If your UI requires that users "be attentive" just to discover the content you're trying to convey, then your UI is awful and the user's failure to see it is entirely your fault.

Well said. I blame it partially on designer groupthink.

Of course design elements (color, typeface, white space, etc) are important...but visitors of your site are interested in consuming content NOW (not a few seconds form now). People are lazy.

Actually, I'm inclined to bet this was one designer's concept and not the work of many people reviewing prototypes and giving feedback.

Design-by-group tends to produce boring, cluttered, seen-it-before layouts with little innovation. This seems to be on the completely opposite end of the spectrum -- with no one saying, "Uh, wait -- I think you need to make it clear that you can scroll for more info."

(And also: "Uh, I'm not sure developers are going to take kindly to Google requesting access to their microphones so soon after the NSA revelations.")

That's not actually what "groupthink" means, so you aren't really disagreeing.

It's very light gray text on a white background, with a very thin line weight, and it disappears as soon as you start interacting with the page.

And that link just jumps you another animation, where you would then be as stuck as in the first place, with no more guidance link.