233 TIPS ON GRAPHICS AND VISUAL DESIGN A diagonal line is a powerful eye grabber. How does your audience read? Top left to bottom right, or vice versa? Structure critical visual elements along that same line for maximum effect. Crisa McCarty, Aflac A Google image search, with the selection for reuse permissions displayed. Where do you find the images you use in your courses? Is the eLearning you’re developing so specific that you can’t easily find images and other design elements anywhere? Then you might need to take photographs and videos, or have someone draw images for you. For instance, to properly illustrate the series of events that can cause a nuclear power plant meltdown, and of course how to avoid them, you may find it difficult to find photographs or designs of real-life events that fit the needs of your content. You might then need to use drawings to illustrate those events. You can use Google, of course, to find images that you need. When doing so, if you click the Tools button, then Usage Rights, you can filter the images by differing levels of reuse permissions. Be careful not to use images that are copyrighted and not labeled for reuse, and give attributions whenever possible. There are also hundreds of general image sites, some of which let you use images freely, most of which do charge for use of an image. These can be very useful in finding what you need. Furthermore, most will allow you to use a watermarked image for free, which is a great way of including content in prototypes you show your clients. If they like the images, you can then purchase them. If you don’t, you haven’t spent any money. There are also many specialized image sites. Be aware, too, that your authoring tool may give you free access to huge image libraries. Don’t spend money when you don’t have to! Finally, avoid using images that you’ve seen used a thousand times before, or images that show people wearing clothing or hairstyles from 10 years ago. These can make your eLearning look tired. You have lots of choices! Have fun finding the perfect images! Joe Ganci, eLearningJoe Always think about how the user thinks and behaves. That will allow you to forge a relationship between the design and the user of that design. Pablo Barrantes, SweetRush 27 www.eLearningGuild.com