Designing Digital Media

Design Tips

It's easy to design digital media with the tools available today, however, designing digital media that inspires action, changes thinking/behavior, or goes viral is quite a challenge!

First and foremost, design with your audience in mind (see: Getting a scientific message across means taking human nature into account). Make sure to debunk misconceptions about the topic - Researchers have found that students are less likely to watch a science video when they think they already know the information from the video, even if their knowledge is incorrect (Helll-ooo! Watching Videos Does Not Necessarily Lead to Learning).

Here are some more tips to creating more impactful media products:

Heath & Heath's Made to Stick Principles

The following principles provide a valuable guide to designing captivating media:

• • • Simple - Don't overwhelm with facts, ideas, or information. Use the rule of 3 (what 3 things do you want the audience to take away from your media?).

    • Unexpected - Information and ideas that are shocking are more memorable. How can you surprise the audience with your media?

    • Concrete - Don't use abstract terms or complex jargon. Present information in a way that is relevant to the audience. This is one of the biggest challenges with climate change as we often focus on abstract ideas (aka the future) or topics that are out of sight and mind (aka deforestation in the Amazon).

    • Credible - Why should the audience believe you? Credibility can come in many forms (education degree, profession, personal experience). Consider incorporating information from NASA, National Geographic, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations, and other reputable sources.

    • Emotion - Simply increasing an individual’s heart rate results in a higher likelihood of sharing a video. "Virality is partially driven by physiological arousal. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral. Content that evokes low-arousal, or deactivating, emotions (e.g., sadness) is less viral" (Berger & Milkman, 2011).

    • Story - When you tell a story, people not only listen/watch, parts of their brain activate as if they are experiencing the story themselves (read: The Science of Storytelling: What Listening to a Story Does to Our Brains). Thus, storytelling is an incredibly powerful and impactful teaching tool (learn more: Stories are better than lectures at teaching us about health).

Design Tools & Resources

Going Viral

How do you design digital media that goes viral? Watch these two videos and you'll notice some of the tips from above and discover new ideas.