Appearance - Article

Overview

The Appearance configuration defines how the platform visually presents itself to users.

While the learning experience itself is driven by courses, content, and learning paths, the appearance settings determine how these elements are visually framed and experienced by learners. Organizations typically use these settings to align the platform with their:

• Corporate branding
• Visual identity guidelines
• Accessibility standards
• User interface preferences

These settings influence the platform across many areas, including:

• Navigation and interface elements
• Course pages and learning content
• Dashboards and storefronts
• Certificates, transcripts, QR code labels, and other exported documents
• Login and authentication pages

Because the learning platform often represents an extension of the organization’s digital presence, administrators frequently configure these settings during the initial platform implementation and revisit them when branding guidelines evolve.

The Appearance configuration is organized into several sections, each controlling a specific aspect of the platform’s visual presentation.

Content

The Content tab controls visual assets and layout styling used throughout the platform.

These settings define how logos, background imagery, and interface elements appear across the platform interface.

General Settings

Administrators can configure several core branding elements.

The site logo is typically the most recognizable visual element and should align with the organization’s brand guidelines. For optimal display in the platform header, a height of approximately 48 px is recommended, with a maximum width of 200 px to ensure proper scaling and alignment.

Common image formats can be used, including PNG, JPG, and SVG. SVG files are often recommended for logos, as vector graphics maintain sharp and crisp presentation across different screen sizes and resolutions.

The logo also functions as a navigation element. When clicked, it returns users to the platform’s home location — typically the storefront for visitors or logged-out users, and the dashboard for logged-in users.

Authentication Pages Background

This section controls the visual appearance of the login and authentication pages.

Administrators can upload background images that appear on:

• Login pages
• Password reset screens
• Authentication flows

Organizations typically select images that reflect their brand identity, industry context, or learning culture. The images do not need to include the organization’s logo, as branding is already represented in the platform header. Instead, the background should support the overall visual tone of the platform and help create a consistent first impression.

Up to four background images can be uploaded. When multiple images are used, the platform will automatically transition between them with a subtle fade effect, creating a dynamic visual presentation on the login screen.

Because these images scale to the full browser window, the exact positioning may vary depending on screen size and device resolution. For this reason, background images should focus on visual atmosphere and composition rather than precise positioning of elements.

To ensure good performance and visual quality, consider the following recommendations:

Large images with excessive file sizes may increase loading time, particularly for users with slower network connections. Optimizing images before uploading helps ensure a fast and responsive login experience.

Interface Roundness

The platform allows administrators to adjust the roundness of interface elements such as buttons, thumbnails, and input fields. This setting influences the overall visual style of the user interface.

The value is defined in pixels, making it easy to apply consistent rounding across different interface elements and maintain a coherent visual design throughout the platform.

These settings do not affect functionality but help organizations align the platform with their preferred visual design language.

Last Visited Banner

This option controls how the Last visited course banner appears in the interface. Two visual styles are available. One option frames the banner using the same rounded styling applied to thumbnails, creating a compact and consistent visual presentation while preserving the original image aspect ratio.

The alternative option extends the banner image across the full width of the page, scaling the image within the available space and creating a more prominent visual presence on the dashboard.

Administrators can choose between:

To ensure that functional elements remain clearly visible, a gradient overlay is automatically applied to the banner in this version.

Colors

The Colors tab controls the platform’s color palette and visual styling.

These settings influence how interface elements appear across the platform, including navigation menus, buttons, links, text, dashboards, and course content areas. Together, they define the overall visual identity of the platform and help align the learning environment with the organization’s brand guidelines.

Color configuration is often completed during the initial platform implementation to ensure the learning environment reflects the organization’s visual identity. In many organizations, these settings are configured in collaboration with branding or design teams to maintain consistency with corporate websites and digital platforms.

Beyond branding, color settings also play an important role in readability and accessibility. Careful selection of colors and contrast levels helps ensure that interface elements remain clear and usable across different devices, lighting conditions, and display environments.

Adequate contrast between text, backgrounds, and interactive elements is essential for accessibility and usability. Color combinations that appear visually appealing in brand guidelines may not always provide sufficient contrast in digital interfaces, particularly for users with visual impairments or when viewed on smaller screens or mobile devices.

Administrators should therefore consider both brand alignment and readability when configuring colors across the platform, particularly for elements that can be manually customized through the Advanced color settings.

Primary and Secondary Colors

The Primary and Secondary colors define the foundation of the platform’s color scheme. To make initial configuration simple, these two fields allow administrators to quickly establish the core visual identity of the platform.

Colors are entered as hexadecimal values, and a color picker is also available to help select and adjust colors easily.

