August 10, 2009

The eLearning Guild’s

SM

Practical Applications of Technology for Learning

THIS WEEK: Design Strategies

Five Strategies to Enhance Learner This week’s article looks

Motivation in e-Learning Design for an answer to the ques-
By Joe McCleskey
tion, “How can you create

H
ere’s one of the biggest problems we face as de-
courseware that your audi-
signers of e-Learning content: without the luxury
of face-to-face interaction with our audience, ence will enjoy and want to
how can we keep our audience motivated enough to not come back and experience
only complete the courses we create, but to actually enjoy again and again?” Motiva-
learning the skills and knowledge we set before them?
In this article, I offer a close look at some successful learner motivation meth-
tion is a complex problem
ods that for many years have helped instructional designers enhance the learn-
ing experience. You can incorporate these into your e-Learning courses.
for designers, and here are
Strategy 1: Learn the basics of motivation some answers.
Before I begin discussion of the practical techniques you can use to increase
learner motivation, here’s what the experts have been telling us on the subject
for the past couple of decades. A publication of
Any serious discussion of learner motivation should include at least a curso-
ry look at the ARCS model. Originally published in 1987 by psychologist John
Keller (See the References at the end of this article), ARCS is an acronym that
identifies four basic elements of motivation:
Attention. This is essential. If you can’t gain and keep the learners’ atten-
tion, you have no hope of motivating them, much less teaching them anything.
With e-Learning, we must employ tricks like animation, emotional stimuli, and Page 7
storytelling to maintain learner attention (more on these below).
Relevance. There is also little hope of success if the learners don’t know Book Review
why it’s important for them to learn the information contained in your e-Learn- Visual Language for Designers
ing courses. As with traditional face-to-face learning, it’s best to make it clear
up front why it’s important to know this information (and “because your job
requires it” doesn’t count).

Confidence. If learners do not feel they’re capable
of achieving the learning objectives, their motivation
levels will decrease. To help with learner confidence,
always indicate up front how long it will take them to
complete the session.
Satisfaction. Learners feel a greater sense of moti-
vation when they anticipate some reward for their
efforts. This could be a simple certificate or verbal
recognition from a superior, or might include steps
along a path to a raise or promotion.
Along with the ARCS model, motivational psycholo-
gists have also identified two types of motivation, based
on the motivating factor’s relationship to the learner.
These are intrinsic motivation, which originates from
influences within an individual (such as pleasure or
morality), and extrinsic motivation, which comes from
influences outside the learner (such as cash rewards,
promotions, punishment, grades, praise, etc.). Of the
two, intrinsic motivations are generally more interesting
to the e-Learning designer, because designers often
have no control over the extrinsic factors that motivate
their audience, with the exception of the occasional
word of praise or passing grade. Also, research indi-
cates (Malone and Lepper, 1987) that intrinsic motiva-
tion is much more successful at reinforcing desired
behavior than extrinsic motivation. Put simply, intrinsic
motivation is what makes people do the things that they
normally would do on their own, whether or not you
coerce them with external motivators.
Publisher David Holcombe
Editorial Director Heidi Fisk
Editor Bill Brandon
Copy Editor Charles Holcombe
Design Director Nancy Marland Wolinski
The eLearning Guild™ Advisory Board
Ruth Clark, Lance Dublin, Conrad Gottfredson,
Bill Horton, Bob Mosher, Marc Rosenberg,
Allison Rossett
Copyright 2002 to 2009.
Learning Solutions e-Magazine™ (formerly The
eLearning Developers’ Journal™). Compilation copy-
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LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 2
Design Strategies
So how do you tap into your audience’s intrinsic Along with the ARCS
motivations when you’re designing e-Learning? How
can you create courseware that your audience will
model, motivational
enjoy, and want to come back and experience again psychologists have
and again? also identified two
Strategy 2: Think structure types of motivation,
A well-structured e-Learning piece is more motivat- based on the motivat-
ing because it addresses the “C” in the ARCS model: ing factor’s relation-
confidence. Your audience will feel more confident
about completing the learning session if they can visu- ship to the learner.
alize the overall structure of the piece. Put simply, if These are intrinsic
they can see where you're going, they'll be more moti- motivation, which
vated to head in that direction.
Also related to learner confidence is the length of originates from influ-
the sessions you create. Research (Hartley and Davies, ences within an indi-
1978) shows that on average, your learners will only vidual …, and extrin-
be able to pay close attention to your content for
about nine to ten minutes at a time. This means that sic motivation, which
each segment of your e-Learning content should take comes from influ-
no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Does this ences outside the
mean you have to be concise, and stick to the essen-
tials? You bet it does! If your topic requires more, learner ….
chunk it into multiple nine- to ten-minute sessions, and
create reproducible printed materials (PDFs prefer-
ably) for a more elaborate reference, if necessary.
There are many different kinds of structures you can
use to build your e-Learning courseware. Here are a
few examples:
Learning Solutions e-Magazine™ is designed to serve as a catalyst
for innovation and as a vehicle for the dissemination of new and practical
strategies, techniques, and best practices for e-Learning design, devel-
opment and management professionals. It is not intended to be THE
definitive authority ... rather, it is intended to be a medium through which
e-Learning professionals can share their knowledge, expertise, and expe-
rience. As in any profession, there are many different ways to accomplish
a specific objective. Learning Solutions will share many different per-
spectives and does not position any one as “the right way,” but rather
we position each article as “one of the right ways” for accomplishing an
objective. We assume that readers will evaluate the merits of each article
and use the ideas they contain in a manner appropriate for their specific
situation.
The articles in Learning Solutions are all written by people who are
actively engaged in this profession — not by journalists or freelance writ-
ers. Submissions are always welcome, as are suggestions for future top-
ics. To learn more about how to submit articles and/or ideas, please visit
our Web site at www.eLearningGuild.com.

