Principle
Put the explanation beside the thing it explains
Do not make the reader carry a label across the page in memory.
When it fits
- Readers keep looking between a diagram and a distant legend.
When to avoid it
- Preserve accessible reading order and readable size. Crowding a diagram can create a different comprehension problem.
Why it matters
Place a short explanation near the relevant component when the layout allows it. Research on integrated instructional designs supports reducing unnecessary separation. The goal is clear correspondence, not fitting every sentence inside the picture.
An example
Instead of a numbered screenshot and a paragraph far below it, a short callout marks the field whose value changes the outcome.
Check your result
Can a new reader locate the described feature without guessing or shrinking the text?
Keep this limit in mind
- Preserve accessible reading order and readable size. Crowding a diagram can create a different comprehension problem.
Connected ideas
Useful withCue the part that matters right now
Evidence and sources
Supports
The meta-analysis found an overall learning benefit for integrated text-and-diagram designs across its included comparisons.
It does not imply that visual crowding or tiny text is acceptable.
Spatial Contiguity and Spatial Split-Attention Effects in Multimedia Learning Environments: a Meta-Analysis · Abstract, overall comparison.