These colors establish the visual tone of the platform and are typically aligned with the organization’s brand colors. In many implementations, the primary color corresponds to the company’s main brand color, while the secondary color complements it to provide visual variation and highlight interactive elements.

These colors also serve as the foundation for automatic color inheritance across several interface elements, helping establish a consistent visual identity with minimal configuration.

Advanced Color Settings

The Advanced color settings provide granular control over individual interface elements across the platform. These settings override the general Primary and Secondary color configuration and allow administrators to fine-tune the visual appearance of specific components.

While the Primary and Secondary color settings provide a simple way to establish the overall color scheme of the platform, the Advanced color settings override these defaults for individual interface elements. This allows administrators to create a more precise visual design across multiple objects and interface components.

Administrators often start with the Primary and Secondary colors to establish the platform’s general color identity, and then use Advanced color settings as a secondary step when finer control is needed.

⚠️ Primary and Secondary colors are automatically applied to several related interface elements through a color inheritance mechanism. When one of these colors is changed, the system may update related colors in the Advanced color settings automatically.

However, if a color field in the Advanced settings has been manually configured, it will not be overridden. In these cases, a Reset to default value icon appears next to the field, indicating that a custom value has been applied and will remain unchanged when Primary or Secondary colors are modified.

This allows administrators to combine quick global color configuration with more granular customization where needed.

Because these settings affect many interface components simultaneously, administrators typically adjust them carefully to maintain a consistent visual hierarchy across navigation elements, dashboards, and learning pages.

When configuring colors, administrators should ensure sufficient contrast between text, backgrounds, and interactive elements. Good contrast improves readability for all users and supports accessibility standards such as WCAG guidelines.

In practice, this means avoiding color combinations where text and background colors are too similar in brightness or hue. Low-contrast combinations may reduce legibility for users with visual impairments or when content is viewed on smaller screens, mobile devices, or under different lighting conditions.

Color choices should therefore balance visual branding with practical usability across the platform interface.

Color Inheritance and Automatic Color Application

The platform includes a color inheritance mechanism that helps apply Primary and Secondary colors consistently across the interface.

When a Primary or Secondary color is selected, the system automatically applies this color to several related interface elements. Examples include:

• Links
• Primary buttons
• Breadcrumb navigation elements
• Header components
• Footer elements

This behavior helps administrators establish a consistent color scheme quickly without needing to configure every interface element individually.

⚠️ If a related color in the Advanced settings has already been manually configured, the automatic update will not override that value. Instead, the customized color remains in place, allowing administrators to combine global color settings with precise adjustments where required.

Auto-Contrast Detection

Certain areas of the platform interface use automatic contrast detection to ensure that text and interface elements remain readable when colors are changed.

These areas are not directly configurable in the Appearance color settings. Instead, the system automatically calculates a contrasting color when the Primary or Secondary color changes.

For example, when a dark Primary color is selected, the platform automatically adjusts the text color in certain interface elements to a lighter tone to maintain sufficient contrast and readability.

This automatic contrast handling ensures that important interface elements remain legible even when strong brand colors are applied. Auto-contrast detection only applies to areas that cannot be manually configured through the Appearance color settings.

Course Content Colors

Course content is displayed inside a dedicated learning environment that differs from the general administrative interface. For this reason, the platform provides separate color settings that apply specifically to course pages and learning content.

These settings allow administrators to optimize readability and visual clarity inside the learning experience without affecting the surrounding platform interface.

Separating course content colors from the main platform interface allows administrators to maintain a strong brand identity in navigation and dashboards while ensuring that learning materials remain comfortable to read during longer training sessions. Even small adjustments, such as changing the color of headings, can significantly improve both alignment with brand guidelines and the ability for learners to quickly scan pages with dense content.

Many organizations use neutral backgrounds and high-contrast text colors inside courses to improve readability and learner comfort, particularly during longer training sessions. High contrast between text and background also supports accessibility requirements and ensures that learning materials remain readable across different devices and display conditions.

Analytics Colors

The Analytics colors control the color palette used in the platform’s reporting dashboards and data visualizations.

These settings influence how charts and graphs appear throughout the analytics interface, including bar charts, line graphs, and other visual reporting elements used to display platform activity and learning data.

These colors are applied automatically when charts display multiple datasets. Each color represents a different data series within the visualization.

Administrators often align these colors with the organization’s brand palette while ensuring that chart elements remain clearly distinguishable. Using sufficiently distinct colors helps maintain clarity when analyzing reports containing multiple data series.

Brand Colors

The Brand colors section defines the palette available to course creators inside the course editor.

These colors appear directly in the page editing tools and allow course designers to apply approved brand colors when creating learning materials. By defining the palette centrally, administrators ensure that all course creators work from the same set of approved colors, maintaining visual consistency across courses and learning content.

