Visual hierarchy
Arranging size, weight, color, and position so people notice the most important thing first.
What it is
Visual hierarchy is the order in which the eye moves through a screen. A big bold headline gets read first, a muted caption last. Good hierarchy makes a page obvious at a glance.
The levers are size, weight, color, contrast, position, and whitespace. When everything is bold or everything is the same size, nothing stands out and people don't know where to look.
When asking for hierarchy, say what should be noticed first, second, and third.
How to ask for it
“Everything looks the same. Make the important stuff pop.”
“Improve the visual hierarchy on the pricing card: the plan price should be the largest text, the plan name second, features in smaller muted text, and the "Start trial" button the only filled button on the card.”
"Make it pop" is ambiguous; naming visual hierarchy and ranking each element tells the builder exactly what should dominate.
You've seen this in
- AThe price and "Buy" button on an Apple product page
- AA Stripe invoice
- AAirbnb listing pages