Instructional design/Color and Design

Using Color in Instructional Design

Introduction

Color is a code that carries great meaning for people, so how you use color will impact your learners’ experience. Effective use of color makes it easier for people to find things and focus on what’s important. Color can quickly show how different elements relate to one another, and how content is organized and structured. Inappropriate color choices can impact the credibility of your designs and the understanding and motivation of your learners. This lesson will improve how you choose and combine colors to support the goals of your instruction.

Good, bad or ugly? Your learners will decide.

Learning Objectives

This lesson will take approximately 30 minutes. Upon completion you will be able to:

Select colors appropriate to the context and learners.
Create and modify colors for digital display.
Change the hue, saturation and brightness levels of colors to achieve different effects.
Use different hues, with varying levels of brightness and saturation, to increase the appeal and effectiveness of your designs.
Use complimentary and analogous colors to improve the appeal and effectiveness of your designs.

Please take the 10 question quiz at the end to test your understanding of these concepts. Good luck!

Color Meanings and Preferences

We all have favorite colors. Studies show our preferences may be influenced by gender, age and experience and also that they're essentially subjective. But when developing instruction for others we must also consider their expectations on what's an appropriate use of color. Meanings are ascribed to colors by association (the sea and sky are blue) and culture. Cultural associations are often exposed through language, for example “true blue” and “I am feeling blue”. Blue is popular around the world so it's quite a safe color to use. But which blue? From the blues on the right which would you choose for the following:

1. A job aid for a bottled water company ____?
2. Online legal compliance training in a corporate law firm ____?
3. A game about electricity for children ____?
4. A career resource for college students ____?

Was it hard to decide? On what basis did you choose?

Perceived learner preferences.
What the color "means".
Potential client preferences or brand.
Theme of the content.
Personal preferences.
Color theory.

As you are the designer there are no absolute right or wrong answers here. But after this lesson you may see different blues differently.

Next Page - Understanding Colors >