This chapter presents a three-tier toolbox metaphor for guiding the design of a number of presentation media. The designer typically reaches for the elements on the third tier, the most concrete and accessible elements of design: text, visuals, audio, and animation/video. Understanding first-tier elements that include cognitively based theories of learning
(information-processing theory, dual-coding theory, cognitive load theory, and Baddeley’s memory theory) in turn helps the designer more clearly understand second-tier multimedia models (Mayer, 2001; Park and Hannafin, 1993) and their relationship to mode-based guidelines. The relationship between the three tiers is appealing, but more research is needed to articulate a more fully integrative design toolbox.