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title: Design Principles for Multimedia Learning

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# Design Principles for Multimedia Learning

*Excerpted from “Research-Based Principles for Designing Multimedia Instruction” by Richard E. Mayer.*

## 1. Coherence
**Exclude extraneous material.** People are better able to focus on the essential material if we eliminate extraneous material that could distract them. 

For example, students who learned from a narrated animation on lightning formation performed better on a transfer test if the lesson did not also contain short video clips depicting lightning strikes (Mayer, Heiser, & Lonn, 2001).  

![](https://i.imgur.com/3Mb2Fwk.png)


## 2. Signaling
**Use design cues to highlight the essential material (and its organization).** 

People will learn more efficiently if the lesson is designed to call their attention to the important material in the lesson and how it is organized.

For verbal material, this includes using an outline, headings, highlighting (such as underlining) and pointer words (such as first, second, third). For visual material, use arrows, flashing, and spotlighting. 


![](https://i.imgur.com/lKpxSlx.png)


## 3. Redundancy
**Do not repeat information streams.** People learn more deeply from graphics and narration than from graphics, narration, and on-screen text. 

With redundant presentations, people waste processing capacity trying to reconcile the two verbal streams of information or may focus on the printed words rather than the relevant portions of the graphics. 

![](https://i.imgur.com/n6r1Q2f.png)

## 4. Spatial Contiguity
**On a diagram or image, place labels as close as possible.** People learn more deeply from a multimedia message when corresponding printed words and graphics are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen. 

Spatial contiguity helps learners build connections between corresponding words and graphics.

![](https://i.imgur.com/j93r0Y2.png)

## 5. Temporal Contiguity
**Narrate graphics as they happen.** People learn more deeply from a multimedia message when corresponding graphics and narration are presented simultaneously rather than successively. 

Temporal contiguity also helps learners build connections between corresponding words and graphics.


## 6. Segmenting
**Present material in learner-paced segments.** People learn more deeply when a multimedia message is presented in learner-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit. 

Segmenting allows people to fully process one step in the process before having to move onto the next one. 

![](https://i.imgur.com/fw4iYoz.png)

## 7. Modality
**If the graphic is important, it’s better to narrate than to caption.** People learn more deeply from a multimedia message when the words are spoken rather than printed.

Note: Printed words may be effective when the verbal material contains technical terms, is in the learner’s second language, or is presented in segments that are too large to be held in the learner’s working memory. 


## 8. Personalization 
**Use conversational language during presentations**. People learn more deeply when the words in a multimedia presentation are in conversational style rather than formal style. 

For example, in a narrated animation on how the human respiratory system works use conversational wording (e.g., “your lungs,” or “your nose”) rather than formal style (e.g., “the lungs” or “the nose”).  

![](https://i.imgur.com/kc4CFIX.png)


## 9. Embodiment
**Use your body and emote when communicating through video.** People learn more deeply when onscreen agents display human-like gesturing, movement, eye contact, and facial expression.

![](https://i.imgur.com/wsny7uk.png)

