Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors
Visual perception of screen elements depends on their color, font, and position in the user interface design. Objects in the central part of the screen are perceived more easily than those in the peripheral areas. However, the peripheral space is valuable for applications like advertising and promot...
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MDPI AG
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/14/7636 |
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| author | Snježana Ivančić Valenko Marko Čačić Ivana Žiljak Stanimirović Anja Zorko |
| author_facet | Snježana Ivančić Valenko Marko Čačić Ivana Žiljak Stanimirović Anja Zorko |
| author_sort | Snježana Ivančić Valenko |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Visual perception of screen elements depends on their color, font, and position in the user interface design. Objects in the central part of the screen are perceived more easily than those in the peripheral areas. However, the peripheral space is valuable for applications like advertising and promotion and should not be overlooked. Optimizing the design of elements in this area can improve user attention to peripheral visual stimuli during focused tasks. This study aims to evaluate how different combinations of text and background color affect the visibility of moving textual stimuli in the peripheral areas of the screen, while attention is focused on a central task. This study investigates how background color, combined with white or black text, affects the attention of participants. It also identifies which background color makes a specific word most noticeable in the peripheral part of the screen. We designed quizzes to present stimuli with black or white text on various background colors in the peripheral regions of the screen. The background colors tested were blue, red, yellow, green, white, and black. While saturation and brightness were kept constant, the color tone was varied. Among ten combinations of background and text color, we aimed to determine the most noticeable combination in the peripheral part of the screen. The combination of white text on a blue background resulted in the shortest detection time (1.376 s), while black text on a white background achieved the highest accuracy rate at 79%. The results offer valuable insights for improving peripheral text visibility in user interfaces across various visual communication domains such as video games, television content, and websites, where peripheral information must remain noticeable despite centrally focused user attention and complex viewing conditions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-17c1aaf794aa4aa7a1fb3c19f2d1f61e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-17c1aaf794aa4aa7a1fb3c19f2d1f61e2025-08-20T03:32:31ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-07-011514763610.3390/app15147636Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background ColorsSnježana Ivančić Valenko0Marko Čačić1Ivana Žiljak Stanimirović2Anja Zorko3Department of Multimedia, University North, 42000 Varaždin, CroatiaDepartment of Multimedia, University North, 42000 Varaždin, CroatiaFaculty of Graphic Arts, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, CroatiaDepartment of Multimedia, University North, 42000 Varaždin, CroatiaVisual perception of screen elements depends on their color, font, and position in the user interface design. Objects in the central part of the screen are perceived more easily than those in the peripheral areas. However, the peripheral space is valuable for applications like advertising and promotion and should not be overlooked. Optimizing the design of elements in this area can improve user attention to peripheral visual stimuli during focused tasks. This study aims to evaluate how different combinations of text and background color affect the visibility of moving textual stimuli in the peripheral areas of the screen, while attention is focused on a central task. This study investigates how background color, combined with white or black text, affects the attention of participants. It also identifies which background color makes a specific word most noticeable in the peripheral part of the screen. We designed quizzes to present stimuli with black or white text on various background colors in the peripheral regions of the screen. The background colors tested were blue, red, yellow, green, white, and black. While saturation and brightness were kept constant, the color tone was varied. Among ten combinations of background and text color, we aimed to determine the most noticeable combination in the peripheral part of the screen. The combination of white text on a blue background resulted in the shortest detection time (1.376 s), while black text on a white background achieved the highest accuracy rate at 79%. The results offer valuable insights for improving peripheral text visibility in user interfaces across various visual communication domains such as video games, television content, and websites, where peripheral information must remain noticeable despite centrally focused user attention and complex viewing conditions.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/14/7636colortypographymovement speedgraphical user interfacevisual perception |
| spellingShingle | Snježana Ivančić Valenko Marko Čačić Ivana Žiljak Stanimirović Anja Zorko Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors Applied Sciences color typography movement speed graphical user interface visual perception |
| title | Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors |
| title_full | Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors |
| title_fullStr | Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors |
| title_short | Visual Perception of Peripheral Screen Elements: The Impact of Text and Background Colors |
| title_sort | visual perception of peripheral screen elements the impact of text and background colors |
| topic | color typography movement speed graphical user interface visual perception |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/14/7636 |
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