VISUAL DESIGN

This is a 15-minute asynchronous eLearning module broken into 5 micro-lessons reviewing metacognitive strategies. Within the module, I include videos, messaging, and other visual aids to enhance the concepts presented to the user. These components provide ample opportunities to demonstrate my successful application of message and visual design principles. 

With so much of instructional design moving to eLearning and other multimedia modalities, message and visual design is essential knowledge to carry in the design tool kit. In a majority of job postings, use of Articulate products such as Storyline or Rise are topline skills that a prospective employee should know. Luckily, this LDT program provides the practice to use these authoring tools in their various multimedia, eLearning, and software-specific courses. 

Throughout this specific learning module, I use chunking to break down the information. For example, I break the course into micro-lessons that focus on each concept. Within each concept, I use click-to-reveal functions to help break up the information so as not to overwhelm the users’ cognitive load. They are able to pace the lesson as needed and can easily identify the topics because the content is organized. Using consistent messaging on button text (i.e., “Continue”) throughout the module makes it easy for users to navigate because it is familiar. Finally, the illustrations and self-produced video are all cohesive in style and color families - a simple, hand-drawn illustrated style that is easily digestible. I intentionally used Vimeo to embed my video in the module because they automatically include closed-captioning, making the video accessible to the hard of hearing.

I have always taken great care in executing the visual elements of my learning experiences, even when I was a teacher. As a learner, I notice when messaging or visual aids feel clunky or overwhelming, making it harder for me to understand or follow along. Visual design and messaging are not just about making the end product look pretty - there is a relationship between presentation and cognition. As I became more experienced in creating these presentations and learning materials, I realized that less is more, and it is always important to edit yourself to ensure you are including what is absolutely necessary and truly serving the learning experience. Recently, I have found that peer feedback and usability testing are great ways to detect what needs to be adjusted. 

Using interactive elements to further improve these design principles was another important takeaway in the relation between messaging, visual, and interaction design. I am looking forward to continuing my practice, especially in the case of working with stakeholders that have specific design needs to consider. In this case, I had full autonomy over the messaging and visual elements. I imagine working with client demands will add another tricky layer to this process.