The present article tries to point out some elements regarding the visual and pedagogical design of learning materials in the digital environment, focusing on content design principles such as page layout, visual arrangements, use of illustrations and colours. In order to develop effective eLearning, the conversion of educational resources into e-content should be carried out following generally agreed rules.

To assimilate and interpret the (mainly) visual content, learners in technology-based environments develop a series of psychological processes such as visual perception, attention, understanding, motivation, memory, thinking and conscience. In order to provide a significant learning situation, effective design must rely on several basic principles aiming to support the participants’ confidence and comfort, but mostly their learning performance.

Pedagogical design requires decisions on specific procedures and rules in every step of the process, from the choice of the learning objectives to the choice of the assessment strategies.

The basic visual and pedagogical design ideas presented in this article are meant to constitute a support for further reflection and an invitation to reconsider, expand and empirically validate the theoretical foundation of eLearning, especially concerning a very much evoked and a less clarified issue: how digital resources and new web tools improve the quality of learning.