Guiding the eye in visual media
Visual media, encompassing art, photography and film, communicate meaning to an audience by strategically employing "rules of notice" – deliberate techniques used by creators to guide a viewer's attention and influence their interpretation of an image or narrative.[1] These techniques are foundational to how media are constructed, allowing artists to convey emotions, stories and ideas effectively.[2] Understanding these rules is crucial for both creators seeking to craft compelling visuals and observers aiming to deconstruct and interpret the messages embedded within them.[3]
The most important job in visual media is to steer audiences’ attention,[4] but makers can also use rules of notice to influence what we think and how we feel about what we see. Choices like desaturating colour to communicate characters’ constrained lives or shifting light to add tension support the emotional and thematic content of a work.[5]
Lines
Lines are powerful tools for directing the viewer's eye towards a focal point, whether they’re literal or suggestive. Typically, our eyes follow the most prominent lines in an image, as well as the eyelines and hands of any identifiable characters;[6] our eyes also track the path of any moving person or object.[7]
- Horizontal lines suggest stability and calm.[8]
- Vertical lines imply energy, activity and a reaching upwards or downwards.[9]
- Diagonal lines are dynamic, creating a sense of movement, tension and depth, often guiding the eye deeper into the frame.[10]
- Curved lines can insinuate a journey rather than a direct path.[11]
- Converging lines lead to a single space or subject, a technique known as one-point perspective, famously used by Stanley Kubrick.[12]
- Leading lines are actual or imaginary lines that lead the eye to key elements, connecting subjects to objects, situations or secondary subjects. These can be found in nature (rivers, horizons) or artificial structures (streets, buildings).[13]
Shapes
Shapes, whether geometric or formed by the relationships between elements, also carry context and meaning. Rounded shapes can feel comforting, while pointed shapes can evoke fear:
- Squares “represent stability and it is a dependable, familiar shape symbolizing honesty and solidity.”[14]
- Circles feel safe and protective,[15] but not as stable as squares because they “have a sense of freedom in terms of movement.”[16]
- Triangles “are associated with energy and power to indicate direction… They can symbolize strength on the one hand, while conflict on the other.”[17]
It’s also possible to “mix and match” these different shapes, for instance by rounding the corners of a square to create a mix of strength and safety. Different effects can also be achieved by rotating shapes (flipping a triangle, for instance, to emphasize /the horizontal line and de-emphasize the points) and distorting them (such as tilting a rectangle to form a parallelogram, turning its right-angle corners into points).[18]
Composition
At the heart of visual communication are the elements of composition, which are deliberately arranged to draw the viewer's eye and shape their perception.[19] In general, audiences “will assign importance to characters and objects placed in the center,” while an off-centre or asymmetrical composition is likely to have more tension and dynamism.[20]
One simple way of composing an image (and analysing that composition) is the Rule of Thirds. In this technique, we divide an image into nine segments using two horizontal and two vertical lines. Positioning key elements at the four intersection points or placing horizons along the horizontal lines creates a more natural and visually pleasing image.[21]
Off-center or asymmetrical composition is often more engaging, allowing interaction between the subject and its surroundings.[22] If we use the rule of thirds to analyze the image on the left, we see how its elements are carefully arranged to give it the energy of an asymmetrical composition but still give a sense of stability by placing almost all of the back wheel in the bottom centre square. This gives us the sense that while the bicyclist is doing something challenging and exciting, they’re in control of it.
Another aspect of composition is the use of space, or "real estate" within an image. This involves identifying positive space (areas of interest and focus) and negative space (the empty space surrounding the subject). The interplay between positive and negative space significantly affects the visual weight and feeling of a visual work.[23]
Negative space can create psychological effects, making subjects appear smaller to convey loneliness or isolation, or to capture scale. The negative space between a character’s eyeline and the edge of the image is called “looking room”; if that’s less than a third of the frame, it creates an effect called “short siding,” producing a sense of tension or danger because we can’t see what lies ahead of them. The same effect happens if there’s less than a third of a frame of “lead room” in front of a moving figure.[24]
Filling the frame with positive space draws immediate and direct attention to a subject, leaving no room for the eye to wander and creating a deeper emotional connection.[25]
Depth
Visual media, despite being two-dimensional, create the illusion of three-dimensional space through depth. This can also be used to focus and direct audiences’ attention.
Layering subjects in the foreground, middle ground and background adds to this illusion; foreground elements, placed between the camera and the subject, are an easy way to add depth and provide context.[26] A vanishing point and leading lines also aid in the illusion of depth.[27]
Contrast
- Contrast uses unlike visual elements in juxtaposition to create meaning and intensify characteristics, engaging the viewer.[28] As Molly Bang puts it, “contrast allows us to see.”[29]
- Contrasting subjects make statements and effectively tell stories, especially in still photography, by highlighting themes (e.g., "old and young").[30]
- Contrast in lighting, known as chiaroscuro, uses light and shadow to add depth and dimension, making subjects "pop" from the background and intensifying subtext.[31]
- Contrast in colour uses complementary colours (e.g., orange and blue) to create striking visuals and add variety.[32]
- Tonal contrast focuses on the range of black, white and greys to create dimension, as exemplified by the work of photographer Ansel Adams.[33]
Contrast can also intensify the effects of other rules of notice: pairing characters made of opposite shapes, for example, or painting a scene with contrasting colours. As Bruce Block puts it in The Visual Story, “the greater the contrast in a visual component, the more the visual intensity or dynamic increases. The greater the affinity in a visual component, the more the visual intensity or dynamic decreases.”[34]
Colour
Colour is a powerful tool for rendering vision, influencing mood and emotional responses.
