How Marketers Apply the Neuroscience of Vision

Are you a visual learner? Maybe you’re an audio or tactile learner? Trick question because humans have evolved to be visual learners. While most people have 5 working senses, they aren’t being used equally. Humans rely on their visual capabilities the most. This article will cover the basic neuroscience of vision and the role it can play in marketing.

Needless to say, a person’s sense of sight is powerful. A third of the human brain’s cortex is dedicated exclusively to vision. Visual elements automatically have a heavier influence on your perceptions.

The Neuroscience of Vision For Marketers

The McGurk Effect, a classic finding in psychology, shows just how dominant vision is. In these experiments, you watch a person’s face as they say the word “Ba”. But in one condition, the visual input is artificially altered - the face mouths what looks like “Ma”. Even though the actual sound is “Ba”, what you hear is “Ma”! The McGurk Effect illustrates that when vision and auditory input conflicts, vision wins out. See for yourself.

Since the brain has declared vision as the VIP amongst senses, you’ll never go wrong by finding more ways to be visual in your marketing.

Marketing Application for Vision

What visual picture are you painting? Are you seizing every opportunity to sprinkle in distinct visuals? Is there a heavy chunk of text that you can turn into a visual instead?

In what ways are these visually distinct from your competitors? Outside of your logo, do your customers associate you with a specific visual feature, such as a color? Think Tiffany's Blue, Orange in Orange Theory Fitness and the brown in UPS.

Humans have one of the most well-rounded visual systems in the animal kingdom. While you may not be able to see the farthest, like a falcon, or have the broadest field of vision, like an insect, you do see most things pretty well.

Two Vision Photoreceptors Marketers Must Know

One key feature of a consumer’s visual system that marketers should be aware of is the two types of photoreceptors found in the back of the eye.

Rods are located in the periphery of your visual field - they’re specialized for low-light conditions, and are particularly sensitive to motion. They are concentrated around the periphery of your visual field which explains why motion detection is highest in your periphery.

Next up are cones. Cones are specialized for daytime and process color. They are concentrated in the center of your visual field which explains why the highest amount of visual acuity is in the center of your visual field.

You can use these two photoreceptors to develop your user experiences. Consider where you want your consumer’s focus to be.

As a general rule of thumb, anything that can visually communicate should be in the center. If you want to try and direct your consumer’s attention to something dynamic, placing these features out to the periphery makes them most likely to be picked up by motion-sensitive rods.

Many brands have already converged onto this for their digital presence, by placing focused content in the center, and with dashboards, off to the side. Beyond the brand, any opportunity to use visuals across marketing should be optimized, from email messaging to ad copy and content.

Think about vision in the context of your user experience, and in your brand identifiers. Seek out opportunities to tap into the power of vision and take your marketing to the next level.

Written by Prince Ghuman

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