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The ultimate guide to visual perception and design

This course explores how we can improve designs to support human vision better and improve usability as a direct result.

Short course Advanced Visual design

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What you’ll learn

  • How visual perception is formed, based on an understanding of the anatomy of the eye
  • What the theories of human color vision are, as well as important color considerations for your designs
  • How to apply color information to designs
  • How to apply Gestalt principles, such as the law of proximity and the figure/ground organization, so as to create effective designs
  • How imagery, context, and attention form important considerations for all kinds of designs
  • How humans perceive objects, and how to use that knowledge for screen-based interfaces.

Human vision is an amazing ability; we are capable of interpreting our surroundings so as to interact safely and accurately with little conscious effort. However, we are well attuned to nature and things that occur naturally in our environment, which has significant implications for design. Unless man-made products are attuned to, and support, human visual perception, the viewing experience suffers and there is significant potential that users will be unable to use your products quickly, safely, or without error. For this reason, it is essential that we investigate how we see the world and why we see things in the way we do in order to know what we can do to ensure our products provide the best viewing experience possible. This is why we have developed “The Ultimate Guide to Visual Perception and Design,” and why it is such an important topic for designers to master.

For those of us who are blessed with good eyesight, we seldom consider it. That’s why going off to investigate the whys and hows involved is a little like trying to get behind the wind for the sake of finding the exact spot where it comes from. Happily, getting to the bottom of the phenomena involved in visual perception is a lot less laborious, and perhaps infinitely more fascinating. During the course, we will first cover the basic anatomy of the human eye so as to understand how vision is formed. We will then look at lots of different designs, evaluating each one according to specific aspects of the human visual experience. We will also identify how we can improve designs to support human vision better and improve usability as a direct result. Using the knowledge it imparts earlier on, this course will then analyze the design of icons in screen-based interfaces.

Course details

Institution

Course type
Short course

Level
Advanced

Qualification
Certificate of completion

Length
13 hours over five weeks

Cost
£144/yr or £30/month


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