Highlighting is a way of calling attention to a specific area of content. Since users favor scanning over reading, highlighting can actually help guide users through the content.1 But to be effective, highlighting methods should be used sparingly (10% or less of the overall content), otherwise the content will become noisy and ineffective.2 Popular methods include using a different color, bold typeface, or all uppercase letters.
This article from the Baymard Institute uses bold typeface sparingly to add emphasis to important words and enable users to quickly scan the content and glean its main takeaways.1
The homepage of the Harvard Business Review‘s website uses color sparingly to draw the user’s eye to the headline of the featured article.3
This cover of The Atlantic uses color sparingly to draw the user’s eye to the focal point of the issue’s main story.
1Holst, Christian. “Scannability: How to Highlight Text on the Web.” Baymard Institute, Baymard Institute, 30 Nov. 2010, baymard.com/blog/highlighting-text-online.
2Whitenton, Kathryn. “Decision Frames: How Cognitive Biases Affect UX Practitioners.” Nielsen Norman Group, Nielsen Norman Group, 11 Dec. 2016, www.nngroup.com/articles/decision-framing-cognitive-bias-ux-pros/.
3Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 29 Sept. 2018, hbr.org/.