EDITORS’ CHOICE AWARD
Designing an Information Comic
Maaike Wessels-Compagnie
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Abstract
This study revolves around the idea that using the visual language of comics to communicate scholarly knowledge benefits learners in higher education. The researcher transformed the written academic prose of pages 58-70 of Mayer’s Multimedia Learning (2009) into a 12-page information comic with help of expert informants and found that it is possible to create an information comic that communicates academic ideas provided the researcher has 1) a high level of visual literacy, 2) accepts that intersemiotic translation always leads to new meaning, 3) accepts that emotion will become part of the final product, and 4) accepts that it takes considerable time to create the imagery. Based on the literature, experience and expert feedback, the researcher identifies 12 possible steps for the design of information comics and six reasons why information comics demonstrate great potential for learning.
Keywords: Information Comic, Academic Communication, Multimedia Learning, Emotive Design.