We’ve all experienced online training that suggests visual design had a lower priority during the creation of the courses. But creating elearning with great visual design doesn’t have to be stressful. Here are a few tips that will help give your course stunning visual appeal and improve your learners’ experience:
- Less is more
Leave out all content that is not relevant, instead give such material separately or use branching scenarios for such content, so it’s accessible for those who need it and out of the way for those who don’t. Make text short and simple to follow. This will make it easy for your learners to effectively digest what you are teaching them, internalize and follow your ideas. Consider using bullet points to highlight key points and to break up the content. Make sure that you have just enough content on the page to drive the point home without compromising the visual appeal of the page.
- Carefully select the colors and fonts to use
The choice of colors and fonts should rank highly on your priority list during your visual design development. A careful choice of both color and font can help stir powerful emotions in your learners that can help improve the learning process. For example, orange is considered the color of optimism and mental stimulation and using it before an important assignment can help boost the alertness of your learners. Likewise, using color red in offering caution can help capture the attention of your learners.
When designing for adult learners, use font styles that communicate professionalism. This will help remind your learners the importance of the subject at hand. Consider using different font sizes to highlight and communicate important messages. For example, you may increase the font size and use bold for important points in your text to highlight them.
- Create Patterns by breaking down expanded blocks of text
Having an established pattern in your content presentation helps your learners create a link between different ideas and concepts. You can create patterns in your course by breaking down expanded text blocks using subheadings and bullet points for key information. Instead of having large paragraphs, consider having subtitles with small paragraphs offering some explanation for each concept.
- Prioritize Visual hierarchy
It can be helpful to present the main ideas and concepts first before the rest of the materials. You can effectively do this by employing the concept of visual hierarchy. Another strategy to create visual hierarchy is putting borders around important information to differentiate it from the rest of the text. Whatever you do to create a visual hierarchy for your content remember to maintain the balance of your pages. Don’t go overboard highlighting your key concepts with a lot of shouting colors as this can affect the engagement of your learners.
- Maintain the focus of your learners
Always remember that whatever you do to enhance the visual design of your course, it should not reduce the focus of your learners. There are a lot of ways to improve visual design and it is great to experiment with different options, but let maintaining the focus of your learners always be your number one priority.
