Message Design Happens All The Time

​This summer is blistering hot. It’s no wonder that people are trying to get as close to beaches or cooler climates as much as possible. Media plays a role in message design. The information we take in and understand. Do you know what message design is about? More importantly, do you know what Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is all about?
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We experience message design on social media, art, education, and other fields where learning takes shape, and we, as learners, go through a metamorphosis of information that we may or may not know about. CLT is a framework that helps us understand how our brains process information and learn new things. We have working memory, which, for me, at times, has limited capacity, and becoming overwhelmed with too much information is exhausting. There are three types of cognitive load – intrinsic, extraneous, and germane. Intrinsic load is the complexity of the material itself, like when you are trying to learn something, in your opinion, hard to understand. Extraneous load is unnecessary information or distractions that make learning harder, like watching a YouTube video to learn something. The curator has too many elements, including lousy background music, making it hard to concentrate, and you become annoyed. Germane load is when we put effort into understanding and learning the material. The point is the goal of the three. The goal is to reduce extraneous load, manage intrinsic load, and maximize germane load, making learning more effective.  

Humans learn in diverse ways - visually, auditory, kinesthetically, through reading/writing, socially, and logically. Mayer’s Multimedia Theory underscores the power of combining words and pictures in learning, showing that this approach is more effective than using words alone. When multimedia is thoughtfully designed and relevant, it reduces extraneous cognitive load and bolsters our comprehension. 
So, the next time you watch a video or visit a website to learn something, etc., check your learning to see if it is overloading you.