VisualsSpeak blog

I love technology, so I was excited to see there was a range of presentations at the North American Simulations and Gaming Association (NASAGA) conference covering a wide swath of possibilities. I’m not a fanatical online gamer, nor do I develop a lot of e-learning, but I spend a large portion of each day at the computer. I get really antsy when my internet connection goes down.

Design Instant Online Flash Games

Raja Thiagarajan’s session was hands down my favorite of all the technology sessions. Why? Because Raja’s session was designed with the learning first. The technology merely served the learning objectives. I learned:

• How engaging simple flash games could be
• Which type of game to select for what type of content
• How to login and access the software
• How to create games through the admin interface

I immediately saw how I could use this to aid stickiness after a training by emailing a link to participants to play a game around the key points. I could see using them in a webinar, or other online engagement.

It was an interactive session about an interactive method. YES! I know it took a lot of effort for Raja and the others behind the scenes to get the software running on all the computers, but it was totally worth it. People were highly engaged, clustered around the computer screens.

I have played the shell games on the Thiagi group site in the past, but I never thought I could create them and use them. Now I know how easy it is.

Playmotion

I missed the keynote session on Playmotion, since I got talking with a colleague. I did see the demo of it before the evening auction. It appeared to be some kind of interactive projection system. You could stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling screen and interact with whatever was projected.

Some examples were that smoke would respond to dancers, puzzles that could be solved by hitting the letters into the boxes, balls that would bounce. The possibilities for interactive full body learning were huge. I just kept seeing all the little kids in schools being freed from the confines of their desks….and actually engaging the way most kids like to engage.

This is the type of technology that would be great for VisualsSpeak. The ability to move the images around is so vital to the process for many people. I would love to be able to create huge interactive vision maps.

NASA’s Distributed Observer Network (DON)

Even the title of this session is an indicator of it’s complexity. This session was in two parts. In the first part, Tom Cuddy described a bit about the challenge of creating a simulation environment for the complex process of taking care of the shuttle. Allowing engineers to explore on the computer and especially try things out, makes a lot of sense. Particularly after the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

I did learn there is some kind of core code you can purchase from game developers that you can use as a head start for a simulated environment. What that is or what it really means is lost to me as a non-programmer. Being married to an electronic engineer, I am accustomed to nodding and saying un-huh as I listen to complex descriptions of the inner workings of electrons and the codes that command them.

Despite a moody electrical system, Tom and Tate Srey were able to get the simulation running on computers and we were able to play with it. Being able to move part of the shuttle’s tanks around and look at them from different angles was interesting. Why I would want to do that is a bit lost on me, but I’m not the target audience of engineers. I certainly can imagine my husband and his software guys spending hours analyzing and creating any number of theories to test using this simulation.

Ian Bogost: Future of games in learning

Ian spoke after dinner, before the silent auction. As a professor from Georgia Tech, he had a well constructed argument laid out. It started with assumptions people make about the value of games, possible ways of looking at the value of games, and moved to propose a new set of assumptions.

Clearly, Ian has worked to develop his presentation, and it was engaging to listen to in the moment. The slides were well designed. He did not read them to us.

I remember the overall message, that games can be engaging and educational. I remember he plays a lot with his kids and they love the Animal Crossing game. I remember persuasion being a key to these new designs his company is developing.

I can’t remember any of the details. Why? No handouts. We were sitting in a darkened room after dinner and I wasn’t prepared to take notes. Notes for me are a way to convert audio to visual. I many never look at them again, but they anchor learning for me in the moment.

Another thing that happened was Ian showed screen after screen of visuals from the games. They were well done, but in fairly rapid succession they became a form of visual overload. I remember thinking they were compelling in the moment, but the concepts didn’t stick.

I enjoyed Ian’s presentation and I remember enough of it to feel I got value from the experience. He was a good speaker, his content was developed and thought through.

There has to be a better way

There were a number of other technology demo sessions. Not just at this conference, but at a number of others I have attended recently. Here is the formula:

• people sit in rows of chairs or at tables
• presenter tells audience how cool their new interactive engaging e-learning or game is
• show screen after screen of what some of the screens look like
• if the audience is lucky, there may be a branching choice the audience gets to call out for them to select

Now I realize most conferences aren’t in computer labs. Even those that suggest bringing laptops suffer from unreliable wireless and slow connections. I know handouts with a lot of images are hard to produce and quite expensive to print, especially in color.

