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 expect the earth to be bigger than an orange. You expect an object to be larger or smaller than it is portrayed, especially in relationship to something else that makes it memorable. If it is irrational, improbable or out-of-context enough, it jars your imagination and changes your perception.
One way to change perception is to change the point of view. The world from an ant’s point of view is very different than that of a human. So if you are constructing a course on fertilizers, you can change the perspective and increase the interest drastically by changing the point of view to that of an ant. Another thing you can do is to crop your images. You can either make things appear to be up close and personal, or aloof and far away.
You can set things in times and periods to gain your learners’ interest or to stimulate their imagination. You can use metaphor and storytelling to give a framework to your content. While there is no limit to the innovative techniques you can use to position your learner with the content, there is, however, a very important rule of thumb. Never, never, ever, should the way you present the content overshadow what you are saying to the extent that the message is lost.
The Law of Thirds says that the most important and powerful points on any screen are one third down and one third in from either side and the eyes move from top to bottom.
