3M (St. Paul, MN) has launched the 3M Visual Attention Service, an online service that helps graphic designers, communicators and marketers to test the impact of graphic designs and assess the impact.
Through the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, a cloud services operating system, Microsoft offers a robust foundation for 3M’s solution to help its customers advance their creative processes. The online tool helps predict if a design’s visual hierarchy is strong enough to attract a viewer’s attention, and select the most impactful visual elements. Photos, creative content, packaging concepts and various forms of creative media can be evaluated in different scenes or contexts. Users simply upload images to 3M’s Web portal, and within minutes, the tool analyzes and reveals the results. For example, a heat map highlights areas likely to receive attention within the first three to five seconds. A region map outlines these areas and reveals the predicted probability that a person will look at the area along with diagnostics to show why the region is likely to get attention.
“When designing Out-of-Home advertising, it’s crucial to get a key message across in just a matter of seconds,” said Mendi LeBlanc, creative director, Lamar Advertising Co. “The Visual Attention Service by 3M allows us to check our design instincts against something scientific. Clients respect that we can provide this proven validation, especially when it is provided by a company they can trust like 3M.”
Following a successful November market test, 3M’s service is now globally available and costs as little as $5 for each image upload through the Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
www.3M.com/vas