Still, there has to be a more effective session design. Even when I was interested in the product being showcased, very little stuck. About all I remember is that it was interesting. I can’t even remember why.

This leads me to some questions for those of us making presentations:

• How can technology sessions about interactive designs be done interactively?
• Can you get beyond the technology challenges?
• Can we apply the interactive principles in the products to the demos and the sessions used to showcase them?
• How can we manage the visual overload of showing multiple screens of visual interfaces?

What have you seen work?

Technology Overall

I really appreciated the inclusion of all the technology at the conference. There was learning in all the sessions, even if it wasn’t exactly what the presenter intended.

Exploring the magic in games and simulations

Peggy Pusch joined me to facilitate a session where we mined the wisdom in the room. We worked in four table-groups. Each table had a VisualsSpeak ImageSet that contained 200 images.

To start out, each person had a 12 x 18″ piece of construction paper. We asked:

What makes games and simulations magic?

Each person selected images that spoke to the question. After looking at some of the visual language displayed in the arrangement of images, each person had the opportunity to share the story of their image.

Each group was then asked to create an image together, making sure to include wisdom from everybody. They could use a larger white piece of paper, or the construction paper for a background. Markers were available for those who wanted to add words.

These are the notes from each group as they were explaining their process. Here is what they came up with:

Group 1

General reaction words
CHAOTIC, ALL ENCOMPASSING, LIGHTHEARTED

Bottom: the complexity and the patterns, using simulations and games to simplify the process we are trying to understand.
Process is to the left, stepping into someone’s shoes, process that you are trying to identify with, different perspectives coming in, pattern of the game to demonstrate what you are trying to address–like walking into someone else’s shoes.
Process at a different level: Learning–everywhere, everyone,–trying to understand, stretching.
Strive to reach the stars and clouds and to have a whimsical, magical approach to an uplifting experience

Process: Decisions on the use of the color were unanimous and then they started placing images; some were linear and some were floating, an organic process that ended up with the final picture. (I expect the left brain people will sneak in and sort it out and get it organized.) This has been a very balanced group, going from left to right brain.

Group 2

End result: it gets people out of their comfort zone and changes them, puts them in a new role, looking at themselves differently, successful results but also having fun.

Tied it together: gaming is a spiraling process and it is an outward movement that has a core…we started with fun and engagement and moved outward . Other growth happens. Some of the dynamics are similar whether they are connecting individuals or large groups of people, leading to uplifting thoughts, and ideas and perpetuating growth to your company environment and co-workers, The picture flows from the center through the spiral.

Inspiration: Training will still have impact down the road. Whole metaphor is a spiral “life is like a box of chocolates,” you are never sure of what you will get. it can spiral out of control as well as lead to deeper learning. Tried, in building the image, to eliminate the distractions, the games and simulations focus your attention and there is a need to avoid the distractions.

Went through the chambers of achievement.

Group 3

Looked first at the process: simulations and games start from the trainers and facilitators who work them through. We are hoping to take something from here to use as we climb up the hill. We see that old and broken things can be fixed and new things can emerge from them. Always good to have a trick up your sleep.

Link to the organization. Conflict between the people who are going through the training and those who did not when they bring back what was learned to the organization. With all training, there has to be a way to measure it. This allows people to work through an alternative experience. Simulations can clean up the messes that have been created. It is fun, It is diverse. There is a bottom line impact and variable success. Trainers/Facilitators only start people down the path. There are wide horizons and you/they do not know what you/they are going to get but they will discover what that horizon is.

Group 4

Only group that did not come up with a pattern, an organization of space.

Process: We started with where we were before we started the individual assignments. We had lots of stuff around the side, everyone put something in and then we “edited” and it was not until the end that it became a cleaner space. Very chaotic at the beginning…did not know where it was going to go.

