A few tips that will add emotion to your courses

Approximate reading time: 3m 26s

Good music and a comfortable armchair calm the mind and stimulate it to work better. The same applies to online courses, but in a slightly different aspect. In them, you can use the tactic that positive emotions have a beneficial effect on the brain and stimulate it to absorb information more easily. This rule is very simple and logical: when the brain is positively настроен, it becomes more interested in the material, is more motivated and concentrates more, which has a favorable effect on the results achieved. In addition, things that are charged with some emotion remain longer in our minds.

Therefore, in order to make your courses more successful and give your learners more lasting knowledge, you can use the power of positive emotion. Here are a few tips that will help you with this endeavor.

Typography

Proper typography (the appropriate and aesthetically pleasing use of different fonts) is the easiest trick you can use. It has been proven that different fonts provoke different types of mood and influence perceptions. For example, people are more likely to believe texts written in Baskerville. Times New Roman is the most widely used for writing important documents because it adds formality and seriousness. Kristen ITC is used for writing informal and playful texts, Kozuka gothic adds drama, etc. Each font has its own character and can exert a strong subconscious influence on the reader.

There are countless websites on the Internet that offer you information about different fonts and the emotion they convey. As an example, we give you one of them: http://www.fontscape.com/explore?70V

Besides typography, font size is also important. It also affects perceptions. For example, people tend to pay more attention to words written in a larger font. That is why newspaper headlines are always larger. Other tricks are bolding, which usually signifies emphasis on something important, or using italics, with which a new term is presented in scientific texts.

From what has been said so far, it becomes clear that using the different characteristics of fonts is a suitable way to give your texts the desired mood. 

Colors

Using the right color is like choosing the right emoji. Every color, shade, or hue can convey its own message. They can make people feel cheerful, depressed, excited, and in general can convey any emotion. 

Warm colors such as yellow, red, and orange stimulate positive emotions. Yellow also stimulates imagination. That is why, if you pay attention, in most classrooms the walls are yellow rather than white, since white brings a sense of boredom. Experiments with students show that the right color can improve student participation in class and their activity by up to 80%.

We warn you to be very careful when choosing colors, to use them properly and in moderation. You need to know them well in order to avoid mistakes. Red, for example, besides provoking a positive emotion, can increase appetite or cause rage.

Images

Perhaps of all the subtleties, images are the most obvious way to convey emotion. Combining symmetry, color, and mood, they are an essential element of every text and can have an extremely strong influence on the reader.

For example, pictures with a linear structure or geometric shapes create a sense of order. Conversely, asymmetrical images provoke a feeling of chaos, confusion, even despair. Depth in an image creates a sense of closeness or isolation. If the object is shown in detail, the feeling while looking at it is more intimate. In addition, adding lines to the image can help the focus fall on a certain point.

Be very careful when choosing images. If you use them correctly, you can help the person viewing them to perceive your emotion and point of view, but if you use unsuitable images that do not match the text, this can lead to confusion and mistrust. Images should be placed in the right place in the text. More to the side and smaller if we want to emphasize the text more, and in a more central place if their content is important to the meaning of the text, since they can enrich and enliven it. Some free image editing programs you can find in our article by clicking the link

Content 

So far we have talked about how, through indirect means, we can influence the reader’s perceptions. It is time to give attention to the most important element of the text – its message. The words we use are extremely important for conveying emotion to the reader.

Simply written paragraphs with a friendly tone encourage learners to keep going, while overly long ones using complex terminology make reading difficult and lead to a loss of concentration and attention. The style we use when writing is very important, but unfortunately not everyone is born a writer. The good news is that if you want to create courses, you do not need to be one. You simply need to follow a few simple rules.

The easiest way is to use words that provoke a reaction: success, fate, overcoming, greed, etc. Words that stimulate a learning mindset are: control, discovery, laughter, achievement, help. Use as many such words as possible to attract the attention of learners. Another approach is to include a short story that readers can relate to. It is best if it is humorous, so that it evokes a pleasant emotion.

As you can see, you do not need to be a writer to create courses that are interesting, informative, and hold students’ attention. Just follow the few simple rules we have presented to you, and you will see their success for yourself.