This article describes how the author applied principles of universal design to hybrid course materials to increase student understanding and, ultimately, success. Pulling the three principles of universal design--consistency, color, and icon representation--into the author's Blackboard course allowed her to change the types of reading skills needed to obtain the information vital to student success in her classroom. While students could collect all the information they needed using a linear reading method, students using hyper-reading techniques were put at less of a disadvantage. The new model, she believes, is more universally welcoming and less intimidating, at a glance, than her original design. (Contains 2 figures.)