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DavidNowlin-f8a's avatar
DavidNowlin-f8a
Community Member
30 days ago

Dialogue with characters

I do not know what the best practice is for dialogue with characters (just heads in circles). I am working on a New Manager Training and have two employees arguing. Each character has two text bubbles per layer. There are three layers like that. I do not know when it would be best to have the characters appear. And when the text bubbles should appear.

  1. Have the first two heads and the first dialogue. Then after a few seconds the third head and dialogue then the fourth.
  2. One head and dialogue then the remainder appear as the dialogue appears. 
  3. Have all the text and heads when the layer opens. Everything on the screen.

There is no audio. The learner clicks Next to progress. The Next button appears after six seconds. That is currently before the last text bubble opens.

https://360.articulate.com/review/content/39a3295a-0dd7-4d21-8091-256f30739b1a/review

 

Thanks

 

advice
instructional design

1 Reply

  • AndrewBlemings-'s avatar
    AndrewBlemings-
    Community Member
    27 days ago

    Interestingly I think your question gets a bit more to the heart or “blocking a scene” for a film or TV show than ISD. I’ve built more than a few dialogue screens in my life and many of them stood apart in unique ways due to the content.

    Learners will understand our content better if it mirrors other content they have experience with (https://lawsofux.com/jakobs-law/) so it sounds like cues can be taken from TV.

    Based on what you’ve shared so far, I think the question of which characters are visible on screen and when can come down to who is speaking and to whom. If one of the characters is speaking but learners can’t see the person/avatar being spoken to, it risks disconnecting learners from the message.

    I understand the temptation to throw all the dialogue on screen at once, and that can be good enough for many situations, but it’s the least effort and immersion. The message will suffer because of its messenger (the slide design.)

    You mention using layers for these people and their speech boxes. From how I design similar slides, that seems extra complex. Is there an advantage for you using layers versus staggering images and shapes on the base layer’s timeline like in a video editor?

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