Accessible Color Palette Generator | WCAG Compliant
A free tool for generating color palettes that meet WCAG AA contrast standards for normal text with either white or black text (and it notes which color text to use).
#BasicDesign — Never Use Pure Black in Typography
Explanation of why to avoid using pure black for text for online reading (which applies to websites and elearning). This article talks about how to pick shades of dark gray that are both readable and align with the color scheme.
White with code #FFFFFF has more striking brightness compared to pure black with code #000000. The brightness polarity requires the eye to work harder to read pure black text on a white background.
Font colors for ui/ux design instead of pure black #000000
Pure black text or backgrounds can cause eye strain and decrease readability. For more usable designs, use an alternative to #000000 such as these options.
4 Simple Hacks to Instantly Level Up Your Visual Design
Mike Taylor shares 4 tips for visual design for elearning: alignment, visual hierarchy, less text, and animation. Even if you have no graphic design background, you can learn some basic tips like this to improve your design.
Fontpair - Free, beautiful fonts and font pairings curated just for you
Looking for fonts for an elearning project? This site has free fonts to download and suggestions for pairing.
The Ultimate Guide to Font Pairing — Learn
A guide to font pairing with examples for different industries and purposes
Visual Design Basics for eLearning Development | How-To Workshop - YouTube
Tim Slade explains basics of visual design for new elearning developers, focusing on picking fonts, colors, and images, plus creating slide layouts.
50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory
A curated list of free lessons on graphic design, typography, color, and UX.
illustrio: 100% free, 100% customizable icon library
Free icons. You can easily get the same icons in different styles, and you can pick your own two colors.
4 Design Principles that DON’T Live Up to Their Acronym – eLearningArt
Bryan Jones demonstrates the design principles of CRAP (contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity) by taking some boring, text-only slides and gradually improving them.
The PLExD Toolkit | Promethean Learning Experience Design
A collection of free and open source tools for project management, graphic design, collaboration, audio, video, and other utilities.
How to Fix E-Learning Course Content & Graphic Design
Tips for how to clean up e-learning design. This is mostly about visual design including picking images, fonts, color schemes, and using grids. A few tips on cleaning up content are included, but that topic could be a whole series of posts.
5 Quick Tips Using Cutout People Images - eLearning Brothers
Tips for using cutout people in scenarios. I always forget about adding shadows, but it does look better when the characters are supposed to be in a realistic setting.
Use a drop shadow on a cutout person or object to give it depth, so it stands out in your eLearning layouts.
Use a drop shadow color to match the background.
<strong></strong>Use shadows below a standing cutout person, so they appear to be touching the ground.
Use depth of field to isolate a subject from other elements in a photo by blurring the foreground or background.
Use multiple cutout images to show different points in your eLearning presentation.
Blank Cell Images - an album on Flickr
Cute idea for comics or scenarios--create scenes with lego people or other toys. These images are licensed CC-By-NC-SA. This photographer also has an album with some of the same images and talk boxes already added.
Flat Icons & Icon Fonts | CSS-Tricks
Large list of icon fonts, many of which are free
Design Seeds®: For All Who Love Color
Lovely color palettes based on photos. Find one color you like from an existing palette? Search for similar colors. You can also search for palettes based on a specific color.
The Human Factor: Creating Color Palettes (The Easy Way) by Mary Arnold : Learning Solutions Magazine
Overview of several sites for creating color palettes. I've used the Color Scheme Designer and Kuler before, but the others were new to me. New link: http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/678/the-human-factor-creating-color-palettes-the-easy-way
Visual Design of E-learning Systems
Criteria for evaluating the visual design and usability of e-learning systems. (Usability, readability, attractiveness)
99designs » Ready-made Design
Starting a small business and need a logo? These are $99, $199 if you want exclusive rights. Interesting concept, and I could see this being very helpful if you're self-employed but want a professional image.
25 Photoshop Tutorials for Creating 3D Text Effects | Vandelay Design Blog
Lots of inspiration and how tos for 3D text effects in Photoshop
5 Common Visual Design Mistakes - The Rapid eLearning Blog
Common visual design mistakes made by instructional designers, plus links and resources for further reading.
1. Not Considering the Impact of the Visual Design
2. Lack of Unity
3. Graphics Don’t Match
4. Confusing Use of Contrast
5. Misuse of Fonts
Visual Design for Instructional Multimedia
Online book about visual design for multimedia. The content is a bit old (originally written in 1996), but the principles of layout and color are still relevant.
10 Simple and Impressive Design Techniques | How-To | Smashing Magazine
Contrast, gradients, color, letter spacing, anti-aliasing, imperfection, blur, alignment, trim fat. Examples for each.
AG09 - IDZone: Graphic Resources
Graphics and graphic design resources for instructional designers
What to do with a visually noisy blog » VisualsSpeak Blog
Christine Martell explains blog visuals with some usability and color theory. First in a series where she will help a blogger work on making his content easier to find.
3 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your E-Learning Graphics Sizzle - The Rapid eLearning Blog
Are your visuals saying what you want? Part 1 Visual Elements at VisualsSpeak
Great eLearning Design NEEDS Great graphic design