Visual Design Strategies for Instructional Designers, Instructors and Presenters

© 2012 Angela C. Dowd
Visual Design Strategies for
Instructional Designers
Instructors & Presenters
www.acdowd-designs.com • acdowd@acdowd-designs.com

Visual Design Strategies for Instructional Designers, Instructors, and Presenters • © 2013 Angela C. Dowd
You don’t have to be an artist...
Painter on His Way to Work, by Vincent Van Gogh
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons

Visual design is about making
presentations that are more effective
Visual design is about solving problems.

We all have an inner artist…

What types of visual design decisions do
you make at work?

you make at work?
In your personal life?

Photo search on iStockphoto.com
you make at work?
In your personal life?
Do you brainstorm visually?

Visual cues make a difference
“
”
Clark, Ruth Colvin, 2008. Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and
Performance Improvement. Pfeiffer (imprint of Wiley)
(Clark, 2008)
According to dual encoding, adding a
relevant visual to text improves learning
by providing two memory traces. The words
offer one view of the content and the visual
offers a second complimentary view.

Innovation
Visual cues make a difference

Innovation
Participant Guide cover designed for Paul Anjeski Consulting and Alamo Learning Systems

Profits Gap Social Values
Profits and Social Values:Closing The Gap

©2012, Darwin Gillett, Co-Founder, Ascendza CEO Center • All rights reserved
Profits And Social Values: Closing The Gap
GAPProfits Social
Values
Profits and Social Values: Closing the Gap, Darwin Gillett

Presentation plan...
• Define specific visual design principles
• Reflect on the role learning theories play
• View effective examples and also
non-effective examples
• Discuss online presentations and
eLearning using visual design terms

There are many design principles
Proximity
Figure/Ground
Consistency
Contrast
Symmetry
Repetition
Unity
Focal Point
Movement
Flow
Rhythm
Proportion
Closure
Alignment
Redundancy
Visibility
Rule of Thirds
Affordance
Wayfinding...
Similarity
Shaping
Forgiveness
Hierarchy
Legibility

This presentation focuses on three...
Proximity
Figure/Ground
Consistency

Gestalt Theory
From 1910 —1914 Max Wertheimer worked
with Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka. Together
they developed the fundamental concepts of
Gestalt theory.
The word “gestalt” simply means shape in the
German language.
Max Wertheimer

Proximity Principle
Design principles often support learning theories

Proximity Principle
The principle of Proximity suggests that when
assorted elements are grouped closely together,
they are perceived as wholes.
Image is in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons

Proximity Principle
Are you the concept person at work? Do you like to look
at the big picture? Is it part of your job to oversee the
visual design production process? Are you fascinated by
details? Have you been online trying to find clip art that
is a good fit? Do you spend hours looking through stock
photo websites to find the right image? Are you a
photographer? Do you create your own images? Do
you love working with color? If you visit Veer at
http://www.veer.com/products/images/, you will find
wonderful photos and also fonts. At www.Vectorious.net
you will find a large library of incredibly creative vector
illustrations and even several free vectors that are quite
lovely. If color is your passion you can design your own
template themes using an interactive Adobe tool named
kuler, which can be found at
https://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/rating?time=30.
Proximity not applied

Are you the concept person at work? Do you like to look
at the big picture? Is it part of your job to oversee the
visual design production process? Are you fascinated by
details? Have you been online trying to find clip art that
is a good fit? Do you spend hours looking through stock
photo websites to find the right image? Are you a
photographer? Do you create your own images? Do
you love working with color? If you visit Veer at
http://www.veer.com/products/images/, you will find
wonderful photos and also fonts. At www.Vectorious.net
you will find a large library of incredibly creative vector
illustrations and even several free vectors that are quite
lovely. If color is your passion you can design your own
template themes using an interactive Adobe tool named
kuler, which can be found at
https://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/rating?time=30.
Are you...
• the concept person at work?
• someone who likes to look at the big picture?
• fascinated by details?
• a photographer?
• an artist/designer creating your own visuals?
Do you...
• oversee the visual design production process?
• search online for clip art that is a good fit?
• spend hours looking through stock photo websites?
• feel passionate about color?
Here are some resources for you!
Color: https://kuler.adobe.com/
Vectors: www.Vectorious.net
Photos: www.veer.com
Proximity not applied Proximity applied
Proximity Principle

Proximity Principle
Customized Workshops
Development Process Steps:
1. Is it a training need?
2.
3. Does everyone get
the same message?
1. Conduct a free
front-end analysis
2. Design & develop
the workshop
3. Deliver workshop
onsite
Step
Community Outreach Program • © ASTD GOLDEN GATE CHAPTER
11
Current design and proposed redesign of a presentation page for Golden Gate Chapter ASTD's Community Outreach Program (COP)

Proximity Principle Strategy
When applying proximity to your instructional
materials, emphasize differences between groups and
minimize differences between items within a group.

Figure/Ground Principle
Figure/Ground suggests that the eye tends
to separate whole figures from their back-
grounds based on one or more variables
like contrast, color, size, etc...

Figure/Ground Principle
Reversal
Ambiguous
Stable

Reversal
Reversal Figure/Ground

Reversal Figure/Ground
In this type of reversal the viewer some-
times perceives the background as the
foreground and the foreground as the
background. This causes confusion
when used in a learning environment.
When type is justified it sometimes is
hard to read because of the rivers of
white between the words. The learner is
not sure what to focus on.

Ambiguous Figure/Ground

Ambiguous Figure/Ground
In an ambiguous figure/ground re-
lationship the figure becomes en-
meshed with the ground and the
viewer has to work at finding what
to pay attention to.
This often occurs when busy back-
grounds are used or when the
background color and text color
are a different hue but the same
value (brightness).
This is OK for party invitations but
not for training.

Stable Figure/Ground

Stable Figure/Ground
To create a Stable Figure/Ground
relationship, remember to build in
enough contrast between your
background and your foreground.
80% Contrast is recommended
You can increase the probability of
recall by making the important
learning items “figures” in the
composition.

Figure/Ground Principle Strategies
Reversal Stable Ambiguous
Choose a Stable Figure/Ground relationship and remem-
ber to build in enough contrast between your background
and your foreground. 80% contrast is recommended.

Cognitive Consistency Theories
Cognitive Consistency Theories started
in the 1930s.
...systems are more usable and learn-
able when similar parts are expressed
in similar ways.
(Lidwell, Holden, Butler, 2003)
“
”
Lidwell, Holden, Butler 2003. Universal Principles of Design. Rockport

Four Types of Consistency
Aesthetic Consistency
Functional Consistency
Internal Consistency
External Consistency

Not consistent Grid used for consistency

Grid system available
for free: www.960.gs
12 columns
Joshua Johnson's 960 Grid System

Functional Consistency
Interface for the iphone to guide museum goers
Edward Tufte’s user interface design

Consistency Principle
A presentation on using Creative Commons in the classroom, delivered to the Centro de Formacion de la Cooperacion Espanola in
Guatemala in October 2008. This slideshow draws on the excellent “Creative Commons in our Schools” presentation by Mark Woolley.

Expanding to Russia With Love by faberNovel on Apr 12, 2012
Consistency Principle

Consistency Principle Strategies
Form follows function
Use a grid
Apply consistent graphical treatments
Locate branding elements in the same places
Keep control functions (buttons, links) consistent
Apply consistency strategies across trainings

Think on paper...

To design is much more than simply to
assemble, to order, or even to edit; it is
to add value and meaning, to illuminate,
to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify,
to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps
even to amuse.
Thank you!
Paul Rand, graphic designer
“
”
From Design, Form, and Chaos, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1993

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