A hierarchy can be defined as:
Most import to less important
Big to small (Figure 1) Hierarchy By Words And Graphics, below)
The Important of hierarchy
- Hierarchy is used to communicate importance to the user
- Humans process information visually long before they read it
- The human brain group objects by shape, colour and size
- This means that users look for hierarchy clues to tell them what is important or not
- This hierarchy by size is often referred to as ‘visual relationships.’
- Remember that the more text there is in each chunk the less likely the user will read it
A hierarchy can be achieved through:
- Text (typography)
- Graphics
- Colour and Contrast
- Object Position
- Closeness (Proximity)
- Consistency (Repetition)