• Move from general to specific,
• Move from abstract concepts to concrete exam-
ples, and
• Have an introduction, body, and conclusion.
More important than the kind of structure you use,
however, is to simply have a structure. A random as-
sortment of facts can be very dull, but interest levels
increase rapidly once you put them into a logical, co-
herent structure.
Strategy 3: Increase visual interest
Perhaps the best way to enhance learner motiva-
tion is to make sure the courseware you develop looks
appealing to the eye. This can be as simple as a nice
HTML treatment based on the principles of good
graphic design, or as elaborate as a fully scripted vi-
deo with professional actors and high production values.
In the end, the degree of visual interest you add to
your production all depends on your budget and sched-
ule, but the good news is: if you plan carefully, a little
bit of visual variety can go a long way toward giving
your learners the desire to complete the course.
The most common ways of adding visual interest to
an e-Learning program include the following:
Photography. The use of photographs – especial-
ly stock photography – is one of the most common
ways that e-Learning designers add visual interest to
their programs. Unfortunately, it's often not done well;
in order for a photograph to have impact, it must dir-
LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 3
Design Strategies
ectly represent one or more key elements of your con- A well-structured
tent. Just putting a pretty picture in each slide won't
e-Learning piece is
do the trick. How many times can we look at the same
professionally-dressed, “multi-culti” group of people more motivating
sitting around a table? That's the problem with stock because it addresses
photography: the good images get used over and
the “C” in the ARCS
over, and people get this sense of deja-vu when they
view your work ("Didn't I see that woman in a Web model: confidence.
banner ad earlier today?"). When done well, however, Your audience will
a quality photograph that actually portrays one of the
feel more confident
concepts you're trying to teach can be very effective
in enhancing learner motivation. about completing the
Video. If done correctly, a short video clip greatly learning session if
enhances an e-Learning production. There are a lot of
they can visualize
pitfalls in the video approach, however. Video produc-
tion is expensive, difficult, and time-consuming. Today’s the overall structure
audience has very high standards – they tend to ex- of the piece.
pect everything to have the same production value as
the Martin Scorcese film they just watched. One ap-
proach that doesn't work very well from an instruction-
al perspective is the talking-head approach; simply
putting someone onscreen to speak the lines your
audience could just as well have read for themselves
doesn't enhance learner motivation much. The lesson
here is to make sure the visuals support the message
of the content. Don’t just add video for video’s sake.
Graphics. A nice visual display of quantitative infor-
mation (Tufte, 1983) can be very effective at increas-
ing the visual interest of your work. It can be as simple
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as a two-dimensional Excel chart; indeed, the best
rule to follow with graphics is, the simpler the better.
Even more effective is a simple ideogram, or graphic
symbol that represents the idea or concept you're try-
ing to get across in your e-Learning content. Think of
stick figures and those international symbols you see
in airports, and you're well on your way.
Animations. Perhaps the best way to increase
visual interest while enhancing learner motivation and
retention is through the use of simple animations.
Jonathan Jarvis's 11-minute animated video about the
2008 financial meltdown (www.crisisofcredit.com)
illustrates how animating a set of simple graphics to
voice-over narration can be very effective in conveying
complex information in an entertaining way. Jarvis's
video quickly went viral, and it's now been viewed
over a million times on YouTube and Vimeo. While
Jarvis's video undoubtedly took a very long time to
complete, and making such animations requires mas-
tery of programs like Adobe After Effects and Adobe
Illustrator, the good news is you don't have to go this
far to make something that's very appealing to your
audience. Start simple: start with a voice-over audio
narration, make some basic graphics, add a little mo-
tion in your rapid e-Learning tools (even fading picture
elements in and out is a good start), and start enhanc-
ing the key ideas in the narration with a little visual piz-
zazz.
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LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 4
Design Strategies
Strategy 4: Incorporate emotion Research … shows
Neurologists have grappled with the idea of emo-
that on average, your
tion for many years – what, exactly, is it? And what
role does it play in giving humans an edge in survival? learners will only be
The jury is still out on that question, but some neurolo- able to pay close at-
gists suggest (Medina, 2008) that emotion plays an
tention to your content
important role in memory. The theory is this: we tend
to experience emotions when we're in a situation that for about nine to ten
has some kind of bearing on our survival, and this makes minutes at a time. This
the experience worth remembering: fear helps us re-
means that each seg-
member situations that threaten our safety, anger
helps us remember situations when others threaten ment of your e-Learn-
our interests, and love helps us remember the joy ing content should
we've felt when we've successfully cooperated with
take no longer than 10
family and friends.
Psychologists have a name for an event that trig- minutes to complete.
gers an emotion: it's called an emotionally competent
stimulus, or ECS. To unleash the power of emotion in
your e-Learning content, you simply need to incorpo-
rate an ECS now and then – not just any ECS, but
one that fits nicely into the subject matter you're
teaching. Perhaps the simplest way to do this is to
incorporate images that have a mild emotional impact.
I say “mild” because, as with many aspects of e-Learn-
ing design, it's best to use a light touch. With emo-
tions, a little goes a long way, but a lot can turn your
audience against you. Examples of images with mild
emotional impact could include a young couple hold-
August 13 & 14, 2009
Designing and Managing Learning in 3-D
Virtual Worlds and Immersive Environments
• DISCOVER the wide variety of topics that are being successfully
taught using virtual worlds,
• EXPLORE the different tools and technologies for developing
avatars and virtual worlds in e-Learning,
• EXAMINE how a wide variety of organizations – including corpo-
rate, academic, and government – are using virtual worlds as an
integral part of their e-Learning,
• EXPLORE how to design 3-D learning environments, and
• ENSURE that your virtual e-Learning meets both your learners’
and your organization’s real goals.

