Easy ways to create your elearning templates

Putting together an e-learning/ presentation template in Powerpoint or Keynote can be quite easy. What most of us struggle with is color combinations. There are a couple of tricks I like to use, to build my designs.

a) Use a color schemer: Color schemers are easily available for all platforms and generally make decisions around color combinations an absolute no brainer. I use Color Schemer on my Mac and the way I use it, is to specify a starting color and then I just let it tell me what colors will go well with it.

b) Mimic a symbol from popular culture: For example you could pick colors off a US flag if you were creating a module/ presentation for a government agency or on American history, that's your safest best - red, white and blue! I used this very example to create a little fictitious demo of an airline's features. Check it out and let me know what you think.

c) Use a website/ web application that you really like: In the example above I've used Caty's design studio (below) as inspiration. All it took was the creation of a custom shape in Keynote, a few drop shadows here and there, a character from Design Comics and I was done.

I've found these to be easy ways to start designing a template/ look and feel of an e-learning module and sometimes even a presentation. Especially when you're short of experience, getting some inspiration always helps.