Orr's Aphorisms™08/08/2006 (updated weekly)

• Use just the right amount of pictures. If three pictures are good, that doesn't mean fifty are automatically good. Using no picture is usually not good.
• Graphic flow-chart overviews with screen captures in PowerPoint® are a powerful way to give the BIG picture.
• Graphics must always have a cognitive purpose, not merely a decorative one.
• Graphics and fonts are for emphasis—too many ruin the effect.
• Call-out labels increase the value of illustrations immensely.
• The eye is drawn first to the area containing the greatest mass of high contrast of light and dark on a screen or page. This is the principle behind headings and most graphical elements on a page or screen.
• The eyes of people in Western Civilizations go left to right, top to bottom on a screen or page.
  
  
  David Orr is an award-winning instructional designer with 23 years experience designing and developing technical training for Fortune 1000 companies.