What Prior Knowledge, If Any, Does Your Audience Need? Prior knowledge is what you already know. It makes sense that if your brain works in…
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What Impacts Learning? I don’t know how people learn. No one knows for sure. There has been considerable research on the subject and three things…
What Does Chunking Have to Do With Learning? How does this apply to training and learning? Learners should not be thinking about lower level skills…
Why Do We Use Chunking? One way to minimize cognitive load is through a process called chunking. Have you ever wondered why there are seven…
How to Use White Space? Do you have any idea how many images are part of our daily lives? You see images on every highway…
How to Use Focal Points? Size and expectation play an important part in where the eyes fall and how the learner takes things in. You…
How to Use Red and How Not To? Unless you have a really good reason, don’t use red. One in four people experiences a certain…
How to Use Color Effectively in Your Presentations? While color is very powerful and can affect our moods and emotions, many people have trouble reading…
Alignment: How to Tell the Amateurs from the Pros? Alignment is the third element in good design. Alignment is all about symmetry, asymmetry, positions, positive…
Repetition: Again, and Again and Again! The second element of good design is repetition. We know through a host of research studies that repetition is…
Contrast: How to Use It to Your Advantage? Contrast is the first lady of design. It is important because it gets your attention, drawing your…
The Power of Attention Arguably we have at least five senses—some experts say more. It is generally accepted that we take information in through our…
Fonts: What they are and how to use them? Proper use of fonts and text is good way to elevate your materials. With text, all…
Why Does My Stuff Look Like CRAP? Years ago when I taught high school desktop publishing and web design, I would talk about a principle…
Why is Visual Design About More Than Just the Visuals? Visuals are a good and inexpensive place to start because visual images have power. Neuroscience…