Many online instructors go through great lengths to create engaging, flashy eLearning content, and more times that not, it doesn’t end up the way they had hoped. Sometimes a “flashy” course doesn’t always translate to quality content. Most large companies just want something that works, it doesn’t have to be fancy. When you are training thousands of your employees, you don’t want any distractions.
If your training consists of simple PowerPoint presentations and handouts, there are still basic design tips to follow in your course creation. We have compiled a list of simple elearning design tips to help build your course a little quicker, whether it is for internal training or not.
- Be consistent. Whether it is font, spacing, images, or colors – keep it consistent throughout the entire course. If you have multiple courses within the same umbrella, keep those consistent as well.
- Control the clutter. Too many images is just as bad as too much text. Reduce clutter and provide consistent margins. Don’t overwhelm your students.
- Create an outline. Create a course syllabus or outline, clearly stating the objectives, evaluation criteria, schedule, and help info. This is a must for your students and will ultimately make your job easier.
- Guide the user. Instead of placing images and text together randomly, guide the user through the content on the screen.
- Importance stands-out. If you have important items, they need to stand out and not be hidden. However, avoid using annoying red font.
- Learn to love white space. Set healthy margins and ample space between text and images. Your students will thank you.
- Choose smart fonts. Use a consistent font for the titles and another for the material. Stay within the same font family throughout the entire course.
- Stick to a color palette. Whether you choose neutral colors or contrasting colors, make sure your palette is consistent within your course. To avoid distracting your students, keep it to 3 colors maximum.
With these 8 elearning design tips, you’ll be on your way to designing a great course in no time! What tips do you have?