Designing Visuals for Instruction

LESSON 14

In producing well-designed visuals: charts, posters, bulletin board displays, graphics for slides or television and the like it is best to do a preliminary sketch of the intended visual.

The rough layout in commercial art is called a “blueprint” which gives less attention to artistic details and more consideration on choosing the right words and images, their arrangement, lettering style and colors.

Use to maximize:

A- arrangementB- balanceC- colorD- dynamismE- emphasisF- fidelity andG- graphic harmony

In planning your rough layout, consider the ff:

A.Arrangement

- The pattern should capture the viewer’s attention to relevant details.

- A geometric shape (e.g. oval, rectangle, triangle) can serve as a framework to build on.

Basic Design Considerations:

Apply the “rule of thirds”. Elements along any of the one-third dividing lines takes on liveliness or movement. The most dominant and dynamic position is at the intersections of the one-third dividing lines (especially the upper left intersection). The center is the most static and least interesting point on the grid.

- Restrict the display to a single idea. In advertising this is called the “unique selling proposition”.

- Lines add to eye movement. Horizontal lines give a feeling stability

and rest Vertical lines imply strength Diagonal lines show movement,

action and dynamism Crossed diagonals give a sense of

conflict Curved lines give a feeling of

motion Contrast lends emphasis

B. Balance

- Symmetrical or formal balance has an equivalence of elements on each side of the visual either horizontally or vertically.

- A symmetrical or informal balance has a rough equivalence of weights among elements. This tends to provide dynamism and interest.

Three Types of Balance

Formal/ informal/ imbalance

Formal: balance repeated on each side and is highly symmetrical and can be boring

Imbalance: jarring – dynamic but can be distracting – best to avoid

Informal: (like the three little bears – soup not too hot or too cold but just right)-- preferred – suprizing but not distracting or jarring – rough equivalence of weight but use of different elements adds surprize

Color adds to realism, provides emphasis, and create an emotional tone.

- Blue, green and violet are “cool” colors which physiologically seem to recede from the viewer.

- Red and orange are “hot” colors which seem to approach the viewer. Red and orange highlights help make objects leap to the viewer.

C. Color

- Different colors appear to stimulate the senses: Blue is “sweet, Orange is ‘edible”, Pink, yellow and green “smell” best. Dark red and brown evoke masculine images of earth, wood and leather. Gold, silver and black suggest prestige and status.

- Use color judiciously in order not to lose harmony. Choose analogous colors (next to each other) on the color wheel.

- Lettering should be consistent and harmonious.

- Ornate letterings adapt to aesthetic or motivational objects.

- Simple letterings (like the Gothic or Roman Sanserif or without serif) are for informational or instructional purposes.

- Lowercase letters with capitals, only when needed are most legible.

D. LETTERING

- Short headlines may be all in capitals.

- Color of lettering should contrast with background color for eligibility and emphasis.

- For size, a rule of thumb is to adopt ¼ inch high letters can be seen by a student at the last row of a 35-feet-long classroom.

- For letter spacing, judge distance by experience stressing an “optical” even and regular pattern.

The ff. are some practical guidelines to follow in the design of instructional visuals.

-ways to represent objects-being creative-Rule of Thirds-variety of visuals-amount of detail-layout-labels-visualization-typography

Practical Guidelines for Visual Design

Ways to represent object

- There are three major ways to represent objects: as pictorial symbols, graphic symbols, or verbal symbols.

Designing visual images for instruction requires the ability to think visually coupled with the ability to relate verbal symbols (words) with corresponding visual symbols (pictures or graphical images) in a meaningful and creative way.

Being Creative

Is a principle of photographic and graphic composition in which an area is divided into thirds both vertically and horizontally and the centers of interest are located near the intersections of the lines. The numbers at the intersections that divide the image into thirds indicate the percentage of people that look at that intersection first when reading a visual.

Rule of Thirds

Too much detail in a visual image can detract from instruction. The age and developmental level of students viewing the visual image. Younger children need more detail than older children.

Amount of Detail

The layout of a visual needs to be clear and focus attention to the appropriate places in the image.

The shapes of several letters are useful to guide layout patterns. The letters C, O, S, Z, L, T, and U can be used as basic guidelines for layout.

Layout

When words are added to label parts of a visual image, be sure it is clear to the viewer of the image which words go with which objects.

Label

Move labels close to the objects they refer to. 

Has to do with the shape, size and placement of words.

Topography

Letters styles are either Serif or San serif.

Serif style fonts have finishing linesAt the ends of the letters.

Sans serif fonts are moreBlock-like.

Text should be in lower case. Use capitals only where normally required.

ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE HARD TO READ, ESPECIALLY FOR MORE THAN ONE LINE.

-The arrangement of words in a visual image should help clarify the message or information to be conveyed.

-To make your visuals easy to read, be sure to have a good amount of contrast between the color of the letters and the color of the background.

These examples do not have good contrast between the color of the letters and the color of the background making them difficult to read.

These examples have good contrast between the color of the letters and the color of the background making them easy to read.

The size of letters used depends on the purpose of the visual.

Posters need letters large enough to be read at a distance, approximately ¼” for every eight feet of viewer distance from the visual.