Statement
P06 Attention is a product resource
Everything we show competes with what the person came to do.
Tension
Explanation
Menus, alerts, animations, choices, and copy compete for the same attention, which is finite. An interface may have no errors and still fail because of saturation.
Go deeper: Tension
An interface can be free of errors and still fail through saturation. Accumulated load degrades understanding, increases accidental decisions and makes simple tasks feel heavy.
Meaning
Explanation
Attention is managed with the same discipline as performance or cost: every visible element and every requested decision must justify what they consume.
Go deeper: Meaning
Attention is finite. Menus, alerts, animations, choices and text all demand a share of it. Design must manage that budget with the same discipline as performance or cost.
Consequence
Explanation
Hierarchy is established based on relevance to the current moment, not on equality among features. High-intensity signals are reserved for what truly requires attention.
Go deeper: Consequence
Require every visible element and every decision requested to answer to a verifiable circumstance, motivation or outcome.
Establish hierarchy by relevance to the current state, not by giving every feature equal weight.
Reduce interruptions and reserve strong signals for matters that genuinely require attention.
Example
A page with one dominant idea per section and a single primary action makes it clear what to do next, without asking the person to organize options that the product could have organized.
Counterexample
Continuous animations, simultaneous calls to action with the same weight, or backgrounds that reduce text readability.
Sign of non-compliance. Presenting five actions with equal visual weight forces the user to establish a priority that the product should already know from context.
Decision test
These questions help determine what may be removed without losing information or control.
What competes visually or mentally with the primary action?
Can an element be removed without losing necessary information or control?
Does the interface distinguish the urgent, the important and the optional?
Source
Manifesto core v2.1, section PRINCIPLE 6 · P06. Download the core