Ideas for Main Menu
Oct 25, 2021
Hello All:
I am looking for ideas to make this Main Menu look more visually professional. This is an Articulate course with four distinct case studies. I created two of them using an animation software. All four are MP3/MP4 videos. The thumbnail of each case links to the videos.
What would make this menu look more unified and professional? If I don't use the thumbnail, then it won't give a hint about the content. The cases are not related and can be selected in any order.
Many thanks for any inspiration!
Debra Mascott, M.Ed.
6 Replies
I would use a gradient overlay over each thumbnail and then switch color on hover. That way everything looks unified up to the point the user hovers. Similarly, you could create a text thumbnail which shows a picture when hovered.
What a great idea! Thank you.
I was thinking of creating a generic thumbnail. Wouldn't this be too boring?
Hi Debra,
Trying to make courses or videos that all have different visual styles look good together in a single menu is definitely a tricky challenge! You need to find ways to give them more in common visually while still preserving something about the information the images convey about the content.
I had a couple of different design ideas that might work for this situation and made some VERY quick mockups for each one.
1) Use related icons instead of screenshots
The easiest option could be to choose icons that connect to your topics and then put the case study names in text beside them.
2) Use screenshots of scenes from the middle of the course/video instead of the title screens
Title screens can look quite different but sometimes the subsequent course/video content may have a bit more in common. By switching when you pull the screenshot from, you may find the results all look better together. You'll see this used a lot here on the E-Learning Examples page.
Also, by making each screenshot just a bit smaller and adding the case study titles to the side in text, this can give them all a bit more in common visually. Think how videos from different creators on YouTube all look together on the home page!
3) Make new title cards for each course/video
Keeping on the YouTube theme, the way many creators help the thumbnails of all their videos seem related is by using a particular template for each one. You can make your own template or do what I did in this example and just quickly use an existing YouTube thumbnail template or service (I used a template from Canva for this example).
I love, love, love all the options you suggested. Thank you for taking the time to come up with the examples. Funny, I do know some tricks (i.e. keeping the color palette the same), but I didn't think about these options. All of your suggestions are terrific!
Bianca's suggestions are great. A good menu should let you know what you need to make a choice.
Things that are unrelated to that choice are removed. Colors and are uniform, text is large and clear, any pictures are easy to see and understand at smaller size.
Thank you, Thaddeus. I am a big fan of "best practices" and your comments highlight the importance of keeping objects uniform, consistent and clear. Thanks.