Interplay of themes, different ideas that mixed in with other ideas. Simulations and games provide an opportunity to have a much closer look at the common and ordinary to grasp the extraordinary. Juxtaposition of lots of things to reach some order. A process of enjoying and learning. Variety of experiences, always provides surprise and engages all the learning styles. It needs a safe environment and individuals have to trust each other. Starts out as a closed flower and opens us.

Group engagement in a good group means people come together and join. Have to play different roles, sometimes contrived and others real, have awe and wonder that gives value.

The unexpected, sometimes we think that what happens is unexpected but can link to things that are familiar so it is not always unusual and strange.

In the center, the ooh and ah of the experience.

Conclusions:
Very possessive about my original images and then I had to give up things to the interest of others. Hard to let go but it got more creative. Have to put it in play with other people

Expected to keep and add on to what we have but we ended up ditching a lot of the original pictures because while I liked what I had on my own, it did not fit with the group.

Looked for themes that they all carried out and picked each others’ pictures that they liked.

So what is the magic for you in games and simulations?

We have updated the content on our website

In an attempt to serve you better, we have changed the content on the VisualsSpeak site to give you a clearer idea of what we do and the products that we offer.

We are experimenting with the site by using a WordPress blog template. This allows us to change and update the content quickly and easily, and with little expense.

Our plan is to test the new content by listening to your feedback about what works and what doesn’t. When we feel that we have arrived at the right content, we will fork over the money to have our regular website template updated.

We need your feedback!

Please let us know what you think about the new content. You can let us know here on this blog or make comments on the VisualsSpeak website itself at the bottom of the pages.

Thanks

Christine & Tom

Christine Martell, Principal of VisualsSpeak LLC, will be presenting at the 2007 ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference in Alexandria, Virginia. The Conference is being held October 25- 27, 2007 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center.

Increasing the Cross Cultural Effectiveness of Your Chapter

Christine Martell and Kelly Orehovec

What makes a professional association culturally competent? How do you attract and retain a widely diverse membership? ASTD-Cascadia is finishing the second year of a multi-year initiative exploring diversity in our chapter. This session invites you to share our collective experiences and explore what we need to do as chapter leaders to ensure we are welcoming to all workplace performance professionals, while developing competencies within the chapter’s leadership.

Day 2 concurrent sessions at North American Simulations and Gaming Association

The second day began with Yael Schy using Improv to explain systems change. We’re all facing organizational change on a continual basis, so she told us about how we can encourage people to become more flexible. We then got to watch audience members in Improv Action. My favorite was the demo at the end where four people got up and took turns leading each other through a variety of dance explorations (more like getting each other to do strange but wonderful things).

Morning sessions

Access the Magic Through Photographs

I presented a session with Peggy Pusch, which I will be writing a post about soon. Peggy left for Cyprus two days after our presentation, and I can’t open the file she left for me with all the notes from our session. So after Peggy returns and I get another file, you’ll get to see and hear about all the great things we discovered together.

Creating Unbeatable Volunteers

I really wanted to clone myself so I could also attend Matt DeMarco and Margee Wolf’s session Make it Magnetic: How to Attract and Keep Unbeatable Volunteers. I do a lot of work with professional associations, so I know what it is like to work with groups of volunteers. As a newcomer to NASAGA and a volunteer in the form of a presenter, I was warmly welcomed by Matt. He made sure I had what I needed, knew where my room was, and he told me what to expect when I got there. He checked in with me again after my session to see how it went.

The game helps people to realize it is these seemingly little things that make a big difference to volunteers. Set up as a board game, designed for the American Farm Bureau Federation, the gameplay is designed to show both the helpful and not helpful behaviors coordinators can use with their volunteer workforces. I heard Matt talk about the possibility of creating a version of the game for a more general audience. Matt, DO IT. Most every organization that utilizes volunteers needs help with this!

Afternoon Sessions

Understanding Systems Thinking through Interactive Games

Ron Roberts from Action Centered Training, Inc shared a new game he has designed that helped us explore competitive versus collaborative gaming. It’s a slide checker game, where the rows on the board slid, and there were four teams with checkers. A triangular die controlled the movement of the checkers, and a square die controlled the movement of the board.

