Week 3 Reflection

Winter is Coming!

This week’s assignments focused on visual literacy and the design of instruction.  I read articles on visual literacy, color theory, and visual design.  Part of my assignment involved finding websites that displayed good visual design principles. I found a really great Game of Thrones website that I had never seen before. In addition to great design, it was also very thorough in its coverage of the source material!

It was interesting getting to read the science behind design. Many of the things I read about color and design principles were things that, on an subconscious level, I already knew… when you think about it, we all have a decent idea of what makes a good design and a bad design because we’ve all had the chance to experience both! But learning the “whys” behind the design choices, as well as the steps to consider when designing in the future, was really illuminating.

In particular, I found the discussion of color very helpful.  When developing eLearning for my job, I try to create an environment that is clean while still being stimulating. Because I don’t want to clutter my screen up with unnecessary distractions, I use strategically placed color to highlight images and text. While I’ve been given a color palette from our Marketing team, I have the creative freedom to make different choices. The discussion of the color wheel and different color schemes has opened my eyes to new ways of looking at the design of my eLearning modules. I also see how design can detract from the learning process, if done poorly.  I’ve personally seen colors that were too garish, inappropriate, or clashed with the material being taught. I do my best to avoid those design mistakes when I can! 

I believe that visual design is an absolutely integral part of the development of media for learning.  While text alone has its uses, we want to try to engage our students on multiple levels to keep them engaged. Providing stimulation to both their verbal and visual channels helps to balance the students’ cognitive load and makes the material easier to remember and recall.  Good visual design transcends media formats. On an unconscious level we respond to good visual design, and as instructional designers, don’t we have the responsibility to give our learners every advantage we can provide?