Place printed words next to the graphic elements they describe

Place printed words next to the exact graphic element they describe. For example, integrate text inside the diagram or animation rather than putting the text in a separate window or along the bottom of the screen.

Separated text forces viewers to scan back and forth to find the corresponding visual target. Adjacent placement reduces this incidental search and frees attention for understanding the pictured relations.

Mechanism: When printed words sit near the relevant visual element, viewers spend less effort searching across the display and more effort processing the intended correspondence.

Evidence: Learners showed better problem-solving transfer from integrated presentations than from the same animation with separated on-screen text (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).

• User Goal: Understand how pictured parts and written explanation correspond.
• Task: Match printed words to specific visual elements.
• Data: A diagram or animation with labeled parts or localized explanations.
• Chart Setting: The display uses on-screen text and graphics together, and the current layout places the text away from the corresponding visual target.
• Audience: Viewers who must coordinate printed explanation with the picture.
• Success Criterion: Viewers can locate the relevant part quickly and use the explanation correctly.

Break it when: The explanation is spoken rather than printed. Why: The supported problem is visual scanning between printed words and the graphic.

Sacrifice: Printed words still consume visual-channel capacity even when they are better placed.
Risk: Adjacent placement does not solve overload if viewers still must read substantial text while an active animation demands constant visual attention.
Mitigation: When the motion already fills the visual channel, move the explanation to narration instead of relying on printed text.

Mistake: Keeping printed text in a separate window or distant text band. Why it fails: Viewers use limited capacity scanning across the display to find the corresponding picture part.

Failure Sign: The eye must travel across the display to connect a printed phrase to its target element.
Quick Check: For each printed phrase, ask whether a viewer can identify its target visual element without scanning across the screen.
Stronger Test: Compare an integrated-text version and a separated-text version of the same graphic.

• Move each printed phrase adjacent to its target element.
• Remove separate text windows or bottom text bands when the same explanation can be placed near the relevant part.
• If the display is heavily animated, replace the printed explanation with narration.