The responsibilities of the instructional designer keep expanding, and graphic design is often included in the list of desirable skills. How important is it? What should the expectation be around skill or mastery?
We had some issues with the recording and moved from YouTube to Zoom the day of the webcast. You can see the webcast chat that occurred during the show below the show notes.
Watch Episode
Guests
Connie Malamed, Independent LX Design & Development | International Keynote Speaker | Author & Writer, The eLearning Coach
Founder of Mastering Instructional Design
Books: Visual Design Solutions | , Visual Language for Designers
Tom Kuhlmann, Chief Learning Architect, Articulate
The Rapid E-Learning Blog
Bianca Woods, Customer Advocacy Manager, Articulate
Mentioned during the Show
- Nuts and Bolts: The ID (Job Description) Bucket Overfloweth
- Book – Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics that People Understand by Connie Malamed
- Book – Visual Design Solutions: Principles and Creative Inspiration for Learning Professionals
- Article – Visual Language for Designers: Principles for creating graphics that people understand, by Connie Malamed
- David Anderson, Articulate – Design Mapping –
- Tom Kuhlmann spoke about an example where The right interaction might not need images
- Creating and using Gifs in elearning
- Article by Trina Rimmer – The Lack of Diversity in Stock Images Hurts Your Elearning
Webcast Chat
16:14:40 From Jenny Hill : but it’s definitely more effort than a swath of stock photography
16:14:44 From OWEN HOLT : I was just told to not use this….but 👍
16:14:57 From Jesse Boehm : Image searching can become such a time consuming rabbit hole!
16:15:21 From Amy C : Agreed @Jesse
16:15:26 From Tracy Parish : I’ve lost so much time looking for just the right image
16:15:36 From Cathy Moore : For more natural images I’ve been using Compfight.com — a Flickr search tool you can filter by Creative Commons license
16:15:56 From cmalamed : Thanks, Cathy
16:16:38 From Jenny Hill : Ooh, thanks for the tip, haven’t seen compfight.com yet
16:17:16 From Tom Kuhlmann : this is the activity David Anderson came up with to help think through your design https://community.articulate.com/series/how-do-i-get-the-right-look-and-feel-for-this-course/articles/visual-analysis-for-designing-custom-courses
16:17:18 From Jackie : Yes! Focusing on content and “meat” and interactivity only first allows us to get that solid first, and prevent extra rework later for the visual piece. It also prevents them from getting lost prematurely in the rabbit hole of what things look like.
16:17:36 From Jesse Boehm : To piggy back off of last episode, is there any research about visual design and learning retention?
16:18:31 From Tracy Parish to Jesse Boehm(Privately) : We will see if we can post that question in – and if not will see if we can get an answer for you to post in the show notes
16:18:49 From Jesse Boehm to Tracy Parish(Privately) : Thank you so much!
16:19:50 From Jenny Hill : or trace it, lol
16:20:03 From Jenny Hill : I have definitely traced things in illustrator
16:20:10 From Julie Dirksen : Jesse, I know Connie has a lot of the research on her elearningcoach.com website
16:20:26 From Jesse Boehm : Thank you, Julie!
16:20:35 From Julie Dirksen : http://theelearningcoach.com/
16:20:52 From Tom Kuhlmann : http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary/version_2/examples/firstaid.htm
16:20:53 From cmalamed : @Jesse Yes, there is research. Try Google Scholar and I do have some too on theelearningcoach.com.
16:20:54 From Kellie Whiteston : @Jenny Hill, horray for the pen tool, lol. I am a big tracer too.
16:21:06 From gijombo@gmail.com : Jesse, there’s a lot here that ties to how we “reed” images and how we retain what we “see” here: http://www.visuallanguagelab.com/research.html
16:22:10 From Jenny Hill : Yep! If it’s good, it doesn’t have to be perfectly slick, but if it’s mediocre, better make it shiny
16:23:21 From OWEN HOLT : Is anyone frequently using animated GIFs or movies AS their graphic(s)?
16:23:31 From Alan Natachu : I do
16:23:34 From Jenny Hill : I have in previous roles!
16:24:27 From OWEN HOLT : you just need Arthur Murray’s foot prints
16:24:39 From cmalamed : LOL
16:24:40 From Alan Natachu : But not annoying GIFs or movies in presentations. I sometimes convert movies into GIFs because sometimes it will result in a smaller file size.