This is particularly valuable when multiple course creators work in parallel or independently across different programs. A shared color palette helps ensure that courses remain aligned with the organization’s design guidelines regardless of who creates the content.

Administrators can add or remove colors from the palette as needed to reflect updated brand guidelines or design standards. Once defined, these colors become part of the editor interface and cannot be accidentally modified or removed by individual course creators through personal editing preferences.

This centralized control ensures that course design remains consistent while still allowing course creators the flexibility to apply brand styling within their learning content. When defining brand colors, administrators should also consider contrast and readability to ensure that colors used in course pages remain accessible for all learners.

Top Banner

The Top Banner tab controls the banner displayed beneath the platform header. The primary purpose of the top banner is to provide an additional layer of branding and visual identity. A well-designed banner can introduce color, reinforce brand recognition, and create a welcoming first impression when entering the platform.

The banner is intentionally limited to the home page. Displaying it across all pages would reduce usable screen space and introduce unnecessary scrolling, which could negatively affect usability. The learning platform is primarily designed as a functional environment where users navigate learning content, and manage activities, many of which have their own layout and branding options.

For this reason, the banner is kept as a dashboard-level visual element rather than a persistent interface component.

A recommended best practice is to keep the banner height relatively modest. A height of up to approximately 400 pixels typically provides sufficient visual impact while ensuring that smaller screens and laptops are not dominated by the banner when users arrive on the page.

Administrators can configure the following options:

Organizational Banner Overrides

Each organization configured within the platform has the ability to define its own organizational top banner.

This allows platforms that serve multiple partners, departments, or organizations to present tailored branding experiences. For example, partners or regional organizations may display their own banner imagery, colors, or branding elements while still operating within the same platform environment.

If an organizational banner is configured, it will override the general top banner defined in the Appearance settings for users belonging to that organization. Users without an organizational relationship will continue to see the general platform banner when it is enabled.

Importantly, the two configurations operate independently. An organizational banner can be used even if a general platform banner is not configured.

This flexibility allows organizations to support multi-brand environments, partner academies, or regional branding variations without affecting the global platform design.

Font Settings

The Font Settings tab controls typography used throughout the platform interface, learning content, subtitles, and several exported documents.

Typography plays an important role in how information is perceived and understood. Well-chosen fonts improve readability, support accessibility, and help align the learning environment with an organization’s visual identity. Typography is particularly important inside course content, where learners may spend extended periods reading training materials.

These settings influence several parts of the platform experience, including:

• Navigation and administrative interface text
• Course content and learning pages
• Subtitles in video-based learning content
• Certificates and generated documents
• Training transcripts and exported materials

Because learners may spend extended periods reading training material, selecting clear and readable fonts is particularly important. Administrators often configure these settings to align with the organization’s design guidelines while maintaining strong readability across different screen sizes and devices.

Typography Overview

Typography in the platform is configured using two related areas within the Appearance settings.

The Font Settings tab controls how fonts are applied throughout the platform interface, learning content, subtitles, and exported materials.

The Fonts tab allows administrators to upload and manage custom font families that can be used when selecting Custom font in typography settings or when configuring certificates and other export-related layouts.

This separation allows administrators to both configure typography and manage available font files independently.

Font Types

When configuring typography, administrators can select different font sources depending on how the platform should render text.

The platform supports commonly used web fonts, including Google Web Fonts, which are optimized for performance and compatibility across modern browsers.

⚠️ When Google Web Fonts are used, the font files are stored directly on the platform rather than being loaded from Google’s servers when pages are displayed.

The reason for this design is privacy protection. Accessing fonts from external services can expose users’ IP addresses, which are considered personal data under many data protection regulations. By hosting the fonts locally, the platform ensures that this information is not shared with Google or any other third party.

Custom Font Stack

When Custom font stack is selected, administrators can define a prioritized list of fonts. The platform will attempt to display the first font in the list. If that font is not available on the user’s system, the next font in the list will be used.

Fonts must be entered as a comma-separated list.

Example:

"Times New Roman", Times, serif

Font names that contain spaces should be wrapped in quotation marks. This approach provides better cross-platform compatibility by ensuring a fallback font is available if the preferred font cannot be rendered.

Custom Font Upload

When Custom font is selected as the font type, administrators can upload font files directly within the configuration interface. To ensure proper rendering across the platform, the system requires a complete set of font styles.

Providing the complete font family ensures that formatting such as headings, emphasis, and interface styling renders correctly throughout the platform.

Font Size and Accessibility

Font sizes in the platform are defined using relative percentages rather than fixed pixel values. This approach improves accessibility by allowing text to scale naturally based on user preferences, browser settings, and device characteristics.

