- The Unicorns Playbook
- Posts
- 🧠 Why 50% missed the gorilla
Smart Marketing in 5 minutes!
Hey, unicorns! 👋
This week, we're kicking off with a fascinating product design puzzle that'll challenge your understanding of user attention.
Then, we're diving deep into the Inattentional Blindness Effect - and how our brains can completely miss even the most obvious things when we're focused elsewhere (like a gorilla walking through a basketball game! 🦍).
Ready to master the science of attention? Let's dive in!
P.S. The Focus Mode dilemma in our quiz might feel familiar to anyone who's ever discovered an amazing feature months after installing an app... and wondered how they never noticed it before! Can't wait to hear your theories on this one! 🎯
Brain Teaser Corner
📝 Test Your Marketing Smarts 1.0
DesignFlow, a UX prototyping tool, discovered something puzzling:
Users who found and clicked their subtle "Focus Mode" button (a small icon in the corner) showed 2.5x higher completion rates on their projects. However, eye-tracking studies revealed that 92% of users never even noticed the button existed.
As Head of Product Design, what's your best move? |
Curious about the answer? You'll have to wait until Saturday! Our weekend newsletter will reveal the correct choice and break down the 'why' behind it using Inattentional Blindness principles.
Marketing Psychology Playbook
👁️ The Invisible Gorilla: When Focus Makes Us Blind
What is it?
Ever missed a friend waving at you while checking your phone? Or walked past your destination while following GPS directions?
That's Inattentional Blindness – a fascinating psychological effect where focusing intensely on one thing makes us completely blind to other obvious things – even a person in a gorilla suit walking across our field of vision!
How does it work?
The effect operates through three key mechanisms:
Our brain filters out up to 95% of environmental stimuli
Focused attention creates natural "blind spots"
Even experts miss obvious things when concentrating
How to Work With (Not Against) It:
Place key information where attention naturally flows
Create bridges between different focus areas
Use strategic interruptions for critical information
Design for natural attention patterns
Implement progressive disclosure
Remember, sometimes showing less helps people notice more!
Who's doing it right?
Freedom: Dims everything except your active window to maintain focus
Bear: Uses focus mode to highlight only your current paragraph
Forest: Visualizes focus time with growing trees, making transitions noticeable
The Attention Takeaway
In a world of endless distractions, understanding attention's limitations is crucial. Design with these constraints in mind, and you'll help users focus on what truly matters!
Want to explore more marketing psychology?
Check out our full article series! 👇
Tell us, how did this email land for you? |