In my work with clients, I constantly see how good instruction
and visuals are marred by haphazard layout; undone by poor
templates; overwhelmed by busy, garish effects; or compromised
by poor execution. Every time I think no one would ever do this,
someone does. Although discussions about instructional graphics
often get mired in subjectivity, R.O. Rankin’s research found
that 92% of learners’ comprehension mistakes were caused by four
reasons: - Layout-related difficulties - Lack of caption-picture
correspondence - Unfamiliarity with the graphical convention -
Misinterpretation of the graphical layout Just concentrating on
fixing these four issues will provide a huge bang of
effectiveness. The execution problem has arguably become worse
with the advent of rapid, do-it-yourself e-learning tools. Some
of us find ourselves on our own, floundering with blank
PowerPoint slides and with little training on how to lay out
visual materials. (Adding to the mix is that our visuals may be
supported by audio.) As a case