8. People Miss Changes In Their Visual Fields

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Visual Fields

Visual Fields refers to the total area where objects can be seen from your peripheral vision, while you are concentrated looking at one thing.

Studies have been conducted and concluded that if you are paying attention to one thing and don't expect things to start to appear, you will miss the changes that do happen.

Take a look at the selective attention test below:

https://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo

selective attention test (Embed)

An experiment was done with this Selective Attention Test Video to test Eye Tracking, or using technology to track where a person is looking. This is a great example to watch to see how people miss changes in their visual fields. According to the study, only 50% of people were aware of what was supposed to be seen.

So, How Does This Relate To Design?

In your designs, don't assume people will see something just because it's there. This can especially be true if you make a slight change when refreshing your page. Some may not even notice the change you added.

Add visual cues or audio cues if you want people to notice the changes in your site or design.