ing hands, a child playing on a swing, or an athlete
receiving a trophy.
Emotions don't just play a role in making your con-
tent more memorable; they also can help make your
content more interesting and engaging. Isn't that at
least partly why we sit through films for two hours at a
time, or read hundreds of pages of novels in a single
sitting? They’ve successfully appealed to our emo-
tions as well as our intellect. And that brings us to our
next strategy for increasing learner motivation: telling a
story.
Strategy 5: Tell a story
When I tell people that I have a Master’s degree in
history, they often say something like this: "History?
Really? I never liked memorizing all of those names
and dates." And I always reply with an explanation of
the difference between history and chronology: the
latter is just a list of dates and the people and events
associated with them, whereas the former is more
concerned with the underlying story that weaves all
of those dates, events, and people together. A series
of events has no meaning by itself, but the story of
how all of those events relate to one another can be
very powerful.
One of the reasons why stories can be such pow-
erful tools in motivating your audience is because sto-
ries help fulfill the “R” in ARCS: they help people see
why something is relevant to their experience by mak-
ing it more concrete for them.
Here are a few examples of simple ways to bring
the power of stories into your e-Learning content:
Anecdotes. As you write your e-Learning content,
think of examples from your own life that could pro-
vide an illustration of the concepts you're trying to
convey.
Examples. After discussing some high-level con-
cepts and abstract ideas, bring your audience back
down to earth with a story of a real-world situation
that incorporates those concepts and abstract ideas.
Narrative structure. If you're ambitious, you might
consider framing an entire nine- or ten-minute e-Learn-
ing segment as a story. Open with action; establish
some characters; move the plot forward toward a cli-
max. Along the way, you can incorporate the neces-
sary knowledge and skills, then quiz learners on these
items after the story's conclusion. It might be a little
difficult to pull this off successfully, but it can be very
powerful if done properly.
A note on interactivity and game-
based learning
It's become a cliche in our industry that interactivity
is one of the hallmarks of creating engaging, motivat-
ing content. At the same time, we must not forget that
LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 5
Design Strategies
it's possible to create an e-Learning piece that's very Psychologists have a
interactive but not very engaging or motivating. Inter-
name for an event
activity by itself is not motivating; just because you're
required to use the mouse to complete an e-Learning that triggers an emo-
session doesn't necessarily mean you'll want to. And tion: it's called an
we mustn't forget that some of the most powerful and
emotionally compe-
motivating learning experiences are not interactive at
all. Some of the greatest documentary films, for exam- tent stimulus, or ECS.
ple, require the viewer to sit and watch for one or two To unleash the power
hours at a time, with no opportunity to interact with
of emotion in your
the content whatsoever.
Having said that, we should acknowledge that in- e-Learning content,
teractivity is a very important tool in the e-Learning you simply need to
professional's kit; it gives us a chance to take the con-
incorporate an ECS
structivist approach to learning, and it opens up many
possibilities that only digital content delivery can pro- now and then – not
vide. At the same time, however, we need to acknowl- just any ECS, but one
edge that these possibilities often come at a heavy
that fits nicely into the
price. Interactivity always requires more work in de-
sign and development, and it places a heavy burden subject matter you're
on the designer to make it work for the audience. teaching.
In my experience, many beginning e-Learning de-
signers tend to dream big on their first projects. They've
got great ideas for how to immerse their audience in
a full simulation of the skills they're trying to teach, yet
when they realize that those ideas require hefty budg-
ets and long production times, they get discouraged.
And when the opportunity does present itself to dev-
elop a game, they find that their audience has those
same high standards for games that we mentioned
earlier for video productions. You're up against some
pretty stiff competition when the audience expects
your game to be just as good as World of Warcraft.
In the right environment, and with the right budget,
gaming can be an excellent tool for enhancing learner
motivation. The U.S. military has embraced this ap-
proach in a big way, and with great success. Studies
have shown that learner motivation for some military
simulation programs is so high that soldiers and offi-
cers alike have been caught sneaking into training
facilities late at night, just to get another chance to
run the battle simulations. Unfortunately, few situa-
tions will have the same level of excitement that a
state-of-the-art battlefield simulation can provide, and
few e-Learning budgets can equal that of the Depart-
ment of Defense.
The moral of the story: don't worry if your e-Learn-
ing pieces don't have the same level of interactivity
found in state-of-the-art gaming simulations. Focus on
what you can do best, given your budget and resour-
ces. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing motivation in
your e-Learning development team. And if your devel-
opment team isn't motivated, what hope is there of
motivating the audience?

