Visual Design Solutions: Principles and Creative Inspiration for Learning Professionals

Essential Tools for Designing with Clarity and Impact
Connie Malamed’s clever and distinctive Twitter bio is simply this — she is a “Professional Explainer.”Malamed’s elegantly succinct Twitter bio underscores why she’s renowned for her creativity and effectiveness as a learning & visual communication consultant. The essential brilliance of her work is captured by the ability to explain complex concepts with unusual clarity and impact.Visual Design Solutions delivers on its promise to provide the audience with fundamental tools to create accessible, engaging visual designs for instructional materials. While developed specifically for learning professionals, the book is beneficial to anyone tasked with the challenge of explaining complex information in a way that is memorable, understandable and engaging. And as Malamed notes in the book’s introduction:”In today’s multimedia world, the ability to visually communicate is a necessary and powerful skill.”Visual Design Solutions features four major parts:1) THE BIG IDEAS: How to embrace the role of a designer by seeing, thinking and acting like one.2) BUILDING BLOCKS OF DESIGN: How to arrange visuals and type in graphic space to maximize clarity and impact.3) POWER PRINCIPLES: How to use color, visual hierarchy, visual unity, contrast and grouping to empower your designs.4) PRACTICING DESIGN: How to use specific strategies such as visual cues, visual excitement, semantic coherence and storytelling to ensure successful designs.Visual Design Solutions wonderfully exemplifies both the form and function of effective design. The layout and language is clean, accessible and jargon-free. Each chapter previews and summarizes the key questions and takeaways for the reader. There are loads of visually illustrated examples that demonstrate both best practices and pitfalls to avoid.As a long-time brand strategist and content developer who is expanding my horizons to include instructional design, I am always eager to find outstanding design resources. Visual Design Solutions is a perfect compliment to Malamed’s previous excellent book, Visual Language for Designers; and is a highly recommended addition to your professional development library.

If you only buy one book this year… make it this one!
This is a great resource for anyone who is charged with communicating visually. If you’re designing presentations, elearning, print materials, or websites, you need this book. I think novices and experts alike will benefit from the book, as it offers a wealth of evidence-based information, practical tips, and relevant examples. I especially love all the examples! The structure of the book makes it an easy to use, go-to reference. I’ve pulled it out a number of times already, while working on elearning courses, to get ideas or check myself on a design decision. In the past, I’ve had clients question design decisions, or request specific design treatments that really would interfere with learning. I foresee this book coming in quite handy when having those conversations!

Plenty of Aha Moments!!!
I have no background in visual design. So, I appreciated the way the author masterfully creates the learning experience. The principles and concepts of visual design are skillfully articulated. It has change my entire concept and approach toward visual design. This is a must read for instructional designers and if you are a student this will No Doubt help you with your visual design projects. The book also contains plenty of examples and helpful visuals aids. Highly recommend!!!

Fácil de leer y entender. Aclara conceptos básicos relacionados con los distintos tipos de formatos de imágenes. Apenas he leído una cuarta parte del libro y ya tengo una página llena de ideas para mi proyecto. Ampliamente recomendado.

If you are into e-learning/instructional designing, this is a must-have book. Great and lucid explanation with ample of supportive visuals.