Designing for Visual Influence: an Eye Tracking Study of the Usability of Graphical Management Information

In this paper we explore how specific visual designs influence eye movement and how eye tracking can help us to understand this process. We tracked the eye movements of participants whilst they carried out tasks using two contrasting styles of graph. One followed established design guidelines for facilitating efficient visual processing; the other flouted them. Traditional performance measures confirmed the superiority of the guideline-supporting graphs; users also preferred them. Eye tracking measures also indicated the superior usability of the well designed graphs, but, in addition, provided more specific information about the role of different graph areas in the assimilation of data. A new way of analyzing eye movements into vertical and horizontal gazes allowed us to compare the influence of specific design features on eye movement. Results suggest that certain design features influence eye movement in a predictable way and that eye tracking techniques are sensitive enough to detect them.