Free tool · The Squibble Test™
Is your visual hierarchy working?
Find out with the Squibble Test™, a free visual hierarchy check that makes your creative unreadable to see if people can still “read” it.
Private by design. Stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded or saved.
Drop your design here
PNG, JPG or WebP
Or, try a sample design first.
1First look
Here’s what your viewers will see first.
Is that what you intended?
What jumps out, visually? Hold that thought.
Now, look to the right panel Now, look to the panel below
Illustrative, not infallible. The Squibble Test is a fast gut check based on how people tend to scan a page. It’s effective, but it isn’t 100% accurate. For an expert read, trust the experts.
Get a Creative Director’s readHow it works
How does this all work? Meet the method behind the madness.
Squibble (n.): the nonsense your design becomes when every letter turns into a symbol. It’s the heart of a test we created at Parker House. Swap out the words, and if your design still reads, your visual hierarchy is working. Think of it as a quick creative pre-test: run it before you launch, not after.
Design Hierarchy 101
Finding the balance: visual vs. verbal storytelling
How the test weights each element
Our weighting, informed by eye-tracking research – a starting point, not a law of nature.
Big to small
How much room it takes up
We measure type size and the area each image, button or shape covers. Bigger pulls first, and imagery – photos, screenshots, faces – gets an extra pull over type.
Vibrant to dull
How hard it stands out
We measure saturation and contrast against the element’s own background. Size usually wins, but contrast can make or break it: anything that blends into its background gets seen late, however big it is. Headlines are often black or white by design, so when color is off the table, scale does the work.
Top to bottomLeft to right
Where it sits
In layouts with copy, the eye tends to start high and left, then work down. That’s the default path – scale and vibrancy decide when it gets pulled off course.
Creative review
Want a Creative Director’s read?
The test shows you where the eye goes. A Parker House Creative Director can tell you why, and what to change so your work tells the right story.
- Tell us what you’d like reviewed. No need to send your work yet.
- We’ll talk through what you need, the scope and the pricing.
- Then you get a hands-on review with specific, prioritized recommendations.
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