Getting viewer attention with images

Via Presentation Zen we learned that using images you can get viewer attention when presenting PowerPoint or any other presentation. Usable World also stated that You look where they look.

From the point of view of evolution, success would certainly have favored those who were good at spotting the faces of a predator in the brush, for example. We see faces everywhere. We are so good at spotting faces that we even see them where they do not exist. In fact, said Carl Sagan, “As an inadvertent side effect, the pattern-recognition machinery in our brains is so efficient in extracting a face from a clutter of other detail that we sometimes see faces where there are none.” This would explain why people see an image of Mother Teresa in a cheese sandwich or a face on Mars. (More fantastic examples of “faces.”) Faces—and things approximating images of faces — get our attention. Graphic designers and marketers know this very well, which is why you so often see faces in various forms of marketing communication.

One small eye tracking study in PowerPoint presentations shows the influence of eye gaze in guiding the viewer’s eye on the page.

This is great if you are planning to get viewer attention with images. You can embed images and pictures in specific positions and different situations to get audience attention and keep the people sit up and listening.

Read the full article here PresentationZen and here UsableWorld  (UsableWorld is a blog written by CEO and usability specialist James Breeze)