In the first round we were in four teams of two playing competitively. I was really lucky to be matched with a math wiz, since I don’t think quickly enough to play a game like this well. We were able to not only play for the benefit of our own team, but to create set-backs for the others. Because the board pieces could slide each term, you couldn’t really strategize ahead of time. You had to come up with a solution in the moment of your turn. One team won after 20 minutes or so.

In the next round we played cooperatively. This was much more fun. We worked together to get all the pieces off the board, which we did in a little over half the amount of time.

A couple of things were interesting in this process. Three out of the four groups accomplished the task faster working cooperatively. The other group suffered from analysis paralysis in the cooperative round.

I was also really interested to see how the people at my table were able to switch from competitive to cooperative almost instantly. Even though it took a totally different strategy, they could shift their behavior in a moment. I suspect this is a result of playing a lot of games, but it’s also a skill that is very helpful in cross-cultural communication. It got me thinking about the value of adding games to some of the cultural training programs I do.

Another thing I greatly appreciated was although Ron is a college professor and very much wanted to share the theoretical understanding of our experience, he was very realistic about the NASAGA audience. He knew people just wanted to play the game, and kept his slides to a minimum. At the same time, he had detailed handouts for those of us who were interested in them.

Hammer it Home: A Metaphorical Toolbox for Trainers

Brian Remer from the Firefly Group facilitated a session using three different ways to engage participants through metaphor. Each table had a stack of index cards. Every person was asked to list one idea per card to answer what makes learning magic? After gathering a healthy stack, Brain redistributed them so each person had three. We ranked them by how much we liked them, then walked around the room trying to trade for ones we liked better. After returning to our tables, we then worked as a group to identify the three ideas we liked best from all of our options.

During the next segment, each of the three table groups in the room focused on learning one technique and demonstrating to the rest of the groups. We all focused on displaying the themes from the first exercise.

My group received a bag of disparate props, which had to be used for something other than what they were designed, in a skit. Every prop and every person had to be a part of it. We got there, but it really stretched our abilities to make connections and associations.

Another group got to select from a whole table full of objects which would represent the concepts they discovered about the magic of learning. The third group did a similar thing, but used comics as the vehicle for association.

Brain created a great handout for the session which includes much better and more detailed descriptions of these activities, as well as a number of others. It also includes worksheets for exploring why you might use metaphor, when to incorporate it, cautions in using it, and ranges to consider in the strategic use. The packet finishes up with a bibliography and resource suggestions. You can download this handout from the Firefly Group site.

Other posts about the conference:

NASAGA 2007: Pictures everywhere, NASAGA 2007: Games, games everywhere , Game night at NASAGA 07 nasaga2007

We started having some trouble on the backend of the blog, so I decided I would upgrade the software to see if it would self heal. The good news, maybe some of it did? The bad, the images are now running into the words. I have tried to edit the code, to no avail.

I am facilitating large sessions the next two days. I fly out to the next conference Wed morning. Oops, didn’t really leave enough time to research and fix upgrade challenges.

I need a favor

Please, visualize space around the photos on the blog. I promise I will fix it as soon as I can. I recognize how visually disturbing it is, and how it violates many of the things I have been saying in posts about using visuals. I think it is one of those little jokes the universe plays…..let’s mess with the thing she cares the most about, he he he.

North American Simulation and Gaming Association conference in Atlanta

After the concurrent sessions ended for the day, we took shuttle buses to a local training facility, the Knowledge Development Center for a reception. There were people eating, talking, listening to music and playing games. Everywhere.

Later in the evening, the organized gameplay started. I chose to play Lifeboats. We played on five boards with up to six people per board.

The game has wooden boats and crew, along with cards that are used for voting. You vote to spring leaks in boats and to move boats forward toward the destination islands. Your crew is divided up between boats, and one person has to jump out to swim to a new boat every turn. You have Captain cards you can use to try to get control over a decision. But if someone else plays one at the same time, both lose the card without getting to decide. All in all, it is a very effective set-up for conflict.

This game isn’t about conflict resolution, or conflict management, it’s about getting to experience conflict in action. Lots of opportunity to experience power.
I played with five men. They seemed nice. Several had ties to the Peace Corps. I have a tendency toward cooperation. I assumed I was with others who were be similar.

