Graphic design and Instructional design are closely related. This is why our team of instructional designers have gathered the 5 most important Graphic design principles you must know before designing an eLearning course for your learners.
1. Typography:
Typography, its everywhere we look, in the books we read, on the websites we visit. Even in everyday life, on street signs, bumper stickers and product packaging.
Simply put, typography is the style or appearance of a text.
For eLearning developers, typography can be an Intimidating subject. But it doesn’t have to be. You only need to know a little to make a big difference in boosting the success of your courses.
Good typography enhances readability, encourages information processing, creates a visual hierarchy, and even engages readers’ emotions.
Knowing different font classifications, getting used to online typography etiquette, being consistent, using spacing carefully, leading learners by creating a contrast between the text are some of the most important typography uses an instructional designer must be aware of before designing courses.
2. Color:
Color plays a vital role in the design and everyday life. It can draw an eye to your image, evoke a certain mood or emotion, and communicate something important without text at all. Color, regarding its place in eLearning design, is quite significant and knowing how to use it can make or break your eLearning courses. While choosing a color palette for your next eLearning project, try limiting your pallet to a maximum of three colors. Whether you choose a monochrome, opposites, Analogous or Triadic, make sure the colors are always in the favor of text readability.
For more information about choosing the right color scheme continue reading at The Psychology of Colors and Instructional design – How to use Colors to Enhance eLearning?
3. Negative Space:
As Timothy Samara states in his book Design Elements, “Space calls attention to content, separate it from unrelated content around it, and gives the eyes a resting place.”
In graphic design, Negative space (blank or white space) is the blank area around the visuals and textual content and is considered to be the most important principle in design. Apart from just making the learning experience more pleasant, white space boosts visibility and increases learner’s comprehension. To reduce clutter from the screen and use white space the right way, try grouping information using bullets. Use proper spacing between the text and the graphics as well.
4. Layout and Composition
In a way, layout and composition are the foundations of graphic design. They give your work structure and make it easier to navigate, from the margins on the sides to the content in between.
Choosing your layout shouldn’t be an after-thought. Of course, it’s not just working with the text, composition matters in other mediums of instructional design too, for example, graphics.
Without a well-composed screen, your course will fail to engage the learners. Proximity, alignment, contrast, and repetition are the basic principles that you should keep in mind while composing the layout of your screen.
Take the course’s layout like a newspaper. What is your order when reading a newspaper? A headline, a subheading, graphics and then the text. Compose your course screen similarly.
5. Graphic/Visuals
Our team of instructional designers stan graphics and visuals here at zillion eLearning. As an eLearning developer, you should know that the human brain can process visuals faster than text. So, if you care about creating more engaging eLearning, you MUST include powerful and engaging visuals in your courses.
When it comes to sticking and resonating with your content to the learner, Visual content can be the all-in-one answer.
However, using visual that doesn’t relate to the content can give a negative impact on the learners and might affect the success of the course as well. From the design perspective, the Rule of Thirds will help you place images on the screen, so they grab learner attention readily. Divide the screen into a 3×3 grid.
