E-learning has taken over the world in recent times. Due to the ease which e-learning courses provide, people are searching for more and more relevant applications that could suit their needs. Due to the advancement in technology, there are thousands of eLearning courses that you will find online.
Not all of those applications can grab the attention of the audience. There are only a handful of applications that are successful in their venture. So what sets these few applications apart from the other thousands? The simple answer to this would be their design.
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The first thing that the audience will notice when they open an application is how appealing it is and the interface. If you have an application that has a very unappealing design, then the audience would not stay on it for long. You need to instantly grab the interest of the people who land on your audience.
Once that is done, the next thing you will have to concentrate on is to build a user-friendly interface. This is also included in the design of the application. If the audience is unable to navigate through the application easily, then they would lose patience and move on to some other application.
No matter what courses you provide on your application, the design should be easy. The more courses you add, the easier the navigation should be. Your main aim would be to ensure that the audience can find what they are searching for. They should not leave your application without the resources they need, despite you providing them.
In this course, you will learn some technical aspects of how to design your application so that the audience can be drawn towards your course. You will also learn some tips to enhance the visual appearance of the application and course.
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Designing Course Application
Designing a course application from scratch is not essentially hard if you are knowledgeable about basic computer use. You do not have to be an expert in any tool or software to have to design a well-functioning application. Many of the designs are created by Adobe Photoshop CC, which offers robust features for creating visually appealing interfaces. If you’re considering adding Java development services to your application, it can enhance functionality and interactivity.
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You can find this software online and use it to design not just applications but for many other uses. However, it can be hard for you to use this software if you are not accustomed to functioning. For this, you will need a proper guide or expert who can help you in the same.
Adobe Photoshop is used by people due to the realistic design standards it provides. In addition to that, there is a vast choice of elements that you can use to design the course application. Below you will see how the process can be initiated; however, to get a more detailed process, you will find many tutorials.
If this is your first time designing a course application, then you will get immense help by following the necessary tactics. Each of the tips mentioned here will be a guideline for you to look into when you start designing your own course application. If you are unsure of how to go through the process, then you could talk to an expert for better guidance.
Start the Design Process
To begin, you will have to open the Adobe Photoshop software, click on File, and then New to open a new file. Here you can put the width as 1200 pixels and height as 1600 pixels. Remember that you can change the width and height of the new file according to the design.
For a basic phone application, you can take the measurements as stated above. The default background of the new file will be white in color. Based on your preference, you can change the color of the background to something bit darker or even a neutral color.
In this course, I have mentioned a particular design and the process of doing so. You can either follow this structure or go along the same lines to make another design. Draw a square by setting the desired width and height. You can take any other shape you feel is suitable for the application design you have in mind.
Fill the square or other shape with a background color of your choice. Always remember that you choose a professional color and nothing too bright or too mellow that it seems amateurish. On the right-hand side of the software, you will find the different layers, which you can rename based on the designs.
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In Photoshop, you can choose fonts, colors, images, icons, shapes, and many other things that would help in your design process. If you are a newbie when it comes to Photoshop, then you can find many courses that will help you get a basic understanding of the software.
You can prepare the complete interface and design of the application using Photoshop. Here you will not just prepare the outline, but you will also put in the necessary content. This would consist of the navigation bars and other necessary content.
Tips to Enhance Visual Design of Course Application
The first impression is extremely important, and this is the making or breaking point of any application. To beat your competitors, you will need to have the edge over them. When you and your competitors are providing the same courses, the only way to stay one step ahead is through your design.
The design of the application will create a difference between you and the other players in the market. To bring customers to your application, you have to make the interface comfortable for them to use.
Below are some of the necessary tips that will help you in enhancing the visual design of the course application you are building.
Building a Minimalistic Design
The design of each application would be different. What you design for a shopping website will not be the same for an e-learning website. When you are building a course application, you will have to focus on keeping the design very minimalistic. The learners should not get lost in the vibrancy of the application.
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In an e-learning application, the focus would be on directing the learners to the course of their choice. This is why the design surrounding the course will be only as much as is required. Even the content of the application would not have anything that is not necessary to be included.
Reducing confusion and not overloading the cognitive senses of the learners should be established through your design. The design should in no way distract the audience but instead create a calm and focused effect on them. This means that the design would be simple, distraction-free, yet very modern.
Do not include any unnecessary texts or images and use the white space properly. Whatever you add to the application, be it text or images, should provide some value to the experience of the learner.
Learners Should Be Guided By the Design
The main work of the design is to ensure that it can guide the learners in the right direction. This does not mean just in terms of navigation, but they should also be exposed to important content.
There are numerous contents in an application; however, you may have seen some of the content being highlighted. In the same way, there are some courses which will be highlighted more than the others. These are the courses that have the most popular or are currently in demand.
There are several tactics that you can use to show this. Many players use highlighting, motion graphics, and annotations to grab the attention of the audience. You can also use these and many more tactics that you think would help your application.
