Instructional design/Online Presentations/Choosing Engaging Elements

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Typography, Color, and Graphics are Used Appropriately

You have entered the home stretch! The last pieces of the rubric are focused on making the presentation engaging. Using appropriate typography (fonts and font styles), colors, and graphics will motivate and engage the audience. Using them inappropriately will cause your audience to tune out and sometimes even get a negative impression of you and/or your content.

Typography

Typography should be used to keep the learner engaged. A familiar font and size will maintain learner attention. If you want to highlight something, choose one way to differentiate - either size, font form, or color. The eye will be drawn to this differentiation.

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Keep these tips in mind for typography:

use full sentences for slide titles and short phrases for bullets
- do not overcrowd the slide with text
limit presentation to two or three familiar fonts
font size should be big enough to read
to emphasize elements use different fonts, sizes, bold, or italic
offset key text
align text consistently

Color

Color can be used for emphasis or to set a tone. When deciding on how to use color in your presentation keep in mind that your audience will have emotional reactions to your use of color. Adopting a "less is more" philosophy about color will help keep your audience's reactions positive. The images below show how to (and how not to) use color in your presentation.

Clashing Colors

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Colors that are difficult to see

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When using color to provide contrast it is important to avoid clashing colors. We can avoid clashing colors by using a color wheel (see below). Keep these tips in mind when using the color wheel:

use opposite colors
use adjacent colors
use colors which form a triangle

Are you interested in learning more about color in message design? If so, see either of these color tutorials: Color Selection for Message Design or Color and Design.

Graphics

We all know the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words", and we should use this to our advantage when we give a presentation. Graphics will add to the engagement and effectiveness of the presentation when they are used to add to the content or add motivation through humor or stories. Just like with typography and color, there is a good way and a not so good way to use them. Take a look at the slides below to see how you can use images to enhance the content being presented.

Add to Content

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Motivation

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Keep these tips in mind when using graphics in your presentation:

use graphics of good quality
graphics must add to the content or provide motivation
avoid copyright issues by using graphics
- which you create
- are in the public domain
- are licensed for your use

Spelling and Grammar

use proper grammar and spell check your work
use a conversational tone

(Need we say more?)

Let's Practice

Typography	Color	Graphics

Choose the best answer for each question below based on the slides presented.

Here's how these slides could be improved.

Typography	Color	Graphics

Alright, it's time to apply what you have learned! Click "Next" to access the final assessment.

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	A: There is no use of bold to cue the learner.
	B: The bullets have too much content.
	C: The background color is too dark.
	D: There is no variation in fonts.

	A: Color is used inconsistently.
	B: Colors which are opposite on the color wheel were not used.
	C: The gray background is inappropriate.
	D: Colors do not provide enough contrast to view the content

	A: The graphics are of poor quality.
	B: The graphics are copyrighted material.
	C: The graphics do not support the content.
	D: The graphics clash with the background.