Visual Design

Enhance learners' interest and understanding with visual designfor instructional and information products No matter what medium you use to deliver content, if the visualdesign fails, the experience falls flat. Meaningful graphics and acompelling visual design supercharge instruction, training, andpresentations, but this isn't easy to accomplish. Now you canconquer your design fears and knowledge gaps with Visual DesignSolutions: a resource for learning professionals seeking toraise the bar on their graphics and visual design skills. Thisinformal and friendly book guides you through the process andprinciples used by professional graphic designers. It also presentscreative solutions and examples that you can start using rightaway. Anyone who envisions, designs, or creates instructional orinformational graphics will benefit from the design strategies laidout in this comprehensive resource. Written by Connie Malamed, an art educator and instructionaldesigner, this book will help you tap into your creativity, designwith intention, and produce polished work. Whereas most graphicdesign books focus on logos, packaging, and brochures, VisualDesign Solutions focuses on eLearning, presentations, andperformance support. Visual Design Solutions includespractical guidelines for making smart design choices, ways tocreate professional-looking products, and principles for successfulgraphics that facilitate learning. Ideal for instructionaldesigners, trainers, presenters, and professors who want to advancefrom haphazard to intentional design, this book will help themrealize their design potential. Gain the knowledge and confidence to design impressive,effective visuals for learning Increase learner comprehension and retention with visualstrategies offered by an expert author Serves as a reference and a resource, with a wealth of examplesfor inspiration and ideas Addresses an intimidating topic in an informal, friendlystyle In four parts, the book provides a thorough overview of thedesign process and design concepts; explores space, image, andtypography; and presents workable solutions for your mostpersistent and puzzling design problems. Get started and begincreating captivating graphics for your learners.

Visual Design speaks design, through design, to designers, presenting 95 core design principles with concise text and a touch of visual wit. Author of the bestselling Index series on design basics, Jim Krause uses a combination of Helvetica and Dingbats to teach a wide range of design topics (both conceptually and compositionally related) in a one-topic-per-spread format. Using humor, practical tips, and inspiring visual examples, Krause makes it clear how each of the 95 axioms of effective design are relevant and applicable across all forms of visuals: print, Web, and fine arts. In this book, you’ll learn how to: • Direct the eye through your designs using size relationships, color, visual pathways, and typographic hints • Design effective compositions through grids, frames, outlines, dynamic spacing, symmetry, asymmetry, shading, patterns, and textures • Fool the eye with shadows, depth, op-art, and visual subtraction • Understand how color works and how to use it effectively • See and use type by understanding type rules as well as when and how to break them Visual Design is the first title in the brand new New Riders Creative Core series, which aims to provide instruction on the fundamental concepts and techniques that all designers must master to become skilled professionals.

In this thesis, the author makes several contributions to the study of design of graphical materials. The thesis begins with a review of the relationship between design and aesthetics, and the use of mathematical models to capture this relationship. Then, a novel method for linking linguistic concepts to colors using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation Dual Topic Model is proposed. Next, the thesis studies the relationship between aesthetics and spatial layout by formalizing the notion of visual balance. Applying principles of salience and Gaussian mixture models over a body of about 120,000 aesthetically rated professional photographs, the author provides confirmation of Arnhem's theory about spatial layout. The thesis concludes with a description of tools to support automatically generating personalized design.

Update the visual design of your course in pedagogically sound ways Visual Design for Online Learning spotlights the role that visual elements play in the online learning environment. Written for both new and experienced instructors, the book guides you in adding pedagogically relevant visual design elements that contribute to effective learning practices. The text builds upon three conceptual frameworks: active learning, multiple intelligences, and universal design for learning. This resource explores critical issues such as copyright, technology tools, and accessibility and includes examples from top Blackboard practitioners which are applicable to any LMS. Ultimately, the author guides you in developing effective visual elements that will support your teaching goals while reinforcing the learning materials you share with your students. There has been a steady increase of over 10% in online enrollment for higher education institutions since 2002, yet the visual look of online courses has not changed significantly in the last ten years. Adapting to the needs of students within online classes is critical to guiding your students toward success—and the right visual elements can play an integral role in your students' ability to learn and retain the information they need to thrive in their chosen programs. In fact, visual elements have been shown to increase student participation, engagement, and success in an online course. Leverage the best practices employed by exemplary Blackboard practitioners Explore three foundational conceptual frameworks: active learning, multiple intelligences, and universal design for learning Increase student retention and success Visual Design for Online Learning is an essential reference for all online educators—both new and experienced.

This book analyzes the role that human forms play in visualizing practical information and in making that information understandable, accessible, inviting, and meaningful to readers—in short, "humanizing" it. Although human figures have long been deployed in practical communication, their uses in this context have received little systematic analysis. Drawing on rhetorical theory, art history, design studies, and historical and contemporary examples, the book explores the many rhetorical purposes that human forms play in functional pictures, including empowering readers, narrating processes, invoking social and cultural identities, fostering pathos appeals, and visualizing data. The book is aimed at scholars, teachers, and practitioners in business, technical, and professional communication as well as an interdisciplinary audience in rhetoric, art and design, journalism, engineering, marketing, science, and history.

Public concern about the landscape, in particular its appearance, is increasing all the time. For those charged with managing, developing or conserving a wide range of landscapes it is a major task to take visual aspects into account. Elements of Visual Design in the Landsacpe presents a vocabulary of visual design, structured in a logical and easy to follow sequence. It is profusely illustrated using both abstract and real examples taken from a wide range of international locations together with cross referencing between related principles and case studies demonstrating how the principles can be applied in practice. The visual aspects of design have often been treated as 'cosmetic' and therefore not meriting attention or purely subjective and therefore open to personal preference. Few attempts have been made to explain how we see the landscape in any rational and structured way, and to demonstrate how visually creative design and management can be undertaken. This book aims to fill that gap.

Just as great artists must understand their tools, great Web designers must understand the technology behind their art. In Visual Design for the Web, author Penny McIntire shows novice Web designers how to use their tools--including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript--in conjunction with the principles of aesthetics and usability to become masters of their craft. Chapters begin with explanations of the terminology and techniques of web structures, then demonstrate how to apply the rules of design to create beautiful sites. The book: Illustrates how fundamental principles of design apply to the web Includes charts, diagrams, and graphics to enhance learning and retention Covers site analysis, navigation, layout, color, graphics, typography and forms Demonstrates multiple techniques for getting just the right look and feel for your web sites Focuses on the characteristics that make sites usable, engaging, and memorable

Visual Research explains the key terms and theories that underlie design research, examining the importance of audience, communication theory, semiotics and semantics. It features a range of case studies which demonstrate how the use of rigorous research methods can form the basis of effective visual communication and design problem solving, eschewing end product analysis for a discussion of the way research feeds into the design process.