22/06/2016 6 Alternatives To Bullet Lists

6 Alternatives To Bullet Lists

by Connie Malamed

Bullets make lists of important points easy to read. When those near-perfect
little circles are vertically aligned, readers can quickly process the text. Yet too
many bullet lists in an eLearning course or slide presentation can be
repetitious and mind-numbing.

Learners and audiences need novelty to maintain and sustain attention. The
trick for going beyond bullets is to think visually. By sprinkling in alternatives to
bullets here and there, your minimal use of bullets will be more effective.

Here are six bullet alternatives you can create in any graphics program or in
PowerPoint. Of all these approaches, which ones do you think are best? Please comment below.

Alternative 1: Use text boxes

A simple alternative to a list is to place each item into a a text box that is arranged in a suitable layout.
With this approach, each point is more pronounced than in a list. It can also be accomplished easily
with basic graphic tools and in PowerPoint. Below, what could have been a bullet list of eLearning
design skills is placed in horizontally arranged text boxes with a 1 pixel border.

Alternative 2: Let icons do the

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talking
Using the same text boxes as above, this approach adds icons to the words. Notice the appealing
effect of adding small and simple pictures to each box. For some learners, the image may work as a
mnemonic device to help retain information. In case you’re wondering where to find icons, check
my Icon Collections page in Resources for suggestions.

These icons were found at Iconfinder.

You can take this approach one step further by accentuating the graphic more than the words. In the
social learning screen below, graphic prominence through size is appropriate because of the well-
known branding of the platforms shown.

These icons are courtesy of BuildInternet!.com

The Sketch Block font is free for personal use fromDafont.com.

Alternative 3: Let People Speak

Your List
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When you use people cutouts to speak your points, no one will suspect this is a list. When you buy
people cutouts, you get the same person in various poses. You can use these as instructional-agents
or as characters in scenarios throughout the course. You can find cutout people ateLearning Art and
the eLearning Brothers.

These cutout people are from the eLearning Brothers.

The speech bubbles are a free download fromMedia Militia.

Alternative 4: Wrap the list around

a picture
Another simple approach is to find an interesting silhouette at a stock photo site or even to draw a
simple geometric shape. Then wrap the list around the silhouette or shape, gently following its
contours.

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