Practica
Design Principles
Learn how to apply visual design and usability principles to public-facing materials.
This course provides a deep dive on visual and content design for public-facing communication materials. We’ll go beyond the typical best practices – honing in on topics, questions, tools, and examples relevant to people who serve the public. With an emphasis on ethics and accessibility, you’ll leave this course ready to assess your institution’s existing materials, propose improvements, help create new designs, and work with designers to pull it all together.
course outcomes
Describe design principles and best practices related to visual design, accessibility, writing and readability, color, font, and translation.
Use these principles to assess designs and suggest ways to improve them.
Know when you can take action yourself, and when to bring in professionals, such as designers, accessibility experts, and translators.
What you'll learn
What to expect+
Course overview
Preparing to learn
Getting started checklist
Seeing like a designer+
Principles of usability
DIY vs. contracting out
General Principles: Public Institutions+
Keep it concise
Make it easy to understand
Emphasize action
Communicate consequences
General Principles: Visual Design+
Create a clear hierarchy
Use white space
Group things logically
Use consistent patterns
Accessibility: What Is It?+
Why accessibility
Leading with accessibility
Accessibility: Guidelines+
Web accessibility guidelines
General accessibility guidelines
Tools and resources
Voice, Plain Language, Readability+
Writing for humans
Voice, tone, and word choice
Structuring content for readability
Tools and resources
Colors+
The case for color
How to use color
Accessible colors
Using Fonts+
- Choosing and using fonts
Translation+
Writing for translation
Choosing languages
Selecting a translator
User testing for translation
Wrapping up+
Expert Walkthrough: Design Assessment
Tools and Resources
What’s next
Enroll as a team
Learning is better as a team sport. Not only is it more fun to learn with your colleagues, it also makes it easier to stay accountable to your goals, apply knowledge to active projects, and inspire culture change across your institution.
Practica supports collaborative learning through paid cohorts: 6-8 week group learning experiences facilitated by Civilla staff. Together with your colleagues, you’ll participate in workshops, be guided through one or more Practica courses, get coaching from Civilla design experts, and receive ongoing feedback.
