An Innovative Experimental Method for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Visual Design Based on Eye-Tracking Technology

To overcome the limitations of conventional design assessment in capturing instant cognition and visual dynamics, this paper proposes a multimodal evaluation method for visual design effectiveness based on eye-tracking technology. By integrating dynamic region-of-interest sequence analysis with retrospective cognitive attribution, the method captures both the spatial flow and temporal dynamics of visual attention. A contextual task is designed to simulate realistic viewing behavior while maintaining experimental control, guiding participants through goal-oriented browsing under standardized presentation conditions. Dynamic region-of-interest sequence analysis is then used to measure gaze retracing rate and evaluate the clarity of information hierarchy. Retrospective interviews and visual entropy analysis are combined to link objective eye-movement trajectories with subjective semantic interpretation. Experimental results show that the method effectively differentiates design effectiveness under different contrast ratios. The high-contrast group has the shortest initial fixation time (180 ± 38 ms) and the lowest gaze retracing rate (26.1 ± 5.9%). Gaze retracing rate is negatively correlated with semantic comprehension accuracy (r = -0.81), supporting continuous evaluation from perception to cognition.