The primary purpose of the attractor is to draw the user’s attention to the call of action. The environment around the user of a transmedia narrative, both on and off screen, is full of information competing for the user’s attention. The attractor needs to be able to cut through the information clutter and hold the user for just long enough to allow the motivator (the next element of the call-to-action) to begin working on the user. Attractors often rely on users’ natural curiosity and can be characterized according to how they draw the user’s attention (Fencott, van Schaik, Shafiullah, & Ling, 2003):

  • Mystery Objects: Partially obscured or revealed objects, strange or unknown objects, and open or closed doors are examples of mystery objects.
  • Active Objects: Movement, flashing lights, and sounds that change in pitch or volume are examples of active objects.
  • Alien Objects: Objects that appear to belong to another world (from outside the storyworld) or which are used in an unusual context (i.e. maps, strange symbols, etc.) are examples of alien objects.
  • Sensational Objects: Objects that attract attention through non-visual senses (i.e. spatialized sounds, vibrations, smells, etc.) are examples of sensational objects.
  • Awesome Objects: Large, famous, expansive, or intricate objects are examples of awesome objects.
  • Dynamically Configured Objects: Objects that move or change shape is examples of dynamically configured objects.
  • Composite Objects: A group of objects that exhibits a range of the behaviors described above but which functions as a single attractor is an example of composite objects.

While most attractors rely on users’ curiosity, they may also appeal to other emotions. For example (Fencott, van Schaik, Shafiullah, & Ling, 2003):

  • Objects of Desire: Objects that have some benign significance to the user or that may be used to meet the goals the user has set are objects of desire. Objects of desire may be used to direct users towards a specific choice.
  • Objects of Fear: Objects that have some malign significance to the user or achieving the user’s goals are objects of fear. Objects of fear may be used to direct users away from a specific choice.

The use of attractors – particularly objects of desire and fear – present opportunities to add emotional impact to the narrative while also serving as navigational tools.

The level of user attention and the potential effectiveness of the attractor are affected by how users prefer to process information (user orientation) and the information that is in the information field.

Transmedia narrative design should take into account these different user orientations. A social media component, for example, may attract users who have a social orientation but not be of interest to other users. Games and activities that involve control, goal achievement, and competition may attract the attention of action oriented users but drive away time oriented users who are aware of how much time if could take to play.

  • Visual Orientation: Users with a visual orientation are attracted to information presented in the form of objects, movement, graphics, and color.
  • Action Orientation: Users with an action orientation are attracted by the opportunity to touch and manipulate elements of the narrative and participate in activities that involve control, goal achievement, competition, and challenge skills.
  • Social Orientation: Users with a social orientation are attracted to social activities in which there are opportunities to engage, perform, or participate.
  • Time Orientation: Users with a time orientation are conscious of how much time they have available. They adjust their activities based on their expectation of how long it will take to explore the transmedia narrative.

The design of the attractor must conform to good design principles drawn from the medium used to create it. For example, a still image used as an attractor should conform to the principles of good visual design, which would include:

  • Eliminating visual clutter
  • Using color, shape, tone, texture, and so on to make the image aesthetically interesting and provide clues to its meaning
  • Using iconic images
  • Understanding the cultural associations that an image has
  • Using spatial cues to highlight important information and focus user attention

This is not an exhaustive list; many, many volumes have been written on visual design. The challenge of transmedia design is understanding each medium both individually and together. Each medium has its own set of design conventions and principles that the transmedia narrative designer needs to be familiar with when designing the attractor.

  • Sensory affordances should be designed for the perceiving level in the psychomotor domain of Bloom’s taxonomy. See Appendix C for a detailed listing of the levels and related activities in the psychomotor domain. See Appendix E for a list of the components of sensory affordance quality.

The attractors may be part of the transmedia narrative itself or can be “alien” attractors (i.e. cursors, arrows, etc.) that provide information without being part of the story. It is important that alien attractors provide information without distracting from the narrative or disrupting its internal consistency (Earnshaw & Vince, 2001, pp. 48-49).