Any given colour has three elements:
- Hue, which is where a color sits on the color wheel (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet or magenta);
- Brightness, which is how much white or black has been added to that basic hue; and
- Saturation: a colour that only contains a single hue is fully saturated, a colour that contains some of any other hue less so. A colour made up equally of two opposite or complimentary hues will be fully desaturated and grey.[35]
All the elements of colour – hue, brightness and saturation – can work as rules of notice. Food in ads typically has bright, saturated colours that grab our attention and make us think of ripe fruit and berries. When the same images are shown in greyscale, they have much less effect on our attention and even our hunger.[36]
Colour is such an important part of animated movies that most have a “colour script” to make sure the colours match the story and mood and that “informs lighting setups, shot composition, background designs, and even compositing techniques.”[37] In the Pixar film Up, for example, the character Ellie is associated with the colour pink; when we first see her husband Carl leave their house after she dies, “the soft pink light shining on the house dims out.”[38]
Angle
The camera angle – which may be a real camera in the case of film or photography, or an imaginary point-of-view in other visual media like comics, animation or video games – dictates the point of view given to the viewer, dramatically affecting composition and meaning.[39]
- Parallel angles (eye-level, ground level) offer neutral or specific perspectives.[40]
- Perpendicular angles (overhead/God's eye view, looking straight up) are more extreme, providing omniscient or biased viewpoints.[41]
- Diagonal angles (between 0 and 90 degrees) create bias, such as a low angle to confer power or authority, or a high angle to suggest vulnerability.[42]
[1] Wilhelm, J.D., Baker T.N., & Hackett J.D. (2001) Strategic Reading: Guiding Students to Lifelong Literacy, 6-12. Heinemann.
[2] Worsnop, C. M. (2004). Media literacy through critical thinking. Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy, 60.
[3] Castellano, A. (2024) The Art of Annotation: Teaching Readers to Process Texts. Cult of Pedagogy.
[4] Hickey, W. (2023). You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything. Hachette UK.
[5] Neustaeter, B. (2022) 'Women Talking': How cinematography shows the story of abuse and recovery. CTV News.
[6] Phillips, K. (2025) From Sketch to Story. Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
[7] Block, B. (2001) The Visual Story. Routledge.
[8] Bang, M. (2016) Picture This: How Pictures Work. Chronicle Books.
[9] Bang, M. (2016) Picture This: How Pictures Work. Chronicle Books.
[10] Bang, M. (2016) Picture This: How Pictures Work. Chronicle Books.
[11] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[12] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[13] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[14] Al-Ali, H. (2019) The Shape of Character Design. Medium.
[15] (2014) Quick Tips for Character Design. Cleveland Institute of Art.
[16] Al-Ali, H. (2019) The Shape of Character Design. Medium.
[17] Al-Ali, H. (2019) The Shape of Character Design. Medium.
[18] (2014) Quick Tips for Character Design. Cleveland Institute of Art.
[19] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[20] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[21] Son, M. (2025) What is the rule of thirds in film? Descript.
[22] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[23] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[24] (2024) Negative Space: Film Composition Guide. Filmmakers Academy.
[25] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[26] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[27] Oosterhoff, D. (2015) How to read a photograph. Envato.
[28] Oosterhoff, D. (2015) How to read a photograph. Envato.
[29] Bang, M. (2016) Picture This: How Pictures Work. Chronicle Books.
[30] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[31] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[32] Bang, M. (2016) Picture This: How Pictures Work. Chronicle Books.
[33] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[34] Block, B. (2001) The Visual Story. Routledge.
[35] Block, B. (2001) The Visual Story. Routledge.
[36] Del Gatto, C., Indraccolo, A., Imperatori, C., & Brunetti, R. (2021). Hungry for colours? Attentional bias for food crucially depends on perceptual information. Cognitive Processing, 22(1), 159-169.
[37] (2025) Color Script in Animation. Brink Helsinki. https://brinkhelsinki.com/logs/color-script-in-animation/
[38] Siegel, A. (2022) A Marriage Story: Inside the making of the brilliant, moving first 10 minutes of Pixar’s ‘Up.’ The Ringer.
[39] Garrison, A. (1999) Video Basics and Production Projects for the Classroom. Center for Media Literacy.
[40] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[41] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.
[42] StudioBinder. (2022) The Elements of Composition: A Complete Guide.