Design your lesson (part 1)

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What you'll learn: the basics of designing your lesson; how to customise the lesson layout and how to use colours, fonts and display options to make your lesson unique.

Time required: 15 minutes.

The design of your first slide already significantly influences students' engagement with the lesson. Motivation is crucial; did you know that a student looks at his/her phone on average 2,000 times a day? All in all, keeping students' attention is quite a challenge. A lesson's design can provide students with structure and recognition, which positively impact attention levels during the lesson.

In this lesson plan, you will learn more about layout options, about using imagery, and making your lesson unique. We have many more design tips, which is why we have divided this topic into two lesson plans. For more tips, continue reading in part 2!

When you add a slide to your LessonUp lesson, there are 9 default layout options to choose from. These options are very convenient if you want to quickly create a slide without much thought.

If you desire more freedom in designing your lesson, choose the blank layout, represented by the box in the bottom-right corner. With this option, you can flexibly work with components within the slide, such as a text box or an image box, and place them wherever you prefer.

A beautiful background image is a powerful tool to use within your lesson. It stands out, and students immediately feel immersed in your lesson.

The downside is that sometimes text can be difficult to read against an image background. By adjusting the transparency and color, you can make your text more visible.

Check the example below, taken from a Modern English lesson. On the left slide, the text is poorly readable. On the right side image, transparency and colour contrast have been applied.

In this case, a vector/png file was used to enhance the slide. A vector/png file is an image without a background. If you are interested, you can add the word 'vector' or 'png' to your image search query.

If you want to add a 'standalone' image to your slide (not as background), go to +Component --> Image.

For advanced options to adjust the image, click on the gear icon, followed by the pencil icon. In this screen, you can adjust the transparency of the image, and round its corners.

Here are some tips for working with imagery:

Use images to support text.
Use visuals only when they make the content clearer. If the image is purely decorative, it may distract from your message.
Avoid using images with too many distracting details. The main subject should be clear at a glance.

Note: LessonUp is a public platform. Images you place in your public lesson/s may be used by others in their lessons. Therefore, choose images from websites like Pixabay, Freepik, Unsplash, Flaticon, as these provide copyright-free images. Read more about using copyright-free material in your lesson.

1. Colour

By adding your (school's) colours, everyone will be able to easily recognise your lessons. In LessonUp, you can easily insert your own color palette. This way, you can use your standard colors within every lesson you make. In this article, you can read how to create your own color palette in LessonUp.

If you prefer to create your own brand style, but are not sure which colours go well together, use tools like Colormind or Coloors to help you with define your own colour palette!

In the colour palette, you will also find 'Colours in this lesson.' LessonUp immediately recognises colours already used in the lesson. This makes it easy to apply the same colours everywhere.

Tip: Don't rely solely on colours to convey information. Someone who is colour-blind and/or visually impaired should also be able to understand the content. Ensure good contrast. You can use this site to test if your colours are accessible enough according to the WCAG guidelines.

2. Font

LessonUp uses Montserrat as its default font. However, you can change the default font in LessonUp. This way, LessonUp will apply the font you have selected to all slides and text boxes (components). In this article, you can read how to adjust the default font.

Tip: Use a maximum of 2 different fonts. For example, use one for the titles and one for the main text.

3. Information

As explained earlier, you can adjust the textual font. But when should you use text on a slide? It is crucial to convey information the right way, and that may not always be through text.

We would like to give you 2 effective tips to use within your lessons:

- Don't pack your slide with too much information:

Instead of full sentences, use keywords, and see if images can replace some of the text.

Prefer using images with accompanying text rather than just text. When you only look at a slide for a few minutes, it can be challenging to remember all the text. Since people are visually oriented, images with accompanying text tend to be more memorable.

You have now learned the basics of designing a lesson; how to adjust the lesson's layout and make your lesson unique through the use of colour, font, and information transfer.

In Part 2 of lesson design, you will learn how to animate text and images, get tips concerning text boxes, size, and alignment, and see how to save your formatting.

👉 Go directly to the next lesson plan: Designing Your Lesson (Part 2).

Design your lesson (part 1)

WHY DESIGN?

ADJUSTING THE LAYOUT

BACKGROUND (IMAGE)

FINDING AND ADDING IMAGERY

MAKE YOUR LESSONS 'UNIQUE'

🧑‍🎓 (1/2) CONTINUE LEARNING: THE NEXT LESSON OF MODULE 2