February 1998 — Features
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Does the Right Software a Great Designer Make?
Poor quality visuals also add nothing to a lesson. If students cannot understand the visual, they will spend time trying to figure out what the visual is rather than spend that time on processing the information the visual has supplemented. Irrelevant visuals also waste processing time; if the visual d'es not supplement, explain, or clarify the point being made, do not use it. Remember a picture is not always worth a thousand words.
Do not use visuals simply to fill time. "Bells and whistles" may do little to enhance the learning process. Outdated visuals diminish a lesson's value; anyone who sits in a lecture where the instructor uses dog-eared notes or yellowed overhead transparencies understands this precept. Outdated visuals send the message that the instructor d'es not care enough about the material or students to stay current.
Lastly, visuals that do not suit the purpose or fit the audience should be avoided. Those that do not suit the purpose of the lesson lose students' interest because they cannot figure out why the visual is included. Instructors who use visuals that do not fit the audience run the risk, at worst, of being offensive and, at best, of being ignored.
Basic Design Principles
Certain basic design principles are helpful when creating visuals for any medium: (1) keep the visual simple; (2) leave lots of white space; (3) keep the visual organized; (4) create a path for the eye; (5) make something dominant; and (6) divide the space in an interesting way.
Keep it simple is a reliable precept when designing for any medium. Distilling your message to its barest essentials is important. Think in terms of an outline. If the message on the visual is not presented in outline form, students will lose the point between looking and taking notes. Additionally, when an electronic presentation is being shown in the classroom, teachers tend to leave slides on the screen for too short a time. Resist the impulse to click the mouse button until students have finished taking notes.
Leave plenty of white (blank) space. Visuals, whether projected onto a screen from a computer or an overhead projector, are not well designed if they are simply pages of text. If students need pages of text, provide a reference. Visuals should be appealing and easily read; blank space used judiciously will enhance readability. Keep the visual organized. Again, think about an outline. Develop the visual so that the information the visual contains is easily followed. Visuals lose their effectiveness if students have to spend time figuring out what g'es where. The visual should be the entity that brings the material together and provides the opportunity for an "ah ha!".
Create a path for the eye. Remember if your students are from western cultures, they have learned to read from left to right. When designing electronic presentations for less proficient readers, help them by building bullets from left to right. Recognize that if a visual is divided into quadrants, most readers read the upper left quadrant first and the lower right last. Therefore, do not place essential information in the lower right quadrant.[2] Make something in the visual dominant. Use color and a highlighting technique such as bolding so the main idea stands out. Use graphics like clip art or charts. These devices act as cues to students, so they do not waste time trying to figure out the message. Nevertheless, remember there can be too much of a good thing, so use these devices sparingly.
