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?

I find that my eyes are drawn to whatever visual element is most dominant in the design, for example, through scale, boldness or colour. However, I do tend to look at the top of an image first, then scan my eyes down left to right and only then do I take in the composition as a whole. Many of the designs I have selected in my Visual Diary utilise strong contrast, particularly through colour (for example, between the background and foreground) and the use of white space, so that the main visual element is focused on rather than a cluttered background.