The end result should be focusing on diverting the attention of the audience towards the courses or content that you feel would be required by the audience. There is also a section known as the white space, which is a blank space in your application or website. You would have to use this space very carefully as it is a very important part of any online platform.
Choose Colors Carefully
Many platforms use colors extensively, and this spoils the appearance of the application completely. Just because you have a wide range of colors in front of you does not mean you will have to use them all. Depending on the kind of platform you are building, the type of color should be decided.
When it comes to the course application, you cannot use something which is very vibrant. Colors are associated with the emotion of a human being. The kind of color you use in your application will trigger the same emotion in the audience. If you make your platform too colorful and vibrant, then it will make the audience feel the same way.
You do not want your audience to divert their attention from learning to other sectors of the application. In fact, you have to make sure that you are able to help the audience concentrate on learning and eradicate any unnecessary thoughts or emotions during the learning process. Engaging LMS consultants can provide valuable insights on the optimal design and user experience to enhance focus and learning efficiency on your platform.
In such a scenario, you will need to only use around two to five colors for your application. Sometimes even five colors are too much, and you can do well with just dual or even three-toned colors. You can use any color generator or even use any pre-set color palette to understand the color tones that you can use.
Using the Correct Fonts
After you have set the color, the next thing that you have to choose is the fonts. Fonts that you use for the application will represent your brand. The kind of font you use in the application says a lot about your brand. Using a simple font is essential to enhance the readability of the audience.
The font should also be able to build a positive reputation for your brand. Do not use any fancy font that the audience will not be able to read. Keep in mind that your goal here is not to decorate your course application with fancy fonts and colors. The goal is to get the audience hooked to your application through a simple, modern, and attention-grabbing design.
Some of the safe fonts that you can use are Calibri, Open Sans, and Robots. These are very easy to read fonts and are used in the majority of the website. Avoid using fonts such as Comic Sans, Impact, and Papyrus. These fonts have a very low reputation on the web. You can use many other professional fonts as well that you feel you would suit your design.
You will also have to maintain the size of the fonts. In standard content, there are different sections that have different font sizes. When you write a simple article, you make the headings bigger and the main content smaller. However, small does not mean tiny; it means you fix a standard size.
The same goes for when you are designing your course application. The heading and subheadings would be of different sizes. However, all the heading should be of the same size, and so would the sub-headings all throughout the application. The rest of the content should also follow the same font and size. This helps the audience to understand which information they are viewing.
Choose the Images Thoughtfully
Images are an essential part of any website or application development. Any platform without an image would be unfinished. However, there is also a technique for adding images. You cannot just add images randomly without making sense. Also, do not fill every white space with an image.
The design should be breathable and not at all congested. The image needs to be chosen very tactfully so that they serve a purpose. Your audience should be able to understand something from the images. Any image you add is to provide support to the content.
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Along with this, you need images that are of the right size. There is a specific size limit when it comes to adding images to an application. The image that you choose should be cropped or compressed to a suitable size. If that is not done, then the image will look completely absurd on the page.
You can use icons to denote any course material or specific instructions that you want your learner to see. If there are any specific course pictures, then you could add those to show the course you are mentioning. There should be a proper balance in this since the audience connects better to the content when there are appropriate images.
Image selection is just one of the ways you can increase conversions using design principles, which will help you sell more courses.
Use Tools or Templates
To build a course app, you would need the right tools. If you are a beginner, then it would be better to depend on a template that you could customize according to your need. However, another good option would be to try out Adobe Photoshop. Here you will be able to design the course app from the beginning just the way you want it.
Most of the templates that you will find online are created by people who are experts in visual design. The work done will be quite professional, and you can search through many authentic sites to find the right one. If you use a template, then the learning experience will be different from when you use Photoshop.
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No matter which way to choose to go, the work is done should follow the guidelines that have been mentioned above. Using these guidelines, you will be able to create an application that can help you attract the desired learners. This is the main reason for any application or website development.
You will be forming a platform where learners could come and gain a new experience. This would be the right way to spread your brand and also to go ahead of the other players in the market. With a well-designed e-learning platform, you will be able to draw different types of people towards your courses.
To Sum Up
The designing process is very tiresome but interesting work. You will get the chance to reflect your creativity and thoughts in this process. However, one has to work very intelligently when they are designing an application. You will have to keep in mind that there are hundreds of other people who are processing the same idea.
That is why you will have to bring something that would attract the audience immediately. Your course application should provide the audience with something that the others do not. In an e-learning platform, this is mainly the user experience and design. This is what sets apart the applications from each other.
All the content that you put up should be informative and relevant. You should also design the application in such a way that it reflects your brand. If you have a particular pattern that you follow, then it should be shown in the course application as well. Moreover, detailing is the key to any successful course application.
Along with proper navigations and highlights, the courses you put up should be detailed enough. The audience should be able to understand what you are providing to them. You can take the help of professionals to help you in the designing process (this graphic design cost calculator will help you). In case you are confident of doing it on your own, then you can follow a definitive guide for the same.
