Long before I started designing elearning courses I designed and created websites. My initial foray into web design was before the WSYWIG editors became popular, so my web development was done completely from coding the pages by hand using HTML.
I didn't realize how much those early skills I learned from designing websites would benefit my current career as an instructional designer. Learning things such as whitespace, layout, optimizing graphics, font selection, and the utilization of color has become extremely helpful in my current position.
Yet, the web as well as elearning has come a long way even within the last 10 years. So what I learned about web safe colors doesn't really hold true as much today. Screen quality has improved so much over the last several years that many designers are adventuring beyond the few (quite hideous) colors that were considered web safe.
During my Masters degree in Instructional Design I did learn about color choices and how color can create a visual impact and help organize content. I also learned about color blindness and which colors to avoid using.
One thing I didn't learn during my web design days or in my Masters degree was that color can have an affect on learning.
Recently in a webinar on Visual Learning, I learned more about how color can actually impact the brain. One of the articles that was provided as a resource was by Margie Meacham titled, "How Color Can Affect Learning".
While the research is still being done on how our brains process color, there are a few initial findings that may be helpful to us as we design elearning.
The last one is very interesting to me as I design my courses. Each color I choose will have a specific affect on the brain. For instance - red may generate feelings of energy while blue generates a feeling of calm and relaxation. Knowing these affects up front before choosing a color scheme could have a big impact on your elearning.
As a job aid for color selection, I have printed off this Color Emotion Guide and keep it handy in my workspace so I can refer to it when making color choices.
So the next time you are faced with choosing a color scheme for your elearning course, don't forget to consider the affect a color may have on your learner's brain.
I didn't realize how much those early skills I learned from designing websites would benefit my current career as an instructional designer. Learning things such as whitespace, layout, optimizing graphics, font selection, and the utilization of color has become extremely helpful in my current position.
Yet, the web as well as elearning has come a long way even within the last 10 years. So what I learned about web safe colors doesn't really hold true as much today. Screen quality has improved so much over the last several years that many designers are adventuring beyond the few (quite hideous) colors that were considered web safe.
During my Masters degree in Instructional Design I did learn about color choices and how color can create a visual impact and help organize content. I also learned about color blindness and which colors to avoid using.
One thing I didn't learn during my web design days or in my Masters degree was that color can have an affect on learning.
Recently in a webinar on Visual Learning, I learned more about how color can actually impact the brain. One of the articles that was provided as a resource was by Margie Meacham titled, "How Color Can Affect Learning".
While the research is still being done on how our brains process color, there are a few initial findings that may be helpful to us as we design elearning.
- Color aids patttern recognition
- Brain fills in the color on black and white images of known objects
- Color may stimulate specific brain functions
The last one is very interesting to me as I design my courses. Each color I choose will have a specific affect on the brain. For instance - red may generate feelings of energy while blue generates a feeling of calm and relaxation. Knowing these affects up front before choosing a color scheme could have a big impact on your elearning.
As a job aid for color selection, I have printed off this Color Emotion Guide and keep it handy in my workspace so I can refer to it when making color choices.
So the next time you are faced with choosing a color scheme for your elearning course, don't forget to consider the affect a color may have on your learner's brain.
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