Focus and Emphasis

The related principles of focus and emphasis guide you in the placement of priority items. Once you identify the central idea, you can determine the focus, or focal point, for activity. You determine the emphasis by choosing the prominent element and isolating it from others, or by making it stand out in other ways. Culture and interface design decisions largely determine where the user looks first for information. People in western cultures, for example, look at the upper left corner of the screen or window for the most important information. It makes sense to put a top-priority item there, giving it emphasis.