Educational publishing isn't just textbooks anymore. Traditional materials are now joined by a number of new options. Because children and teenagers grow up with television and computers, they are accustomed to interactive experiences. This, plus the fact that students learn best in different ways—some by eye and some by ear—makes educational publishing an important challenge for design.

Ligature believes that combining visual and verbal learning components in a cooperative, creative environment is or paramount importance in developing educational materials. Ligature uses considerate instructional design, incorporating fine art, illustrations, and diagrams, to produce educational products that are engaging, substantive, relevant, and effective.

A Ligature project for a middle school language arts curriculum presents twelve thematic units in multiple ways: as a full-color magazine, a paperback anthology, an audiotape, several videotapes, a language arts survival guide giving instruction on writing, software, fine art transparencies, and a teacher's guide containing suggestions for integrating these materials. These rich learning resources encourage creativity on the part of both teachers and students and allow a more interactive approach to learning.

Middle school students are in transition from child to adult. The central design issue was to create materials that look youthful but not childish, that are fresh, fun, and lively, yet look “grown up.” The anthology has few illustrations and looks very adult, while the magazine uses type and many lively images as design elements.

In educational publishing, multidisciplinary creative teams use prototype testing to explore new ideas. Materials are also field-tested on teachers and students. Designers going into instructional systems development need to be interested in information, communication, planning, and teamwork.