Eye-catching images and innovative design elements can go a long way in your e-learning course. If you don’t have a natural inclination for art, the prospect of creating a visually-appealing program can seem overwhelming. Luckily, there are plenty of resources and online tools to illustrate your content for greater impact.
A dynamically visual presentation is more important than ever. Without an in-person classroom experience, instructors need to be more resourceful to keep their student’s attention. Putting extra effort into how your message comes across through the screen will help you reach your audience and make your message memorable. Once the content of your curriculum is all planned out, here are a few ways to modernize and elevate your course’s look.
Before you get started, watch out for these common mistakes.
Wordy slides: Don’t put it all out there on your slides. It’s better to keep presenter notes that you use for speaking than overloading your slides with long sentences or blocks of content. If you want to share longer-form content with your participants, distribute it as a handout or PDF to complement your presentation. Cramming too many words onto the screen is a rookie mistake that will fail to grab your students’ attention. Stick to headers, bullet points, short quotes, or a couple of statements per slide. The number of words on the page is one case where less is more. Small or unclear fonts: It can be tempting to load your presentation up with various fancy fonts. However, doing so obscures the readability of your content. Stray away from cursive. Choose a bold and clear header font and subheader font that you use consistently throughout your presentation. Poor color choices: The right font is only as clear as the color contrast it provides compared to the background. Choose font colors that don’t fade into the background. For instance, if you have white slides, a yellow font is pretty much always too light to be visible. Grey backgrounds can be tricky, so proceed with caution. Remember, your presentation may look one way on your computer but will be slightly different on your students’ laptops, smartphones, and tablets. When in doubt, stick with the default settings of the suggested designs on PowerPoint or whichever program you’re using (or better yet, speak with a professional designer).
Distracting images: Good images provoke emotion, appeal to the eye, and set a tone. There’s a fine balance between images that make a strong impression and those that distract from your content. Make sure your images are highly relevant to the subject matter. If you opt for a controversial or particularly striking image, consider placing it on a separate slide and discussing it as a standalone example or talking point. Lack of emotion: On the other end of the spectrum, choosing images that lack feeling is typically a waste of space. Don’t include images just for the sake of having them. Boring stock photos make for a forgettable presentation. Only add design elements that add to your presentation. Otherwise, cut them out and go for a clear, bold, and minimal look.
Design Improvement Strategies
When it comes to the visual design of your course, the form must always follow function. One of the quickest ways to lose your audience is through technical issues that over-complicate or slow down the user experience. Clean up distracting fonts, useless decorative elements, and areas without essential navigational tools as you edit your final draft. Try going through your course as if you’re a complete novice and seek out places to improve. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. A focus group to review your material is a valuable investment before launching your course.
When you’ve been working on the same content for an extended time, it’s challenging to view it objectively. To help you spot any hidden pain points, ask family members, friends, or colleagues to give your course a test drive. Look for testers who are at the same tech-savvy level (or less) than your anticipated future participants. Have them take notes as they navigate the course and time how long it takes to complete various sections. If certain areas are slower than others, it might be a good idea to divide those parts into smaller sections or revisit the ways users are expected to flow from one section to the next.
Once you have a functionally intuitive presentation, it’s time to make it aesthetically pleasing. The visual themes you choose should match your subject matter’s tone, and enhance the user experience, never detract from it. Just as with good marketing, your content should be targeted to appeal to your desired audience.
Think about the demographics of your students and what types of formats they would enjoy. Does it make more sense to format your content as a game, a video, or a lecture? What colors and styles will appeal to them? Consider the attention span of your group and how they’ll handle the density of your material. Overly-simplistic is just as dull as overly-complicated information. Clear up the clutter but be sure to fill your teaching points with substance and insightful takeaways.
Consistency is Key
Whether you’re a solopreneur or a larger company, e-learning modules are an extension of your brand. Put the same level of effort into your e-learning design as you do your marketing materials. Whenever possible, overlap your style from one medium to the next to maintain consistency across your brand. That’s not saying that every slide has to look the same, but keeping similar colors, fonts, and design structures to your visuals gives your materials a cohesive and professional look.
Without consistency, you risk losing credibility. As a business owner, it’s essential to project the same, or at least a similar, image and feel from medium to medium so you can develop brand recognition. When your students, customers, and business partners (many of which may overlap into the different categories) see similar branding, they feel like they’re able to get to know you better and build a stronger connection to your company and your content. Maintaining complementary design elements throughout all aspects of your work helps achieve this goal.
When in Doubt, Hire a Professional
If you’re struggling with your brand’s design or your instructional design courses, consider hiring a professional. Invest in a graphic designer to take your e-learning course to the next level. Even if you have the most exciting content to share, poor design can quickly paint your message in dull or old-fashioned light. If you want to come across as a successful industry leader, your presentation should be cutting-edge, not outdated.
For those who have been teaching the same material for several years, there’s a good chance your e-learning could use some visual updates. Knowing your material like the back of your hand is helpful when you’re teaching it but can become a barrier to seeing it objectively and pinpointing areas for improvement. A third party, especially one who specializes in visual design, is a valuable asset that’s worth the cost.
