visual cues
Things you notice
Visual cues are things you see that prompt a particular response or understanding.
They range from deliberate signals—a nod, a raised eyebrow, a traffic light changing color—to incidental details that convey information, like body language or the way someone's desk is organized.
In design and media, visual cues guide attention or communicate meaning without words: The red border is a visual cue that something's wrong.
The phrase emphasizes sight as the channel of information, distinguishing from auditory or verbal cues.
- orientationPosition relative to surroundings
- salienceState of standing out
- signagePosted public displays
- attentionFocused mental awareness
- colorVisual hue property
contrast · body language · recognition · first impression · split second · icons · highlighting · symmetry · nonverbal communication · shape · motion · focal point · eye tracking · wayfinding · signals · red flags · prompts · subtle hints
- animal signalsbody language, bird songs, tail wagging, mating calls, whale song
- memory aidsmnemonics, mnemonic, reminders, reminder, flash card
- nonverbal communicationgestures, pointing, body language, facial expressions, sign language
- visual aidspicture, pictures, photo, photos, image
- visual symbolspictograms, pictographs, symbols, glyphs, ideograms
- audio descriptionfacial expressions, movement tracking, body language, facial expression
visual cuesauditory cues
Sounds conveying information
verbal cues · audio signals · haptic feedback · auditory signals