3 ways design pros stop the scroll

It’s the frustration we all feel, right?

We spend hours crafting a message, like a newsletter, social media post, website, ad, or other communication.

It may only get 2-3 seconds of your audience’s attention.

The culprit?

If your message is too much work to understand, viewers will move on.

Messages that are easy to read — and act upon — are the ones that make viewers stop scrolling.

And your viewers need all the help you can give.

In today’s mini masterclass, we’ll cover three ways design pros capture attention and drive action. We’ll focus on helping viewers grasp your message through some core design principles.

Show me where to look!

Viewers today are overwhelmed and exhausted. They want you to show them where to look.

How to do that?

Visual hierarchy. It’s the art of arranging elements to guide the viewer’s eye and communicate your message clearly.

Mastering a few simple design principles of visual hierarchy can transform your messages from confusing to compelling. Let’s explore three.

Size and scale imply importance.

Varying the size of elements directs the viewer’s attention to the most important parts of your design. For instance, making the product image the largest element in a promotional graphic immediately draws the eye, ensuring it’s the focal point.

Scale creates importance and urgency. Larger elements appear more significant, while smaller ones provide supporting information without overwhelming the viewer.

This principle is effective when combined with white space to prevent clutter and make each element stand out.

By applying size and scale, you can create a visual flow that makes your message clear and compelling, leading to higher engagement and conversions.

Type signals structure.

Typography significantly influences how your message is perceived and understood. Varying font sizes, weights, and styles create a clear structure that guides the viewer's eye.

A large, bold headline captures attention, setting the stage for the message. Subheadings in a slightly smaller font provide additional context, while body text in a lighter font offers detailed information without overwhelming the reader.

Different fonts and typographic treatments convey varying personalities. A sleek, modern sans-serif font gives a contemporary and professional feel, while a classic serif font evokes tradition and reliability.

Using bullet points, along with whitespace between lines and around text blocks, enhances readability and ensures easy navigation.

Color and contrast direct the eye to action.

Color and contrast are visual traffic cops, emphasizing key elements, ensuring readability, and drawing the viewer's eye to specific areas.

For instance, a bright red call-to-action (CTA) button will stand out, making it clear and easy for viewers to take the next action.

Color also conveys emotions. Warm colors like reds and oranges evoke excitement and urgency, while cool colors like blues and greens create calm and trust.

High contrast between text and background improves readability and makes your message easily understood.

A visual dance for tired eyes

Choose and combine shapes, fonts, and colors to create a visual rhythm. These elements stop the scroll. They direct your audience’s eye, communicate your message, and lead to action.

Best of all? Your message will be aesthetically pleasing, guide your readers, and show them exactly what to do next.

❤️ My favorite visual delights

Here are this week’s gems from around the Web to help you build visibility, credibility, and authority:

💡 Web design inspiration
If you're planning a website redesign, this free website inspiration gallery is a good place to get creative ideas flowing. It shows sizeable thumbnails of the featured sites that link to live sites — and it’s updated daily.

✍️ Drawcharts
Looking to create charts and graphs that don’t look so sterile? Check out Drawcharts, an online tool from Munich-based programmer Nderim that generates hand-drawn sketches of charts and graphs. Input statistics, choose a template (pie chart, bar graph, line chart, etc.), and the software produces an image that mimics a sketch for export (JPG, PNG, SVG). There’s a free and Pro version. (h/t to SOLO reader Dave for the suggestion!)

⚫️ How the absence of noise affects your decisions
Do we hear silence the same way we hear sound? Do you prefer to work with or without music? This intriguing article translates behavioral science research into practical insights on how to use sound (or silence) to your advantage.

Did you miss these?

Catch up on some recent popular issues of SOLO you may have missed.

✅ Beware this painful solopreneur trap

✅ Box up a competitive advantage!

✅ When is empty space not empty?

✅ Meet the visual philosophers

Want to check out other past issues? Visit the SOLO Newsletter archive.

Thanks again for being a SOLO reader and coming along on this journey of visual exploration.

Know someone who needs to know about visual hierarchy? Share this newsletter with another solopreneur!

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See you next week,

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