Have to agree with Christopher… the BBC example made it clear as day. Interesting stuff.

Excellent explanation and examples. This article has certainly helped me grasp the concept.

Good read! Never heard the term looking room, but was familiar with the concept.

Thanks, Mark!

Very nice! I really like the merging of the two topics (photography and web design). :)

Wow I just loved and enjoyed this post! Great job thats all I can say.

Haha, the explanation on the motion of the gaze reminded me a lot of our recent physics lecture on the Center of mass. Great explanation by the way.

Thanks, Mark. Thoughtful and informative.

I guess context in which an image is used is important as well but I actually think the cropped picture of the horse looks less interesting with the bright blue of the sky cropped out.

Great article, Mark. I never could really put my finger on the visual confusion sometimes inherent in photographic design elements, but you’ve succinctly pointed out the issues—issues that I’ll now be able to prevent in future designs. Pat yourself on the back and go grab a good cuppa.

Cheers,
Nick

Nice post. I am impressed to the BBC example : )

Bloody awesome Mark! This is truly something that has been overlooked a lot in my opinion, and now that I have been “educated” it explains a lot!

Hi Mark,

I enjoyed that short but informative article!

Also never heard of the term “Looking room”, never the less I have been aware of the concept for a while and have always implemented it unknowingly. but that probably comes from my background in photography before moving into design. It has how ever pointed out to me that I haven’t always used it in my illustration work. So I am thankfull for the reminder and explanation of how it can be associated with design work.

We often forget what we have learned from one visual art can be appled to another.

Thanks for the reminder!

Superb approach to working with imagery on the web. Thanks a lot for the insightful post. Note for ’09: “Must pay more attention to the focus of images”.

Brilliant article Mark, such a simple technique with a great result.

Every day’s a school day!

Great article Mark. Never heard of the term “Looking Room” before but will definitely bare this in mind and apply it where & when I can.

This reminds me of an article I once read (in Dutch, scroll down on that page to see the pictures) about how we are inclined to follow the direction a photographs’s subject is looking into. And how that can be used to guide the user. It shows two versions of a banner. In one the subject is looking at you, in the second at the banner text. In the second one, your eyes are immediately drawn to the text.
image #1, looking at you
image #2, looking at the text

Mark,
excellent article – very insightful and beautifully written.
Thanks for the inspiration :-)

Very interesting, and my favorite 24ways article so far this year. As a designer, cropping photos in such a way that they lead back to the content is often something that I do without thinking about it, but it’s very nice to be reminded about the reasoning behind it. I hadn’t heard about the “Looking room” idea, so I’ll keep that in mind for the future.

Hey,

Enjoyable read, I do like the clear and concise way you explain things.

Being a camera operator i’d hope I use the technique without really thinking about it when I do web design but looking at some of my designs i’m not so sure.

Good tip, cheers.

Great article. Handing it over to customers who are updating their own website through a cms might help them handle images in a better way in the future.

Using the “The Rule of Thirds” for photography is very cool. And for web design moving the visual focus away from the center is real challenge. Great article!

Really interesting read. Not really seen this subject covered on the web before so it was a nice breath of fresh air.

Cheers!

Nice article on a subject I’ve not seen covered before. The BBC example perfectly illustrates your point.

I had a generalized ‘feel’ of this concept, but I didn’t properly understand the reasoning & psychology of looking room until now.