CHATTERBOX: LESSON MATERIALS
REDESIGNING THE PRESENTATION OF LESSON CONTENT TO HELP STUDENTS ENGAGE AND ABSORB THE INFORMATION Chatterbox provides language lessons delivered by refugees. To find out more go to https://wearechatterbox.org
To read the full case study with visuals:
http://jenniferlsmith.design/chatterbox-lesson-materials.html
Full rational of key descisions on Medium
OPPORTUNITY
Working in collaboration with Melinda Rizzo, I transformed the content for the newly developed Spanish curriculum from a content heavy text document to a PDF with easily scannable and manageable learning content.
The design needed to be a PDF Document that could be accessed via a screen or printed and have the possibility of being transferred to an online platform in the future. It also needed to capture the lively essence of South American culture whilst being balanced with a clean and mature enough design to appeal to adult learners who may be used to very traditional learning formats.
INSPIRATION
To reflect the personality of the South American tutors and their cultural background, we chose to use a bright, warm orange tone as a starting point for our colour palette. We then combined it with pops of red and a soft yellow tone.
We looked for inspiration in the form of print media design, This helped us to visualize the way large amounts of text is dealt with when the format is not content it must all be present at all times.
One of our main challenges was to display the content in a way that would not make learners shy away from large blocks of text or complex grammatical structures.
DESIGN
The design utilizes visual hierarchy to draw the learners attention to the Spanish text and focus of the target language over the English translation. It also features soft background boxes that help guide the eye to relevant information.
When designing we tried to remain user-centered and see the document from a learner’s perspective. To break down the large paragraphs of text, we categorised the content and worked on styling each in an absorbable way.
To see a full rationale of our key decisions check out the full case study on Medium
RESULT
The team at chatterbox worked with us to refine the content of the lessons further and together we were able to deliver lesson materials that help learners prepare to meet their tutor and have the best possible interaction.
As the curriculum develops we are assisting in the implementation of our design onto the new lessons. We delivered ‘Lesson one’ which is an 18 page PDF document that can be viewed on a screen or printed and an annotated document and style guide that allows the design to be replicated on any new materials.
COMMENTS FROM THE CHATTERBOX TEAM
"I’m thrilled to finally see what we have worked on becoming one beautiful piece of pdf. It’s worth it!"
— Nat, Chatterbox Lesson Development Team
"I absolutely love the design, choice of color and elements. I think it’s easy to go through, students will be rewarded flying through these pages of language learning."
— Guillemette, Chief Operations Officer at Chatterbox
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Chatterbox
- Education & Research