired, 2002

So, why the debate? Perhaps the dividing line sits in our

minds: left brain (logical) vs. right brain (intuitive). Or, if we

take a less deterministic view: few engineers have taken the

time to study art and few artists have spent time

programming or conducting usability tests. But times are

changing. Visual designers working on the web need an

understanding of the medium in which they work, so many

have taken to code. Many have entered the usability lab.

But what about the other side? Are developers and human factors professionals immersedin literature on gestalt and color theory? They certainly have the tools for it

programming environments make it very easy to throw around images, colors, and fonts

(of all shapes and sizes). But with power comes responsibility. And in this case, the need

to understand how visual information communicates with your audience.

We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. Stanford Guidelines

for Web Credibility, 2002

Visual communication can be thought of as two intertwined parts: personality, or look

and feel, and visual organization. The personality of a presentation is what provides the

emotional impact your instinctual response to what you see. Creating an appropriate

personality requires the use of colors, type treatments, images, shapes, patterns, andmore, to say the right thing to your audience. This article, however, focuses on the

other side of the visual communication coin: visual organization.

How we see: visual relationshipsWhenever we attempt to make sense of information visually, we first observe similarities

and differences in what we are seeing. These relationships allow us to not only distinguish

objects but to give them meaning. For example, a difference in color implies two distinct

objects (or different parts of the same object), a difference in scale suggests one object is

further from us than the other, a difference in texture (one is more blurry) enforces this

idea, and so on. Once we have an understanding of the relationships between elements,

we can piece together the whole story and understand what we are seeing.

This process is accelerated by our ability to group information visually. When we observe

one blade of grass, nearby objects that share a similar color, shape, size, and position are

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grouped together and given meaning: a lawn. We don't have to compare each blade to

the others.

The principles of perception give us valuable insight into how we visually group

information. For example, objects near each other are grouped (proximity), as are objects

that share many visual characteristics (similarity).

Fig 1: Principles of perception: proximity, similarity, continuance, and closure.

But understanding the psychological manner in which we group visual information is not

enough if we want to be able to communicate a specific message. In order to do that, weneed to know how to use visual relationships to our advantagewe need to know what

makes things different.

Though lots of variations are possible, we can group distinct visual characteristics into five

general categories: color, texture, shape, direction, and size. Introducing variations in one

or all of these categories creates visual contrast. The more contrast between two

objects, the more likely they will be perceived as distinct and unrelated.

Fig 2: Visual differences between objects.

Telling a story: visual hierarchyDesigners can create normalcy out of chaos; they can clearly communicate ideas through

the organizing and manipulating of words and pictures.Jeffery Veen, The Art and

Science of Web Design

Now that we understand the basic ways to visually distinguish objects, we can look at the

big picture: using visual relationships to tell a coherent story. Elements within a visual

narrative are arranged in an easily understood order of importance. A center of attention

attracts the viewer's attention, and each subsequent focal point adds to the story. This

logical ordering is known as a visual hierarchy.

To build effective visual hierarchies, we use visual relationships to add more or less visual

weight to page elements and thereby establish a pattern of movement through the layout.

Visual weight can be measured by the degree to which a page element demands our

attention or keeps our interest. Large red type, for example, contrasts with a white

background much more than a light gray dot. As a result, the visual weight of the red type

grabs our attention first, though it might not keep our attention as long as a detailed

image.

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Fig 3: Three objects with differing visual weights created by variations in color, shape, and texture.

Visually dominant elements (those with the heaviest visual weight) get noticed the most.

They are the center of interest in a layout and they determine where the story begins. The

hierarchy of subsequent elements guides our eyes through the rest of the composition,

giving us pieces of the story as we go. The relative position of each element in the

hierarchy provides valuable information about its importance to the big picture.

Fig 4: The heaviest (most visually dominant) elements in this circus posterare the images of the performers and the title. They communicate the bigpicture: the circus is in town. The lightest (least visually dominant) elementsin the hierarchy are the ticket prices and features. If the hierarchy werereversed, few people would know the circus was in town. Instead they wouldbe confused as they passed posters seemingly promoting $5.50.

