With the way the world is coping with the Corona Virus outbreak, E-learning is the way forward for education. There are several educational platforms available in today’s world that turn your smartphone into a classroom. These platforms make e-learning an interactive and enjoyable virtual studying experience for the students.

UI and UX design play a major role in bringing e-learning to life. While UI design takes care of the visual aspects of e-learning platforms, UX design focuses on the learner’s overall experience – their satisfaction and usability.

The Role of UI in E-learning Design

As mentioned above, UI refers to the visual part that learners interact with. It includes color scheme, navigation, graphics, etc. A UI/UX design company can implement the following UI elements in e-learning platforms to create a makeover.

1. Visual Appeal

The key to generating interest in the learners lies in the visual appeal of e-learning apps. Based on the first look of an e-learning platform, students create an impression in their minds. Hence, bad visual design can disengage the learners and fail to pique their interest. 

A compelling visual appeal can be achieved if the UI design takes care of the following factors:

• Maintaining visual consistency throughout the e-learning platform
• Using relevant images or icons and the right color
• Including visual elements that are elementary and easy to comprehend
• Avoiding cluttering of visual elements

Some important visual elements to consider in e-learning platforms are:

(i) Colors

Colors greatly influence the human mind and its perception. Depending upon the age, gender, cultural background, etc. of the learners, the colors used in the e-learning platform should be determined. For example, red is commonly used to gain the user’s attention, and blue is used to create a calm and relaxed ambiance.

 (ii) Font

Choosing the right typography ensures the readability of the content for the learners. The font shouldn’t be too small or cluttered and should be clearly visible. Use a font palette that is clean and legible and do not use more than two fonts.

(iii) Transparency

Transparency means reducing the opacity of particular objects or images to create an illusion of focus or selection.

(iv) Contrast

An effective way to increase readability is by using contrast. It improves the user’s ability to see visual elements and aids accessibility.

2. Consistency

An inconsistent design can disturb the learning experience. Hence it is essential to maintain consistency throughout the design. This can be achieved by implementing consistent layout, icons, font, color, behavior, and functions throughout the e-learning platform.

 3. Navigation

Navigation should be clear and intuitive to enhance the e-learning experience. While designing navigation, it is important to keep in mind that the learner may access the e-learning platform through various devices such as smartphones, tablets, or desktop. To improve navigation, visual clues directing the user to actions or next steps can be implemented.

4. Performance

The speed and performance of the e-learning platform should be excellent. It should be lightweight and should load fast. It should perform equally well on all platforms such as smartphones, tablets, and desktop. 

 The Role of UX in E-learning Design

The role of UX is to design an experience that matches the expectations and needs of the user. Let’s take a look at some of the UX elements that can be applied to e-learning platforms to complement the e-learning experience.

1. Identifying Learner Personas

Understanding the target audience is the first step of a UX design process. Developing a great UX design using psychological principles is a well-established theory. 

In order to understand the learners, they can be divided into different personas like – Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. This will help the UX designers to recognize the requirements and expectations of different users. Once an understanding of learners is obtained, designers can map out learner scenarios and identify learner’s interaction patterns.

2. Minimalistic Design

Minimalism is one of the UX design tools that is a rising trend in the UI UX world. The minimalist design provides a simple and clutter-free interface, which is ideal for e-learning apps. It makes sure that there are no distracting factors in the design, which will take the learner’s focus away from studying. Minimalist designs also improve performance.

3. Gamification of e-learning platforms

A current UX design trend in the e-learning experience is gamifying it using motivational elements and engaging design. The idea is to make the learning playful by using game mechanics such as rewards, points, and leaderboards. Gamifying learning experience makes learning fun, engaging, and interactive.

4. Responsive Design

Responsive learning design is a must-have feature in today’s e-learning platforms. Since learners access the learning content from various devices, the design approach must be in such a way that the content adjusts smoothly to different screen sizes.

From this article, we can find that by implementing the appropriate UI and UX design principles for e-learning platforms, it is possible to make the virtual learning experience be at par with the real-life classroom experience.