Discussion Post #2

I really enjoyed the interview with Mrs. Margaret Kiernan.  As a teacher of multimedia literacy, there ate a lot of points she made that can translate to the classroom.  I strongly agree with her point about the importance of teachers understanding and being able to confidently use any type of media and being able to communicate their message.  Being in charge of a classroom means having to communicate your message for the day for everyone to comprehend.  Some of the elements of design, like having focal points as Kiernan suggests, are important to keep students focused and paying attention to whatever it is you want them to be paying attention.

The design of a message can sometimes be equally as important as the message itself.  As Kiernan discusses many "non graphic designers" make the mistake of trying to put too much in one space instead of embracing the white space.  I could definitely understand why novices would make this mistake.  It is sometimes hard to decide what is the most important elements so we just say put it all on!  However, this can get confusing as people may not know where to direct their focus and pay attention more to the complicated design.

As a teacher it also sounds like a smart idea to stay away from decorative fonts.  Students need to be able to read the content in order to understand it.  Having them spend more time trying to see what each letter is and getting distracted means they are spending less time focusing on the material.  Same reason why the fonts should be appropriately sized so that all students can see.  Grouping images and accompanying text would also make it easier for students to understand.  Having to go find the accompanying information about a picture wastes unnecessary time.