Visual Hierarchy in Design: How the World Shows Where to Look First

Our daily life is surrounded by rectangle screens. Screens of our laptops, smartphones, ipads, TVs. When we think or talk about visual hierarchy, we think of websites, apps, dashboards, UI screens. We often forget that visual hierarchy exists everywhere, it controls so many decisions that we take on a daily basis.  The concept of visual hierarchy in design existed long before digital interfaces. Thus, it becomes important to study the concept beyond screens, to completely understand it. 

So, today at Emoris let’s talk about visual hierarchy through everyday objects.

Understanding Visual Hierarchy in Design (Beyond Screens)

When you pick up a chocolate to buy it, you don’t notice the ingredients first, you notice the flavour or the price. It feels natural because you’ve seen it that way your whole life, but it was never random. Someone decided what your eyes would notice first. That’s visual hierarchy!

Visual hierarchy guides users what is important, what needs to be seen, read first, what is least important, and what can be ignored. It is not just to make things aesthetic but to control attention. If there is ever confusion in a product, or hesitation, then most likely there is a lack of visual hierarchy.

On digital interfaces, if you make a mistake you go back, however physical objects don’t get second chances. There are no undos in the real world, the consequences here are immediate. For example you buy a pancake, you look at the packaging and find no allergy labels, so you eat it. A few bites in, your tongue begins to swell and you are choking, panicking, you go through the ingredients again and find a small label saying it contains peanuts!

The failure of visual hierarchy in the real world can have real consequences, here you don’t get to scroll back and revert everything.

Visual Hierarchy Examples from Everyday Packaging

Packaging is something that we all interact with everyday at some point. Labels and packaging are a big contributor to why we buy certain products. From food, medicines, drinks to cosmetics, electronics directly or indirectly, we depend on  packaging design to make our decisions. 

Most people read in two patterns: F or Z . For packaging or label design, designers mostly follow F shaped reading patterns. 

Labels are too small for all the information to be provided. It becomes necessary to maintain visual hierarchy so as the customer does not get confused. For example, while buying a medicine, a customer looks at the name and dosage immediately. Ingredients and legal text can wait.

In packaging, the product name and brand comes first, claims such as flavour, usage, dosage comes next and then the ingredients and legal text. This is intentionally designed to support users’ priorities. If all the text was given equal importance, the customer would get confused. Secondly not all details are necessary while buying, some details are read after purchasing. Also, some details are not read by everyone. For example, allergy labels are not necessary for everyone. But people who need them should find them easily.

Why Price Almost Always Wins Attention?

Retail shelves are real-world hierarchy stress tests. A shelf full of products, different packaging all calling out to the customer, is actually where hierarchy works or fails. 

Here, a customer asks what they can afford, is the product cheaper than others? Thus price needs to be isolated. The placement of price is always separate from the visuals and has color contrast from the rest of the packaging.

This is a realistic design, not a bad design. In a high pressure environment, this is how decisions are usually made. This is not about aesthetics but functionality. Decisions are quickly made looking at price. 

How Everyday Objects Guide You Without Instructions?

Don Norman in his book “The Design of Everyday Things” talks about 7 stages of action and how most of the brain’s operations are subconscious. Everyday objects need clear visual hierarchy because often when people use them, not a lot of conscious thought process happens. 

Remotes, washing machines, hair dryers, microwaves, ovens are some excellent examples of everyday objects that follow good visual hierarchy, certain buttons stand out while others fall back. Power buttons, stop buttons need more attention while other buttons can wait. These buttons are frequently used and are urgently required especially in case of emergencies. 

When everything looks the same, the user feels confused, lost, irritated, frustrated. In daily life users need accessibility and functionality over aesthetics. 

These every day tasks should feel natural and smooth. So, these everyday tools demand good visual hierarchy.

When Visual Hierarchy Fails, People Don’t Know What to Do

Norman doors are a perfect example where visual hierarchy fails. Now imagine a fire occurs in a restaurant but people get stuck inside because the doors cause confusion.

Don Norman also talks about faucets. Faucets are used for two things only, water temperature and rate of flow. Faucets and showerheads often create confusion, which handle/knob controls what. The handles are often not clear, are they supposed to be pushed, pulled or rotated and in what direction. 

Hierarchy fails when medicines labels get lost, packaging is over branded, remote controls have similar buttons, a stove has multiple burners with identical knobs.

How Visual Hierarchy Guides Thousands Through Public Spaces?

In public spaces, people need direction, not attention. Wayfinding and signage in airports, metros, hospitals, and malls rely on visual hierarchy to guide movement. Color, spacing, lighting, and scale show people where to go and what to notice.

Another example is the yellow lines on railway platforms, which indicate where not to stand. Green exit signs communicate direction instantly, while large signage boards highlight what matters most in that moment.

“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
– Donald A. Norman

Public spaces rely on visual hierarchy in design so people can move without confusion or hesitation. Clear hierarchy reduces stress by making direction instantly understandable.

Conclusion: Visual Hierarchy in Design Makes the World Easier to Navigate

“This is so confusing”, “Something feels off”, “ This was so easy” are a few reactions or feelings you get when visual hierarchy works or fails. It works silently. It simply tells you what needs your attention and what doesn’t. When it works, you feel calm, at ease. When it doesn’t, you feel confused and lost.

Good design is invisible and you rarely notice it. But once you consciously start noticing, it becomes impossible to unsee. You’ll start noticing signage, packaging, appliances. You will then know how everything is consciously aligned and designed. Ending the article with one of our favourite quote on visual hierarchy in design.

“When things are done well, they don’t call attention to themselves.”
– Bruno Munari