16:25:35 From Dana : These days there is more and more focus on accessibility. Has the way you design changed to take accessibility into account?
16:25:56 From Jenny Hill : Oh man. I’m a huge accessibility nerd, it’s always part of what I do 🙂
16:26:04 From Dana : Also, do you feel that sometimes you need to compromise between pleasing design and accessible design?
16:26:11 From Jenny Hill : no!
16:26:35 From Jenny Hill : Accessible design does not have to be boring or dull
16:26:45 From Alan Natachu : @Jenny Preach!
16:26:49 From David : I think that also speaks to what Tom said about the importance of having a portfolio too.
16:27:47 From Sarah Bauer : For those designers who do go through formal ID undergrad or masters programs, not much is covered on visual design from what I’ve seen
16:28:19 From Jackie : Agreed, Sarah. And I have participated in some TERRIBLY designed ID masters level ID courses!
16:28:22 From Jenny Hill : For me, that’s part of the approach from the beginning
16:28:56 From Sarah Bauer : @Jackie, I brought that up because I’ve been in the field for years, but just now going back to get my masters, I see some big missings
16:29:09 From Dana : @ Sarah I did a survey about that recently. Still have to analyze all the data though!
16:29:13 From Mary : There are a few sites out there that let you simulate what your images look like to people with different types of colour blindness, like this one: https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/
16:29:22 From Jenny Hill : High Five Sarah- I’m starting a program in September!
16:29:32 From Sarah Bauer : Congrats Jenny!
16:29:42 From Tracy Parish : Chrome has several tools you can plug into their browser as well.
16:30:02 From Kellie Whiteston : Right, @Sarah, I think that may influence some of the “visual design is an after thought and only a nice to have” attitude I often run into.
16:30:10 From Tracy Parish : I have several free tools I have found here – https://e-learning.zeef.com/tracy.parish#block_18399_accessibility
16:30:16 From Jenny Hill : Amen!
16:31:07 From Sarah Bauer : Yes! Whitespace!
16:31:09 From Jenny Hill : Retrofitting is always more expensive than building accessibility from the begining
16:31:23 From Julie Dirksen : ^ yes!
16:31:49 From Jesse Boehm : Thank you!
16:31:50 From cmalamed : Thanks for the tools list, Tracy.
16:31:50 From Sarah Bauer : Thank you all!
16:32:02 From Alan Natachu : @Jenny – I just completed a retrofit of an Accessible pdf, 388 pages, full of tables, over the course of 150+ hours.
16:32:07 From Jenny Hill : If anyone ever wants to nerd out on accessibility happy to follow up
16:32:09 From Valary Oleinik : Thank you all!
16:32:11 From Jenny Hill : oh man, I know that feeling
16:32:16 From elena : thank you all!
16:32:28 From Alan Natachu : @Jenny Happy to geek out on #a11y
16:32:41 From Jenny Hill : I remember I estimated retrofitting a program at being a full FTE for a whole year and it would take a third of that to rebuild from scratch
16:33:08 From Alan Natachu : I forget about pinterest
16:33:13 From Jenny Hill : So awesome when you’re learning to design to keep grabbing things
16:33:40 From Jenny Hill : Awesome Alan! Find me on the twitter or the linkedin and we’ll chat!
16:33:44 From Amy C : the book is awesome!
16:33:58 From Tom Kuhlmann : http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/create-animated-gifs-process-interaction/
16:34:06 From cmalamed : Thanks, Amy 🙂
16:34:11 From Bianca Woods : Here’s my cheap and free design assets Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.ca/shiroiko/cheap-as-free-design-assets/
16:34:14 From Jackie : Thank you for an awesome #2 episode. As someone who works alone in an environment where no one knows anything about real L&D stuff, these conversations are a real gift.
16:34:17 From Jenny Hill : yay canada!
16:34:21 From Jenny Hill : mapleleaf
16:34:26 From Amy C : thanks Bianca!
16:34:41 From cmalamed : Thanks, audience. You were so interesting!
16:34:43 From Kellie Whiteston : Second that @Jackie! Thank you all for having this talk!
16:34:44 From Jenny Hill : Thank you to all the speakers, good to see everyone!
16:35:03 From OWEN HOLT : Coming to Austin again anytime soon @Tom?