Yea, right sure.

They ganged up and started killing off my crew members. Suddenly, it seemed more desirable to be a bit more aggressive. By the time they had systematically killed off all but one of my crew members, I wanted to kill things. And do things like randomly sink boats for the revenge factor.

Les Lauber facilitated the games. He taught us how to play and made evasive and therefore somewhat evocative comments to us as we were playing.

Some players were wondering how the game could be used for training. Les was particularly effective at debriefing and helping us understand how to call out the various parts of the game and link them to common experiences in organizations. We looked at several factors:

• How well we separated the people from the problem
• What were the sources of conflict
• How we could reframe the problems

We also got a list of principles reflected in Lifeboats. Here is mine.

People who feel they have been punished unfairly often react aggressively.

Hey, I didn’t know I’d want to kill little wooden pegs before!

Other posts about the conference
NASAGA 2007: Pictures everywhere, NASAGA 2007: Games, games everywhere
nasaga2007

One of the most exciting things about the North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA) conference for me was there were several sessions about using photographs in learning. Most of the time when I go to a conference, I am the only one doing a session like this. It was great to have other people who are designing, developing and using a variety of visual tools. It was also really nice to be a participant and be able to hear what others were sharing.

Beyond 1000 Words: Exploring the Magic of Pictures

This was the first concurrent session I attended. David Gouthro and Crystal Flaman created an overview of different ways to incorporate pictures for learning. They introduced us to a variety of tools that are available, and gave us the opportunity to participate in three different activities.

Expression Cards

The first activity was designed to get to know our table mates. It used Expression Cards, which are a set of 53 playing card sized images. We spread them out in the middle so we could see all the images, then each picked three to describe the following:

• a favorite childhood memory
• something that we love now
• a hope for the future

Each person at the table shared what they picked and why. We then discussed other ideas for using the cards. Our table decided to turn the cards over so we could not see them. We then randomly selected an image and talked about it in relationship to what we hoped to get out of the conference. It worked, the images sparked ideas for everyone.

Vision Board Collages

For the second activity each person got a piece of newsprint, and each table got a pile of photographs, magazines, scissors, and glue. We were instructed to create a vision of what we want in the future. The idea is to create a visual depiction of your dreams, then hang it somewhere so it can help you see your vision.

I’ve been doing this type of activity for many years in one form or another. Usually with a lot of thought, careful placement, and intricately cut out images. I noticed in the session I was able to very quickly identify key concepts, rip pictures out and stick them down in a few minutes. The result seems just as clear as the more labored versions of the past. I fully expect to get that new iPhone in the middle of the image to revolutionize my life.

The Visual Explorer

The Visual Explorer is a tool that comes from the Center for Creative Leadership, created by Chuck Palus and David Horth. It’s a set of 223 8 1/2 x 11 images. David Gouthro spread the images out on the floor down the hallway. We each selected a few images to represent the values of a high performing organization. We found partners to talk about our insights.

David and Crystal shared a whole range of resources and encouraged people to start using pictures for a wide variety of purposes. It was a great introduction to how easy it can be.

Looking @ Leadership: Visually and Interactively

Fran Kick started this session by showing us a video of ’something’. Over four minutes, it shifted and changed right up to the end when we got to see what we were looking at. It was a great exercise in perception and how our minds make associations and assumptions.

All this time, we had a set of photographs Fran has developed spread out on the floor in front of us. The set was created to teach high school students about leadership. It was created by identifying the key concepts in a number of leadership models, then selecting photographs to represent each one.

The photos are about 6 x 9 with rounded corners. They are placed on the floor randomly. We then walked among them several times to make sure we got to see them all. Then we selected a card that represented the leadership quality most important to us, and talked about the meaning of our choice in small groups.

The tool would best be used for groups learning about leadership theory. It’s a great way to cement the learning and to explore a variety of mainstream ideas about leadership. Using it with young people also gives them the opportunity to claim leadership qualities for themselves.

