154 Understanding Rational Decision Making
Prominent Size and Placement
Size affects audience attention. For example, readers give more attention to larger magazine ads
than to smaller ones.^80 Viewers give more attention to larger images than to smaller images. Larger
images in ads also increase ad recognition.^81 When scanning the design elements of a product’s
packaging, consumers start by attending to the largest element of the package design and end by
attending to the smallest.^82
Placement also affects audience attention. Readers’ attention to magazine ads increases when thead is placed either on a right-hand page, on the cover of the magazine, or on one of the fi rst few
pages of the magazine.^83 Readers of expository texts spend more time reading text that is placed
earlier in the document, earlier on each page, and earlier in each paragraph.^84 Consumers searching
online usually give more attention to search results that appear at the top of the page than to those
showing up beneath them.^85 Consumers exposed to product warnings are more likely to notice, read,
and comply with warnings placed on the front of a product than warnings placed on the product’s
back or side or inside the owner’s manual.^86 Similarly, warnings placed before instructions for carry-
ing out a task are more likely to be noticed and read than warnings located after the instructions.^87
In addition to being more attention getting, a well-designed document in terms of the size andplacement of the elements within it can aid the comprehension of poorly motivated readers.^88
Attention-getting devices such as enumerated lists make readers more aware of the organization of
the text and provide a retrieval plan that supports better recall of key ideas.^89 Ultimately, layouts and
formats can affect the persuasive appeal of texts. A study of consumers reading different versions
of product warning labels demonstrates that different formats have varying effects on consumers’
intentions to take precautions.^90
White Space
Audiences fi nd documents and slides to be more visually appealing and attention getting if they
incorporate white space. Documents with ample white space attract and hold readers’ attention
longer than those with little white space.^91 In addition, readers rate documents that use ample white
space more highly. Newspaper readers rate news stories with wide margins as more appealing than
the same stories with narrow margins and thus little white space.^92 Similarly, teachers rate instruc-
tional materials that use white space to separate sections more highly than instructional materials
that do not.^93 For audience members with language diffi culties, increasing the amount of white
space in a document can even boost their comprehension of it.^94
Personally Relevant Information
Whether presented in written or spoken form, some information is more attention getting than
other information. Personally relevant information is especially attention getting^95 and has a greater
impact on the audience’s decisions than information that lacks personal relevance.^96 Neuroscientists
fi nd that personally relevant information activates more neurons in the brain than information that
is less personally relevant. It is also linked to memories of a larger variety of experiences.^97
Simply addressing the audience directly as you versus one can enhance personal relevance, increaseaudience attention, and improve their message processing.^98 Addressing the audience directly can
also increase the persuasiveness of a message. In a test of differently worded pesticide warning labels,
the version that used personal pronouns (e.g., statements beginning “You should... ”) resulted in
the highest levels of compliance.^99