Visual Design

Here we summarise factors that should be considers in the visual design of a multimedia presentation:

1.

Themes and Styles

- A multimedia presentation should have a consistent theme/style, it should not be disjointed and cluttered with multiple themes.

- The choice of theme/style depends on the styles and emotions of your audience.

Some Possible Themes:

• Cartoon theme

  +: interesting / entertaining -: must be consistent with the character's personality

• Traditional theme - straightforward

  +: simple, often informative

  -: not as interesting

• High tech theme - contemporary computer art work (morphing, texture mapping, metal texture, explosions, ...)

  +: attractive, easy to animate

• Technical theme - include blueprints, 3D models of the product, ... e.g., start with a drawing, then transformed into a rendered image.

  +: shows adequate technical information

  +: gives impression of solid design and construction

Color Schemes and Art Styles

• Natural and floral

  (outdoor scenes, e.g., mountains, lakes, ...) -> getting back to nature

• Oil paints, watercolours, colored pencils, pastels.

  - these art styles can be combined with e.g., cartoon or high tech themes

2.

Pace and Running length

A few guidelines:

• Allow a block of text to be slowly read twice.

• Transition time should be an indication of real-time.
  • dissolve - time delay, scene change
  • cut - two views of same scene at same time, or abrupt scene change

• Running length
  • self running presentation: 2-3 minutes
  • limited interaction: 5-6 minutes
  • complete analytical, hands-on demo: < 15 minutes
  • with questions, discussions: > 30 minutes

  ** build in breaks for long presentations

3.

Basic Layout

(a) Title (b) Action area (c) Narration (d) Dialog (e) Interactive controls

• make sure that the information delivery path in the layout is smooth, not irregular/jumpy

• use headlines/subtitles, additional shapes, buttons, fonts, backgrounds and textures to enhance the visual appearance.