16:35:55 From Jesse Boehm : E-Learning Heroes has been an amazing tool for my development!
16:36:01 From Tracy Parish : http://www.nerdyshoptalk.com
16:36:06 From cmalamed : Tom’s blog is great!
16:36:12 From Tracy Parish : designbetterlearning.com
16:36:23 From Tom Kuhlmann : Austin may happen, Owen
16:36:52 From Alan Natachu : @Bianca – Here’s the link for US based Pinterest users – https://www.pinterest.com/shiroiko/cheap-as-free-design-assets/
16:36:54 From Amy C : great resources and conversation – thank you all
16:37:02 From Cathy Moore : Thanks, everyone!
16:37:02 From cmalamed : Thank you!
16:14:44 From OWEN HOLT : I was just told to not use this….but 👍
16:14:57 From Jesse Boehm : Image searching can become such a time consuming rabbit hole!
16:15:21 From Amy C : Agreed @Jesse
16:15:26 From Tracy Parish : I’ve lost so much time looking for just the right image
16:15:36 From Cathy Moore : For more natural images I’ve been using Compfight.com — a Flickr search tool you can filter by Creative Commons license
16:15:56 From cmalamed : Thanks, Cathy
16:16:38 From Jenny Hill : Ooh, thanks for the tip, haven’t seen compfight.com yet
16:17:16 From Tom Kuhlmann : this is the activity David Anderson came up with to help think through your design https://community.articulate.com/series/how-do-i-get-the-right-look-and-feel-for-this-course/articles/visual-analysis-for-designing-custom-courses
16:17:18 From Jackie : Yes! Focusing on content and “meat” and interactivity only first allows us to get that solid first, and prevent extra rework later for the visual piece. It also prevents them from getting lost prematurely in the rabbit hole of what things look like.
16:17:36 From Jesse Boehm : To piggy back off of last episode, is there any research about visual design and learning retention?
16:18:31 From Tracy Parish to Jesse Boehm(Privately) : We will see if we can post that question in – and if not will see if we can get an answer for you to post in the show notes
16:18:49 From Jesse Boehm to Tracy Parish(Privately) : Thank you so much!
16:19:50 From Jenny Hill : or trace it, lol
16:20:03 From Jenny Hill : I have definitely traced things in illustrator
16:20:10 From Julie Dirksen : Jesse, I know Connie has a lot of the research on her elearningcoach.com website
16:20:26 From Jesse Boehm : Thank you, Julie!
16:20:35 From Julie Dirksen : http://theelearningcoach.com/
16:20:52 From Tom Kuhlmann : http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary/version_2/examples/firstaid.htm
16:20:53 From cmalamed : @Jesse Yes, there is research. Try Google Scholar and I do have some too on theelearningcoach.com.
16:20:54 From Kellie Whiteston : @Jenny Hill, horray for the pen tool, lol. I am a big tracer too.
16:21:06 From gijombo@gmail.com : Jesse, there’s a lot here that ties to how we “reed” images and how we retain what we “see” here: http://www.visuallanguagelab.com/research.html
16:22:10 From Jenny Hill : Yep! If it’s good, it doesn’t have to be perfectly slick, but if it’s mediocre, better make it shiny
16:23:21 From OWEN HOLT : Is anyone frequently using animated GIFs or movies AS their graphic(s)?
16:23:31 From Alan Natachu : I do
16:23:34 From Jenny Hill : I have in previous roles!
16:24:27 From OWEN HOLT : you just need Arthur Murray’s foot prints
16:24:39 From cmalamed : LOL
16:24:40 From Alan Natachu : But not annoying GIFs or movies in presentations. I sometimes convert movies into GIFs because sometimes it will result in a smaller file size.
16:25:35 From Dana : These days there is more and more focus on accessibility. Has the way you design changed to take accessibility into account?
16:25:56 From Jenny Hill : Oh man. I’m a huge accessibility nerd, it’s always part of what I do 🙂
16:26:04 From Dana : Also, do you feel that sometimes you need to compromise between pleasing design and accessible design?
16:26:11 From Jenny Hill : no!
16:26:35 From Jenny Hill : Accessible design does not have to be boring or dull
16:26:45 From Alan Natachu : @Jenny Preach!
16:26:49 From David : I think that also speaks to what Tom said about the importance of having a portfolio too.