Using relative sizing ensures that:

• Users who increase text size in their browser or operating system can still read content comfortably
• Content adapts more easily across different screen sizes and devices
• The platform aligns with accessibility recommendations such as WCAG guidelines

For administrators and course creators, this means that typography remains flexible and responsive while maintaining a consistent visual hierarchy across headings, body text, and learning content.

Body Text

The Body Text configuration defines the primary font used for most textual elements across the platform interface.

Body text fonts are typically selected for clarity and readability, particularly for longer passages of content such as course descriptions, informational text, and administrative interfaces.

Sans-serif fonts are commonly preferred for digital interfaces because they remain clear and readable across different screen resolutions.

Headings

The Headings configuration controls the font used for titles and section headings across the platform.

Headings are important for creating visual hierarchy within pages and learning content. A well-defined heading style helps users scan content quickly and understand the structure of a page.

Administrators may choose to use the same font as body text for consistency, or select a distinct heading font that complements the overall design while improving visual structure.

Typography in Course Content

Font settings also influence how typography appears inside course pages and learning content.

While the course editor allows authors to structure content with headings, text blocks, and other layout elements, the underlying typography defined in the Appearance settings ensures that courses maintain a consistent visual style across the platform.

This helps ensure that:

• Learning materials remain readable during longer training sessions
• Course pages follow the same design language as the platform interface
• Multiple course creators produce content with consistent typography

Course content typography uses the base body font configuration combined with relative font size scaling to maintain readability across different course layouts and screen sizes.

Maintaining a shared typography system is particularly valuable when multiple teams or authors contribute to the same learning environment.

Links

The Links setting controls the typography used for hyperlinks across the platform interface.

Hyperlinks appear throughout the platform in navigation elements, course content, and system pages. Ensuring that links are clearly distinguishable from regular text improves usability and helps users navigate the platform more easily.

Icons

The Icons section allows administrators to adjust how icons appear throughout the platform interface.

Icons are used in navigation menus, action buttons, and interface elements to help users quickly recognize functionality. The configuration options allow administrators to adjust the visual weight and style of icons to better match the platform’s design language.

These settings ensure that icons remain clear and balanced relative to surrounding text and interface elements.

Subtitles

The Subtitles configuration controls typography used in video subtitles. Subtitles can use the same font types available in the platform typography settings, including default fonts, web-safe fonts, Google Web Fonts, custom font stacks, or uploaded custom fonts.

Subtitles are important for accessibility and for learners who may be viewing content in environments where audio cannot be played.

Administrators can configure the following elements:

These settings help ensure subtitles remain readable against varying video backgrounds.

Export Nameplates

The Export Nameplates settings control the typography and style used for nameplates displayed in exported documents. Administrators can configure the font family and styling used when learner names are rendered in generated documents.

QR Code Labels

The QR Code font configuration controls the typography used for labels associated with generated QR codes. The font can be selected from the available platform fonts but does not support direct custom font uploads in this configuration.

Training Transcript

The Training Transcript settings define the font used in transcript PDF documents summarizing a learner’s completed training.

Training transcripts summarize a learner’s completed courses and learning history. These documents are often exported or shared with external stakeholders, so clear and readable typography helps maintain a professional presentation.

Administrators can select from the available platform fonts to ensure transcripts remain readable and professionally formatted.

Fonts

The Fonts tab allows administrators to upload and manage custom font families that can be used when configuring certificates and other exported documents.

While the Font Settings tab controls typography used across the platform interface and learning environment, the Fonts tab manages the font files that can be selected when using the Custom font option.

Administrators can upload new fonts or manage existing ones through this tab.

Adding Custom Fonts

To add a new font family, select Add in the Fonts tab. When creating a font entry, the platform requires a complete set of font styles to ensure consistent rendering.

Providing the complete font family ensures that formatting such as bold or italic styling renders correctly in certificates and exported documents.

Managing Fonts

Fonts added to the platform appear in the Fonts tab list.

Administrators can perform the following actions:

Removing a font will also remove it from any certificate configurations that rely on it, so administrators should review certificate templates before deleting fonts.

Supported Font Formats

Custom fonts should typically be uploaded as TrueType (.ttf) files. TrueType fonts provide broad compatibility and consistent rendering across digital documents and printed certificates.

Administrators should ensure that uploaded fonts include the required styles to avoid fallback behavior when formatting is applied.

Best Practice Considerations

When configuring fonts, administrators should consider both branding and usability.

Some practical guidelines include:

• Select fonts that remain clear and readable across different screen sizes and resolutions
• Avoid overly decorative fonts for body text
• Maintain a clear contrast between headings and body text
• Ensure subtitle fonts remain legible against video backgrounds
• Ensure sufficient contrast between text color and background color to maintain readability across devices and support accessibility standards

Typography choices that prioritize clarity and consistency contribute significantly to the overall learning experience.