Visual Design for Online Learning

As part of our instructional design process, we must develop icons, images, banners, tables, and multimedia that deconstruct complex ideas and enhance a students understanding of the content.

So, how do we know what to include in a course to make it visually appealing and so that it enhances learning? It depends upon the topic, chunking, and complexity of the course concepts.

For example, I might find that a math course needs more graphs and charts to break down complex concepts but needs less in the way of video. On the other hand, a speech course may benefit greatly from the inclusion of video but not as much from graphs and charts.

In both cases, I would have to design to the course topic and the complexity of the course concepts.

Chunking is an important concept because it breaks up the information into bit sized pieces and it guides the eye down the page to the information that is most pertinent to the student.

Think of it this way, would you rather read this:

The elements of design form the basic vocabulary of visual design. These elements include line, texture, shape, space and form. The principles of design, on the other hand, constitute the broader structural aspects of the composition. These elements are balance, gradation, repetition, contrast, harmony, dominance, and unity.

Or this:

The elements of design form the basic vocabulary of visual design:

• Line
• Texture
• Shape
• Space
• form

The principles of design, on the other hand, constitute the broader structural aspects of the composition

• balance
• gradation
• repetition
• contrast
• harmony
• dominance
• unity

The second version with the bulleted points is much easier to read on a computer screen. Your eyes are drawn to the important concepts and what I wanted you to remember.

Images are also a very important element of the visual design of any course. Not only do they break up the visual monotony of a page of text, images also are another type of text. Whole meanings can be conveyed in a single image and are, therefore, an important part of any visual design.

Once we have decided which design elements to include, we need to figure a way out to tie them all together. There are a couple of ways to do this:

1. color code it – using a particular color for a section or sections across a course ties those pieces together in the students mind
2. repeating images – using repetitive images throughout the course is another way to group concepts together.
3. navigation – the buttons, menus, and links are all in the same spot on every single page

For example, I may use a particular image for the headers of all activity pages but color code the banners so that the student knows that although it’s an activity page it is actually part of Module 2.

This is just a small sampling of what instructional designers must consider when developing the visual design of an online course. What elements do you consider when you are developing e-learning?