Designing for attention: what behavioural science can teach us about creative communications

Written by Jason Foster, Creative Director.

We’ve never had more ways to communicate – or more pressure to make it count. In the world of corporate communications, we’re expected to convey increasingly complex ideas to increasingly distracted audiences. Stakeholders are short on time, long on demands and overloaded with content. So when it comes to landing a message that matters, clarity is no longer optional. It’s strategic.

Design plays a crucial role in achieving that clarity – not just by making things look good, but by helping people understand, navigate and retain what they’re seeing. But to be truly effective, design has to do more than look professional. It has to be behavioural.

That doesn’t mean gimmicks or tricks. It means understanding how people actually process information and using design to meet them where they are. People skim before they read. They respond to patterns, contrasts and cues. They make snap judgements based on layout, tone and flow – often in seconds. The goal is to reduce effort, guide attention and create a sense of structure and momentum.

In practice, this might mean using white space to signal importance and reduce overwhelm. It could involve consistent visual rhythm – headings, subheads, pull quotes – that help a reader grasp the story at a glance. It might mean highlighting a few critical messages rather than trying to say everything at once. Or designing in layers, so that information is revealed in a way that suits different levels of engagement.

It’s not just about form – it’s about function. The layout of a report can affect whether a strategy feels clear or confusing. The way a website responds as you scroll – the pace, transitions and interactive cues – can influence how intuitive and trustworthy the experience feels. The flow of a pitch deck can shape how confident a business seems in its future.

This is where creativity, backed by behavioural insight, becomes a business asset. When we design with the audience’s experience in mind – how they think, where their attention naturally goes and what helps them make sense of complexity – we can shape not only how messages are received, but how they’re remembered.

That doesn’t mean simplifying ideas. It means simplifying their delivery. Making the message more intuitive, more human and more effective.

In a world that’s more distracted, visual and fast-moving than ever, design has to work harder – not just to attract attention, but to bring clarity, create connection and make messages cut through. And that starts by shifting our focus from what we want to say, to how people are most likely to engage, understand and respond.

Because when design is built around attention, it builds understanding and understanding is what drives action.