233 TIPS ON GRAPHICS AND VISUAL DESIGN Keep in mind the many different devices that may be used to view your content. These could range from mobile devices with smaller screens, such as smartphones and tablets, to eReaders with limited display capabilities, to devices with large screens such as laptops, desktops, or projected displays. Michael Pack, MITRE Corporation When thinking about the voice and visual style of learning, think inspirational and conversational. From a voice perspective, be less patriarchal and use more employee-centric language. Be conversational—like you are talking with them, not at them. Use simple terminology, and find opportunities to use engaging language that speaks to “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) rather than what you want them to do. From a visual perspective, use larger fonts, inspirational imagery, and more white space. Make the images less about business and more about WIIFM, or more emotional. Make learners feel like they want that. Don’t make PowerPoints into Word documents. Make the learner feel like you understand them and where they are. Make them feel like they want to learn, rather than have to learn. Create bite- sized pieces of information that are easy to digest, as people don’t have time anymore. Linda Grosse, RBC Think about focus. When you look at the slide, where does your eye go to? Does it go anywhere? You want the graphics to emphasize the most important information you are trying to relay to your audience, using size, color, contrast, complexity, and so on. If your eye goes everywhere, then it is too busy and likely will cause cognitive overload to the user. John Trest, Inspired eLearning Busy vs. clean. An uncluttered slide directs the eye to the most important information. Don’t use black or very dark colors for background; better yet, use white. You can add color in text, borders, images, etc. Digna Delgado, Universidad Politécnica de Puerto Rico 21 www.eLearningGuild.com
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