Other day-one sessions I heard about

Motivation Principles for Game Designers and Facilitators

This session gave participants the opportunity to explore with Thiagi six critical components to foster motivation: connection, choice, competence, confidence, collaboration, and captivation. I heard this session was particularly helpful for exploring the theoretical framework along with demonstrating classic Thiagi.

Poverty Reduction in Molansa: A Simulation

Sonia Riboux facilitated a simulation about poverty reduction. Participants had to manipulate multiple factors that contributed to economic results. Individuals had different amounts of resources to begin. I heard several people say it was very engaging.

Theatre of the Oppressed

While I didn’t get to participate this time, I have attended Stephanie Pollack’s sessions in the past, so I know this one was fantastic. The Great Game of Power was featured in the summer issue of SIMAGES. Many games and simulations address power, but few do it as directly as in Theatre of the Oppressed. Watching and listening to others describing how they see power when it is expressed with a few chairs and a table really shows you how dramatically perceptions can vary from person to person.

Coming soon:

Game night at NASAGA 2007. Day 2 concurrent sessions. What makes simulations magic? Technology day at the conference. nasaga2007

Opening Sessions and Overview

North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA) held their annual conference in Atlanta Georgia Oct 10-13. It was the first time I attended the conference, and I found it to be very warm and welcoming.

Surrounded by games!

Like any conference, there were more offerings than I could begin to attend. This one had me constantly trying to chose between sessions I thought were important for my professional development, and ones that just looked really fun.

There were games everywhere. From paper to cards, board games, and games on laptops. It was hard to take it all in. You had to pay attention, there were interesting things on tables in the hall, in the center of tables in sessions and meals. I saw groups in the lobby all hours of the day and night leaning over some kind of game. I had no idea there were so many, or people who knew how to play most anything you could name.

I suspect there is a conference within the conference that happens informally in the hallways and after hours. While I like games, I am really passionate about experiential methods. I’m not sure my brain works fast enough to really be a gamer. I think I might be too reflective. So I wasn’t sure about trying to join in the informal sessions. Would I be run out of the hotel as an impostor gamer? I was so tired from just the sessions, it was easy not to even have to take the risk to find out.

The Game of Magic: The Magic of Games

Bernie DeKoven was the first speaker. He talked about the concept of half-belief. Games and simulations work when there is enough connection to other things or experiences in our lives that they can create a half-belief. We sort of know they aren’t real, but when they engage us enough to hook us in a particular way, the game moves into a new space. The potential to learn something new emerges.

Call it What You Will: A Conceptual Framework for Training Games, Simulations, and Activities.

Silasailam ‘Thiagi’ Thiagarajan came to the stage. Thiagi has a particular kind of presence so no matter where he stands, it becomes a stage. I don’t think words can really describe the magic of Thiagi, you just really need to see him in action.

The thing I find most compelling about Thiagi is not only is he incredibly prolific (He creates a game everyday), but he also thinks deeply about how and why they work. He can structure complex concepts and lay them out in a way that they suddenly become clear to who ever choses to listen carefully. It takes focus.

He named four characteristics of games.

• Conflict (the challenge)
• Control (the rules)
• Closure (the end)
• Contrivance (the half-belief)

A simulation includes the above and adds:

• Correspondence (connection to real world)

A Training Game includes all of the above and adds:

• Competency (improvement from participation)

The Thiagi Group has created a glossary of learning activities . To help us learn about them, each person got a card with an activity and its definition. We had to mill around and ask as many people as possible about the activity they had on the card. I was surprised at how many I wasn’t familiar with. It’s so easy to become attached to our favorite methods and forget how many others are out there we can use.

In the next few days

I’ll be writing about the sessions I attended on each day of the conference, as well as the session I did with Peggy Pusch on What makes simulations magic? If you attended the conference and write about your experience, let me know so I can link to you. I’d love to hear about some of the other things I missed.

Other posts about the conference:

NASAGA 2007: Pictures everywhere, NASAGA 2007: Games, games everywhere , Game night at NASAGA 07 nasaga2007

Create more effective training materials, blogs, websites, etc. by understanding how to use visuals that reinforce your message not detract from it.

