David Lindenberg

We’ve all seen it:  The training material that is a jumbled mess of mismatched graphics, hard-to-read text and no sense of cohesion whatsoever.  What good is the content if the learner needs a decoder ring to decipher it?  Therefore, I offer up my Top 11 List of Style.  Why eleven?  Because eleven is the new ten (actually, I just couldn’t narrow it down).  None of these topics are new, but rather a collection of style principles I adhere to when developing materials.

1. Font style – Pick two fonts, one for your body text and one for your headers.
2. Font size – Keep it standard, not too big, not too small.
3. Graphics – Exercise prudence.  Don’t mix and match (i.e. don’t use a clipart cartoon in one spot and a photograph in another).
4. Colors – Generally, stick with dark font colors against a light background.
5. White space – Embrace space.  Make it your friend.  Not everything needs to be covered with text or pictures.
6. Text blocks – Avoid large chunks of text.  Use bullet points to break the text into more visual-friendly parts.
7. Alignment – Pick an alignment and stick with it.  Use center align sparingly.
8. Branding – Put your company and/or department logo on the material.
9. Consistency – Strive for a consistent look and feel throughout the material.
10. Template – If there is a chance of reusing the material again for another project, put all of your style options in a blank template.
11. Style sheet – Create a style sheet for others who may be helping develop the material, or for future reference/reuse.

For a more in-depth explanation of many of these principles, see Robin Williams’ The Non-Designer’s Design Book.

Guest blogger:  David Lindenberg is a practicing instructional designer at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee.  He is a graduate of the Instructional Design & Technology program at The University of Memphis.