233 TIPS ON GRAPHICS AND VISUAL DESIGN While it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words (or more), it is often equally true that your image and your words conflict. If you don’t need an image, don’t use it. Don’t simply add one to make the layout attractive. You can use formatting and other text effects to accomplish the same thing with less effort. When you find an image necessary, be absolutely certain that it doesn’t conflict with the underlying text. If there is conflict, you will have to revise the image or the text to resolve that conflict before you release your content. Bill Sawyer I once heard a quote from Coco Chanel along the lines of, “Put on all your accessories and then take the last one off.” I have found this extremely applicable to visual design. I have always found it helpful to look back on a design and ask, “Do I really need that?” Mariann Foster, Intacct When providing small chunks of information, either individually or as part of a larger bulleted list, it is usually not necessary to include a graphic or other images. This could complicate the design and may not translate well to devices with smaller screens, such as smartphones. Michael Pack, MITRE Corporation Use visual effects and graphics purposefully—where these refer broadly to illustrations, photographs, clip art, icons, charts, graphs, tables, videos, banners, and fonts—to support learning outcomes. Use visual effects and graphics thematically to unify a design or message. Select illustrations, photos, and videos carefully to ensure they are age and audience appropriate, and inclusive: free of unintended gender, sociocultural, ethnic, religious, and other biases. Stephanie Johnson, consultant My biggest pet peeve is seeing text used in excess when voice-over is included. A picture says a thousand words, so if you have voice-over, then words are needed only to highlight main points. Slides or graphics that are overly wordy are just plain distracting. Tereza Marks, CBA When chunking multiple topics, I have enjoyed using different shapes and colors consistently to present the material. Salicia Pultz, OpEx Now Don’t feel like you need an image or graphic on every presentation slide. It does not provide any real value to a presentation. Consider this: How will this image or graphic help the user remember the content on the slide or presentation? While aesthetic appeal is essential, haphazardly placed graphics will lead to cognitive overload by wasting more of your users’ mental energy in processing irrelevant images and graphics. Eric Rowland, MAXIMUS 43 www.eLearningGuild.com