The moral of the story: don't worry if
your e-Learning pieces don't have the
same level of interactivity found in
state-of-the-art gaming simulations.
Focus on what you can do best, given
your budget and resources.
References
Hartley, J. & Davies, I. K. “Note-taking: A Critical
Review.” Programmed Learning and Educational
Technology. 1978: 15, 207 – 224
Jarvis, Jonathan. The Crisis of Credit Visualized. 2009.
http://www.crisisofcredit.com
Keller, J. M. “Strategies for Stimulating the Motivation
to Learn.” Performance and Instruction. 1987a
(October), 26(8), 1-7.
Medina, John. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Survi-
ving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.
(Seattle: Pear Press, 2008)
Malone, W. and Lepper, M. R. Aptitude, Learning and
Instruction. (Erlbaum, 1987)
Tufte, Edward. The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information. (Connecticut: Graphics Press, 1983)
Author Contact
Joe McCleskey has over 20 years
of experience designing electronic
media for education. His e-Learning
career began in the late 1980s, when
he scripted several multimedia CD-
ROMs for use by high school stu-
dents. Since then, he has trained hundreds of K-12
teachers how to incorporate digital media into their
curriculum, and has produced a number of instruc-
tional videos for the education market. He was on the
editorial staff of Videomaker Magazine for over a
decade, and in 2005 he was on the team that wrote
the documentation for Adobe After Effects 7.0. He is
currently Manager of Educational Development at
Toastmasters International. Contact Joe by e-mail to
JMcCleskey@toastmasters.org.
Discuss these articles in the “Talk Back to the Authors”
Forum of Community Connections (http: // www.elearning-
guild. com/community_connections/forum/categories. cfm?
catid= 17&entercat =y). You can address your comments to
the author(s) of each week’s article, or you can make a gen-
eral comment to other readers.
Additional information on the topics covered in these arti-
cles is also listed in the Guild Resource Directory.
LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 6
Design Strategies
DO YOU HAVE AN INTERESTING
STRATEGY OR TECHNIQUE TO SHARE?
Get It Published in...
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That means it’s written by YOU the readers and members of The eLearning Guild!
We encourage you to submit articles for publication in Learning Solutions e-Mag-
azine.
Even if you have not been published before, we encourage you to submit a query if
you have a great idea, technique, case study, or practice to share with your peers in
the e-Learning community. If your topic idea for an article is selected by the editors,
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By sharing your expertise with the readers of Learning Solutions, you not only
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If you have an idea for an article, send a plain-text e-mail to our editor, Bill Brandon,
at bbrandon@eLearningGuild.com, with the following information in the body of the
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the problem or issue that will be addressed.
• A short outline of your main points addressing the problem or resolving the
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• One paragraph on your background or current position that makes you the
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tion is to be for the writer of the article. We are unable to accept queries from
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All of this information should fit on one page. If the topic fits our editorial plan, Bill will
contact you to schedule the manuscript deadline and the publication date, and to
work out any other details.
Refer to www.eLearningGuild.com for Author Guidelines.
 LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 7