The series

This post is the third in a series about visual elements in images. Part 1 Visual Elements is about dominant lines and shapes. Part 2 Color and Contrast looks at how color affects emphasis. Here we will look at texture and pattern.

Texture and Pattern: The slippery slope

Why do I think texture and pattern is a slippery slope? Because while they greatly affect the overall impression of a webpage, blog, or presentation slide, it isn’t always considered carefully. And the tools we use to create these visuals often give us the ability to make choices that are unfortunate. Slide backgrounds are an example. They often are somewhat generic patterns or textures, but overlaid with yet another pattern created by bulleted text, it becomes a visual war for attention.

Presentation Zen has a great post on Learning from Bill Gates and Steve Jobs with a perfect example of this. Bill Gates is using a template that does absolutely nothing to enhance his message, and in some slides leads the eye to areas of no content. Notice how this frame (left) leads your eye to the bright yellow area and the woman’s back. It’s hard to read the title when it is submerged in the dark brown.

Steve Jobs uses a simple gradated background. The images and words are not competing for attention with the background. Your eye can easily take in either the words or images. Jobs’ slides are a lot easier on the eye and make it easier for the audience to maintain attention to the presentation. Enough said, visit Presentation Zen for great insights into how to use design to enhance the effectiveness of your presentations.

Let’s look at blog themes

As I was thinking about how to illustrate this point, I went over to the Wordpress Theme Viewer. A theme is like a template, in that it controls the look of your blog. The top ten downloaded themes provide a wealth of examples of strong patterns and textures created by the templates’ headers, headings, and sidebars.

I have ordered these themes in terms of pattern and texture, from ones with very strong dominant elements, to ones where the headers create strong banded patterns, to more subtle themes.

I’ve intentionally put these up as thumbnail-sized images, because it is easier to see the visual patterns when you can’t read the words. Our eyes focus on one area at a time, so it is really easy to forget to look at the overall effect. Yet our eyes do pick up on those elements, and often they distract us. Advertisers use patterns, textures, contrast, and bright colors all the time to get us to look at their ads.

In the first two, you can barely see there is dummy text in the post area, because the backgrounds are so dominant. The next four themes have strong, dark horizontal bars, which attract the eye, even before any word content is added. The last four templates are much more subtle. They don’t demand that your eye be drawn to the visual patterns of the template as much as the first six themes do.

Any of these themes might work quite well for your specific purpose. Just be conscious of why you are choosing them and ask yourself if they will service the needs of what you are trying to accomplish. And perhaps most importantly do the visual patterns serve your audience’s needs.

Don’t forget when you are looking for a theme or template, that you are often seeing it loaded up with simple nondescript filler text. How often does our content look that way? Seldom, if at all. We’ll take a look at content next.

Let’s visit Google Reader

I went over to my Google Reader to see what real content looks like without the visual components of a blog template. When you read blogs in RSS readers, you see the content separate from the template. Here were some examples:

Often the text in a blog contains links, subheadings, and bold text for emphasis. This creates its own kind of texture and pattern. Seeing your blog text in a reader is a good way to study the visual effect you are creating with your content.

Did your mother ever tell you not to wear stripes and plaid together?

There are fashion designers and models who can pull off wearing different patterns together. The average person looks a bit silly. Yet, we create clashing patterns with our templates and content all the time.

How does this happen? Let’s look at the window I am writing this in right now and what it looks like on the blog. Not the same. Yes, I can go back and forth between writing the content and previewing how it will look, but even then, it often looks different on my Macintosh than it does on a Windows machine.

What can we do to be more effective?

The first thing is just to be aware that templates and backgrounds can have strong patterns and textures that effect the overall look of your presentation. Noticing and paying attention to the overall as well as the details helps a lot.

Carefully consider the templates you choose. You can use a strong design if you are conscious about the effects it will have. If you aren’t quite as confident in your design skills, pick something a bit simpler.

Remember that subheadings, bold, and links create texture and pattern in your content.

Clashing content can be very effective for some designs. But think about your audience. Are you trying to scream to get attention? Is your audience apt to like lots of visual noise? Or is your audience new to your topic and really needing to focus on the content? Your choices add to what you are saying. Or detract from it.

Do your visuals say what you want them to?