A balanced hierarchy provides not only a clear path for

recognizing and understanding information, it also helps unify

the disparate elements within a page layout into a cohesive

whole. This creates a sense of order and balance. Without visual

hierarchy, page elements compete for attention, and as a result,

none of them win. In all hierarchies, only certain elements

should be on top; the rest need to follow suit. The appropriateposition of each element in the hierarchy depends on the

message you are trying to communicate.

Fig 5: In a layout with an effective visual hierarchy, the distinct visual weight of each element guidesviewers through the page in an informative and appropriate manner.

Putting it to useAny given web page is composed of many distinct elements. Navigation menus (possibly

several layers deep), contact information, search boxes, site identifiers, and shopping

carts are just a few. The visual organization of a web page can communicate valuable

information about the similarities and differences between elements and their relative

importance. Once your audience understands the significance of your page elements, they

can apply that knowledge to the rest of the site.




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Fig 6: If all the elements in a page layout are given equal visual weight, making sense of the page isdifficult. Meaning is created through the differences and similarities among elements and their place in thepage's visual hierarchy.

Generally, the hierarchy of a web page is based on distinctions between the content,

navigation, and supporting information on a page. Within each of these sections further

distinctions can also be made. A general web page hierarchy (from highest to lowest

importance) may look like the following:

Content

z Page title

z Subsection title

z Embedded links

z Supplementary information (captions, etc.)

Navigation

z Location indicator

z Top-level navigation options

z Sub-navigation options

z Trace route (breadcrumbs)

Supporting elements

z Site identifier

z Site-wide utilities (shopping cart, site map, etc.)

z Footer information (privacy policy, contact info, etc.)

Fig 7: The visual hierarchy of a generic web page.

Of course, there are many situations where deviating from this formula is advised (on




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navigation pages, home pages, etc.). The content, audience, and goals of each page

should determine its exact hierarchy. Nonetheless, the visual representation of each

element on a web page should always be:

z Appropriate for and indicative of the element's function

z Applied consistently throughout the site

z Positioned properly in the page's visual hierarchy (in a manner reflective of itsrelative importance)

Visual hierarchy, however, does more than simply explain page elements. It guides users

through the site's content and interactions. Armed with an understanding of each

element's place in a hierarchy, we can emphasize important elements (such as content or

interaction points), and subdue other elements (supporting information).

Fig 8: In this online form, visual hierarchy guides the user through the necessary steps to place an order. Italso emphasizes (with color, positioning, and scale) the first step (Ordering from...) and the last step (theSign-In button). Simultaneously, the supporting information is subdued (it has little visual weight) anddoes not interfere with the main interaction sequence.

Similarly, visual hierarchy can provide users with a sense of where they are within a

website, to direct their attention (to special offers, for example), to suggest distinct

choices, to explain new elements, and more. However, effective visual communication

does not speak loudly. It quietly educates and guides the audience through the

interface.

Given the massive number of web pages and applications, users often rely on visual cues

(especially initially) to assess web interfaces. Therefore, a well thought-out visual

organization can greatly enhance usability by grouping information into meaningful pageelements and sequences. Such a system relies on an understanding of how people use

visual relationships to distinguish objects and what those relationships reveal to viewers

(through visual weight and hierarchy). But visual organization is only half of visual

communication. The rest, personality (or look and feel), is another story...

For more information:

z Web design: art versus engineering, The Jungle

z Aesthetics and Apparent Usability, Noam Tractinsky, CHI97 Electronic Publications: Papers




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Discuss

z Usability experts are from Mars, graphic designers are from Venus by Curt Cloninger, A List Apart

z Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility, 2002

z The Art and Science of Web Design Jeffery Veen, New Riders Publishing, 2000

Luke Wroblewski is a Senior Interface Designer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications

(NCSA), birthplace of the first widely distributed graphical Web browser, NCSA Mosaic. At NCSA, he has

designed interface solutions for Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Kellogg's, and co-developed the Open Portal

Interface Environment (OPIE).

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