Visual hierarchy in eLearning


During my initial days as an eLearning developer, I often tried to go for very bright and colourful themes and backgrounds as I perceived them to be visually attractive. I also had the habit of putting a lot of graphic elements in my slides. This happened as I did not have a well-developed sense of visual hierarchy back then. 


A visual hierarchy is the sequence in which a person looks at things. This is a very important concept as it allows you to control (to a great extent) the manner and sequence in which learners look at your content. Used effectively, a visual hierarchy can generate and sustain interest in your learners and give them a feeling that they are looking at the important stuff. Used ineffectively or not used at all can make the learners feel that the course is directionless or has a lot of fluff and put them off.

In order for the visual hierarchy to be effective, our information need to align with how the human brain and eyes co-ordinate to process the information. There are several aspects to this eye-brain co-ordination as shown below:

1. One of the first things to understand in this aspect is the natural scanning pattern that a person will use. These scanning patterns are in a “Z” form or in an “F” form. The knowledge of these patterns can be used to strategically place important information along the scan lines of these patterns. The most important information should be presented in the top left corner as that is where the eyes start, and the learner will always look at this particular corner. 

The figure below shows how the “Z” scanning pattern can be used to provide learners with important information.



2. A second consideration when presenting information using visual hierarchy is the usage of colour and size. The human eye will naturally focus first on bright colours such as Yellow and Red as well as larger objects. You can test this hypothesis the next time you go in your room or any other area. Use this knowledge to guide the eyes of a learner towards some of your objects or information boxes. This principle works for images as well.

Which of the circles below attract your view first?


3. Animation or video is another aspect that will get our attention quickly due to sensitivity of our eyes to movement.
4. Visual cues – Another way to guide the eyes of learners is by using visual cues such as a dotted line or arrows, as this subtly directs the learner/viewer to look where we would like them to look.
5. Text type and weight – the type and weight (font size) can also be used to guide the learners focal point. Which one of the examples catches your eye first. 

Two of the examples below are of the same size







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scaffolding

Scaffolding In instructional/learning design we often use the term scaffolding. But what is it? Scaffolding is when we break up the learning or a concept into smaller chunks and support it with various activities that help in understanding and embedding what is being learned. Scaffolding also involves usage of different instructional techniques to gradually enhance learner understanding. The main aim of scaffolding is to make the learner comfortable with what they are learning. So, it should not be viewed as something that needs to be done out of compulsion or convention. Rather, it should be looked upon as the support that is provided to the learner that will make the learning process easier and more effective for them and enable them to apply the learning independently. But how is scaffolding done? Scaffolding is done every time the learner is provided with a tool or information that supports their learning. This may be a:          Clearly provided direction on
Keep reading

Change Managemnt

In this post I want to talk about Change Management. I am seeing an increasing convergence between learning projects and change management almost to the point where they seem part of the same process. A bit like two sides of a coin. So what is Change Management? Change management is the process of helping an organization adjust its strategies and structures to better meet its goals. It's a broad term that can be used in many different contexts and refers to a process for managing organizational changes and focusses on how individuals respond to change and managing their concerns and resistance to the proposed change. The goal of change management is to make sure that the changes you're making to your business or organization are as smooth as possible. You don't want people to feel like they're being forced into something they don't want, or that they don't understand why they're doing it. You also want to make sure that when you do make these changes, you ca
Keep reading

The Learning Hook

Can you recall a class that you took or a learning course that you had to go through that instantly grabbed your attention? What was it about the course that grabbed your attention like that? That was a learning Hook! What is a learning hook? A learning Hook is something that grabs the learner’s attention. Something that would make them instantly engage with the learning. So how can we go about developing a learning hook? Well, a learning hook can come from a number of areas. It could be talking about a current event. It could be talking about an ethical or moral dilemma. It could be talking about something that may have directly impacted the learner. It could even be a curious fact, or a mystery or an interesting story. For example, I was once teaching a sales and marketing course and prior to starting any course I usually try to   know my cohort as in, what would they like to do what is it that they find interesting and so on and so forth. So, during
Keep reading