en? To provide better solutions, we have to find out more about our learners and their needs. What is their day like? How does learning fit into their daily activities? Where are they in their moment of need? Are people engineering new learning experiences based off this one? If so, what does that look like? Could we have made it easier by creating some other content options like a short video or a document? Did learners even need a course?
The Small Details That Add Up to a Great ExperienceIt's not just a small detail in a project that makes a big difference. It's all of the details—all of the small things within an experience create an amazing or not-so-amazing one.
In the article, “The Design’s in the Details,” Arin Bhowmick of IBM states, "Details help build trust. In any app or web product, the layout, the iconography, the language, the colors, the button text, etc., all contribute to how people experience that product and influence their perception of it. Even if they don’t exactly know why, people can feel when some aspect of an app or website is ‘off’.”
Detail in the learning design helps the user focus on learning and applying information, and not on how to use design or second-guess whether it's trustworthy. Make the experience enjoyable, accessible, easy to use, and useful.
Even designs that look simple can have a lot of complexity behind them. Designer Naz Hamid writes in a similar article, "When doing detail work, ‘less is more’ is about leaving in only everything that is necessary and making it harmonious. Let the complexity be in the simplicity. A design is not useful when it’s perceived to be complex."
This quote resonates with me because in designing learning experiences there needs to be harmony between the content and the design. I use motion, graphics, colors, and interactions intentionally, sparingly, and only when I know it will aid in driving performance or making content more sticky.
Bottom line: The design needs to drive the person's performance; it shouldn't get in the way of it. Nor can the content successfully live on its own in all situations. The experience elevates the content to the user, how and when they need it.
For more tips, join me at the ATD 2019 International Conference & Exposition. During my session, Changing the Face of UI Design for E-Learning, we will explore how to scale your e-learning design while focusing on creating exciting user experiences and designing effective learning content.