16:27:47 From Sarah Bauer : For those designers who do go through formal ID undergrad or masters programs, not much is covered on visual design from what I’ve seen
16:28:19 From Jackie : Agreed, Sarah. And I have participated in some TERRIBLY designed ID masters level ID courses!
16:28:22 From Jenny Hill : For me, that’s part of the approach from the beginning
16:28:56 From Sarah Bauer : @Jackie, I brought that up because I’ve been in the field for years, but just now going back to get my masters, I see some big missings
16:29:09 From Dana : @ Sarah I did a survey about that recently. Still have to analyze all the data though!
16:29:13 From Mary : There are a few sites out there that let you simulate what your images look like to people with different types of colour blindness, like this one: https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/
16:29:22 From Jenny Hill : High Five Sarah- I’m starting a program in September!
16:29:32 From Sarah Bauer : Congrats Jenny!
16:29:42 From Tracy Parish : Chrome has several tools you can plug into their browser as well.
16:30:02 From Kellie Whiteston : Right, @Sarah, I think that may influence some of the “visual design is an after thought and only a nice to have” attitude I often run into.
16:30:10 From Tracy Parish : I have several free tools I have found here – https://e-learning.zeef.com/tracy.parish#block_18399_accessibility
16:30:16 From Jenny Hill : Amen!
16:31:07 From Sarah Bauer : Yes! Whitespace!
16:31:09 From Jenny Hill : Retrofitting is always more expensive than building accessibility from the begining
16:31:23 From Julie Dirksen : ^ yes!
16:31:49 From Jesse Boehm : Thank you!
16:31:50 From cmalamed : Thanks for the tools list, Tracy.
16:31:50 From Sarah Bauer : Thank you all!
16:32:02 From Alan Natachu : @Jenny – I just completed a retrofit of an Accessible pdf, 388 pages, full of tables, over the course of 150+ hours.
16:32:07 From Jenny Hill : If anyone ever wants to nerd out on accessibility happy to follow up
16:32:09 From Valary Oleinik : Thank you all!
16:32:11 From Jenny Hill : oh man, I know that feeling
16:32:16 From elena : thank you all!
16:32:28 From Alan Natachu : @Jenny Happy to geek out on #a11y
16:32:41 From Jenny Hill : I remember I estimated retrofitting a program at being a full FTE for a whole year and it would take a third of that to rebuild from scratch
16:33:08 From Alan Natachu : I forget about pinterest
16:33:13 From Jenny Hill : So awesome when you’re learning to design to keep grabbing things
16:33:40 From Jenny Hill : Awesome Alan! Find me on the twitter or the linkedin and we’ll chat!
16:33:44 From Amy C : the book is awesome!
16:33:58 From Tom Kuhlmann : http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/create-animated-gifs-process-interaction/
16:34:06 From cmalamed : Thanks, Amy 🙂
16:34:11 From Bianca Woods : Here’s my cheap and free design assets Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.ca/shiroiko/cheap-as-free-design-assets/
16:34:14 From Jackie : Thank you for an awesome #2 episode. As someone who works alone in an environment where no one knows anything about real L&D stuff, these conversations are a real gift.
16:34:17 From Jenny Hill : yay canada!
16:34:21 From Jenny Hill : mapleleaf
16:34:26 From Amy C : thanks Bianca!
16:34:41 From cmalamed : Thanks, audience. You were so interesting!
16:34:43 From Kellie Whiteston : Second that @Jackie! Thank you all for having this talk!
16:34:44 From Jenny Hill : Thank you to all the speakers, good to see everyone!
16:35:03 From OWEN HOLT : Coming to Austin again anytime soon @Tom?
16:35:55 From Jesse Boehm : E-Learning Heroes has been an amazing tool for my development!
16:36:01 From Tracy Parish : http://www.nerdyshoptalk.com
16:36:06 From cmalamed : Tom’s blog is great!
16:36:12 From Tracy Parish : designbetterlearning.com
16:36:23 From Tom Kuhlmann : Austin may happen, Owen
16:36:52 From Alan Natachu : @Bianca – Here’s the link for US based Pinterest users – https://www.pinterest.com/shiroiko/cheap-as-free-design-assets/
16:36:54 From Amy C : great resources and conversation – thank you all
16:37:02 From Cathy Moore : Thanks, everyone!
16:37:02 From cmalamed : Thank you!