Designer Diary – Break Down the “Wall of Text" with Stylized Quotes
The dreaded “Wall of Text” is probably the most incessant issue in learning design. We’ve all seen it: a content page with a title, an endless scroll of text, and nothing else. It’s an uninspired and unengaging way to present content.
Why the Wall?
Instructional designers know that inserting visuals is key for enhancing retention, comprehension, and learner engagement. Furthermore, we know that a text-heavy approach to learning is just not conductive to an effective learning experience. So, if the Wall of Text is so maligned, why does it continue to pop up in online learning? The simple answer is ... it’s simple.
A Crack in the Wall
Creator+ is an ideal way to break through the Wall of Text. That’s because Creator+ Elements allow designers to easily “chunk” content into digestible pieces.
For text-heavy content, a Stylized Quote is my go-to solution. Stylized Quotes present text with an elegant flair to make otherwise static text pop. Creators can choose from a Standard Quote or a Large Focus Quote with this element. The Large Focus Quote highlights important quotations or passages by framing these phrases with a decorative quotation mark:
Standard Quotes are a little more versatile. This option is more suitable for longer blockquotes. Text is offset from the rest of the page but doesn’t display as big as the Large Focus Quote. This makes it ideal if you want to highlight a few sentences or even a paragraph:
Breaking Through
Stylized Quotes, particularly Standard Quotes, are easily applicable to almost any piece of text. This Element can be used to extract and call out important content, demonstrate statistics, and help set the focus of the entire page with a quote upfront.
They’re also an effective way to break down the Wall of Text by stylizing certain passages. If purposefully combined with other Creator+ Elements, you can stylize a boring, text-heavy page in a matter of minutes.
For example, a quick application of Stylized Quotes can turn this...
...into this!
With this simple change, your content page is now more engaging and readable. It requires no additional assets and takes about as much time as a simple copy and paste.
Learn More
We’re here to help you get the most out of Stylized Quotes. For a detailed list of instructions and best practices, check out the Stylized Quotes page in our Creator+ Instructional Design Best Practices course.
Do you have a question about Stylized Quotes? Ask your question in the comment section below and someone on the Creator+ team will help you out.