BOOK R EVI EW

Visual Language for Designers: Principles for

creating graphics that people understand, by
Connie Malamed
Reviewed by Bill Brandon

P
roducing e-Learning is an inherently creative activity, and one that
Last week’s feature
could make great use of visual communications – graphics, photogra-
article gave you an
phy, and typography. For many reasons, though, e-Learning consis- overview of how to
tently falls short in the visual department. Heavy use of text and audio narration, avoid muddy graph-
clip art, and page-oriented layouts that seem to rely on the worst examples from ics. Now read the
the world of textbooks are too often typical. author’s book on
how to design visuals
At least part of this visual impoverishment is due to ing, and the showing. Her book will not turn you (or that will totally en-
a lack of graphic design skills and knowledge among your graphics person) into a Leonardo or a Michelan-
instructional designers, and among those who use gelo, but it will go a long way toward showing you gage your learners
authoring software. It is also due to a lack of knowl- what is possible, what works, and most importantly, and add value to
edge among graphic designers about the particular how to make graphics that achieve quick and effective
requirements and constraints involved in e-Learning. communication. She presents ways to design for the your e-Learning
It is not that these problems are new, or that they strengths of human mental capacities and to compen- applications.
have never been solved. Medical illustrators and sate for cognitive failures.
technical illustrators, all the way back to the great Visual language is the interface between a graphic
Leonardo da Vinci, have long since worked out the and a viewer. Malamed’s clear explanations and excel-
principles and conventions that best support explana- lent organization will help instructional designers, sub-
tion, insight, understanding, and learning. What has ject matter experts, and technical specialists under-
been lacking, until now, has been a systematic pres- stand that there is a hidden language in every picture
entation of those principles, matched to the require- that carries a message – even if the message was
ments of the digital medium. unintended. At the same time, her examples will show
Connie Malamed, author of last week’s feature in designers and illustrators more ways to use visual lan-
Learning Solutions (“Gestalt Your Graphics: Improv- guage to inform with accuracy and power. The result
ing Instructional Graphics”) has done a tremendous is bound to be better communication between techni-
job of bringing these worlds together in her new cal members of an e-Learning development team and
book. Visual Language for Designers: Principles for graphic artists.
creating graphics that people understand is a rare This is a beautiful book. One of my frustrations in
combination of science and aesthetics. writing this review is that I am not going to be able to
There are not many resources on visual information show you just how well the illustrations support the
that are based on solid research and that are intend- text. The text is very brief. The book makes its points
ed for e-Learning practitioners. Until now, the best by drawing on the very best work of some of today’s
known has probably been Clark and Lyons’ Graphics very best artists, photographers, graphic designers,
for Learning (2004), which does an excellent job of and illustrators. Of the 240 pages, over 200 contain
explaining how to use visuals, but does not offer one or more graphics in full, luscious color. (See
much help on how to create those visuals in the first Figure 1 on page 8.)
place. Given this, it is important to repeat that the entire
Connie Malamed’s book takes care of the explain- book is based on actual research, as well as on de-
 LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009 8
Book Review

