Two screens shown – more positive of 2 screens is the one that is balanced, doesn’t have red, clear text.
Don’t judge a book by its cover? Is this true of your on-screen content? Here it is very true to keep your audience engaged from click one.
Placement,
Colour,
Font
Placement: 4 rectangles shown. Most popular choice is a large wider rectangle. Since the time of the Greeks they have been using the Perfect Rectangle, and to them this is the most perfect rectangle. Ie: Typical Letter size paper.
The more symmetrical left to right the more “perfect” you are.
Western culture reads left to right, however scientifically (pictures right, text left) the right side is our creative side, left side is logic side. If you tried to visualize something your eyes automatically trail to the right. Ask a math question and your eyes will trail to the left.
“video within area” Had person more in the middle and his speech bubble up to the right.
Is there a perfect course? No they are subjective, but there are guidelines we can follow and will please the majority of learners.
Colour combinations
Be sure your text does not get lost in the background you have chosen. Ie: dark text on dark background – bad, dark text on medium tone background – okay, dark text on white background – best
We’ve been taught to associate colours with items. Blue – sky, ocean, Orange – warmth, Red – danger (Chinese luck). You need to be aware of what colours mean to different people/cultures.
Ie Vegas – there are lots of bright lights, warm colours, nothing cool/pastel. Influences you to make riskier bets. Thinking of being on a plane, especially long flights the seats tend to be blue, green, calming colours. Very subtle things, but important. The learners most likely will never even notice these items.
Know compliment colours and contrasting colours. This will assist you in your own course design choices. Quick way to find out, highlight your text and it will show you automatically the contrasting colour.
Text
Fonts to choose – no standard again, more preference however. Anything as a Sans Font, will be the best. Do not use downloaded fonts because not every computer will have the same downloaded font. Alignment can be messed up, words can run off the screen.
Don’t use too many different fonts. Choose only 1 font, 2 at most where the second one is for special or warning messages within the course.. Consistency is best for the reader.
Use different font sizes to let you know the different parts of the course (title, subtitle, text). Distance from one section to another is not enough (from title to subtitle).
Summary
These elements along with good learning/teaching theory will help produce excellent courses.