Don't get carried away with Character Expressions

May 03, 2012

I was just previewed a course I'm working on in which I used one of the Illustrated Characters. I just realized that I had changed her facial expression so many times that she started to look a bit manic.

Tip: These characters are great to use, but remember if you are expressing to the learner one component of information, try to minimize the changes to poses and facial expressions unless a dramatic change in the "story" is needed.

You don't want the person's arms up, down, up and smile, frown, angry all in 3 slides. There are times when it is warranted to drastically change the poses/expressions, but try to keep the character looking as natural as possible. This goes for the illustrated and photographic characters.

Not so good:

Better:

5 Replies

Kevin Thorn
Hero

almost 12 years ago05/03/12 at 7:17 am (UTC)

Good tips Tracy! If you flush this out into an article, StorylineAuthors.com may be interested in publishing on their site.

Gerry Wasiluk
Hero

almost 12 years ago05/03/12 at 7:26 am (UTC)

As often, less is usually more . . .

Yup, learner distractions from content should be minimized unless it is crucial to understanding.

Tom Kuhlmann
Staff

almost 12 years ago05/06/12 at 10:38 am (UTC)

Good example of how to use contrast. Contrast works when it stands out, but if everything is contrasted (like continually changing poses and expressions) then there's no real contrast to draw attention to the change.