sign theory. Disciplines represented in the content in- and training. It took around 10 years to think about, Medical illustrators and
clude visual communication and graphic design, learn- and then around a year to seriously research and
technical illustrators,
ing theory and instructional design, cognitive psycholo- write. (Plus work as an e-Learning consultant and
gy and neuroscience, and information visualization. Web designer.) And it turned out completely different all the way back to the
The content comprises two sections. The first sec- than I'd thought it would.” I’d say it was ten years well great Leonardo de Vinci,
tion provides an overview of how human beings per- spent, and the result is completely successful.
have long since worked
ceive, understand, and acquire visual information. It
includes consideration of cognitive load in visual infor-
Bibliographic details out the principles and
mation, an issue sometimes overlooked by designers Malamed, Connie. (2009) Visual Language for conventions that best
and artists. This section starts with the basics: the Designers: Principles for creating graphics that peo-
ple understand. Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport support explanation,
anatomy of the eye, the function of the brain, memory,
and the human information processing system, all as Publishers. Hardcover, 240 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1- insight, understanding,
they relate to visual information. 59253-515-6. List price $40.00, Amazon price $26.40. and learning. What has
It is in the second (and longer) section where Mala-
Reviewer Contact been lacking, until now,
med’s book really adds value, as it presents principles
for creating graphics that accommodate and engage Bill Brandon is the editor of Learning has been a systematic
Solutions. If you are the author of a
the human mind and emotions. The fact that the auth- presentation of those
or specifically addresses the challenges of hooking recent book intended for e-Learning pro-
fessionals and would like to have Bill principles, matched to
the emotions of the learner is, to me, one of her most
important contributions. People do not learn about review it in Learning Solutions, e-mail the requirements of the
him at bbrandon@elearningguild.com
things they do not care about. (And “care about” can digital medium.
include emotions other than the positive ones.) If you,
the designer, do not make learners care about the
topic of the e-Learning, your design and your product
will fail.
The second section is a guide, not a rulebook, to
doing six key things with and through graphics:
• Organizing graphics for quick perception
• Directing the eyes to essential information
• Using visual shorthand for efficient communica-
tion (reducing realism)
• Making the abstract concrete
• Clarifying complexity
• Charging a graphic with energy and emotion
Malamed devotes a chapter to each of these pur-
poses, and organizes each chapter in the same way.
Her simple and effective approach is to:
• Present the concept(s), principles, and science
supporting the outcome,
• Explain how to apply the concepts, principles,
and science, and
• Present the various techniques that support the
application.
GEORGE LADAS, BASE24 DESIGN SYSTEMS

So, for example, in presenting the techniques re-

quired to organize for quick perception, some of the
techniques she explains include texture segregation,
grouping, and “pop out.” For charging a graphic with
energy and emotion, she explains the uses of emo-
tional salience, narratives, visual metaphors, and nov-
elty and humor.
Connie Malamed told me, “I was hoping to write
a book that would stand the test of time. … I always
had instructional designers as well as graphic design- Figure 1 Visual Language for Designers is filled with figures that illustrate tech-
î

ers in mind as I was writing it. It's heavy on the infor- niques and principles. Here, an exploded view of a classical guitar is one of the
mation graphics, which very much relate to e-Learning examples presented to support “Clarifying Complexity.”
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