eLearning-related Visual Design Trends - what non-designers need to know

Editor's Notes

• #2: Welcome to “eLearning-related visual design trends: what non-designers need to know. Today we’re going to take a look at some of the big design trends that tend to touch eLearning (and L&D on a whole), but from the perspective of what someone who’s not a professional graphic designer needs to know about them. Just as an upfront, as always I’ll be providing a link to a resource webpage at the end of this presentation. It’ll include links to all the resources I mention in this presentation, so if you happen to miss jotting down a concept or even just the name of a resource, don’t worry. I’ll be there in that site waiting for you.
• #3: I wanted to start by presenting a hypothetical situation that may ring true to more than a few of you. You’re in a meeting or a discussion with a bunch of people who are working on a training project with you. It’s the usual group of suspects that you tend to work with… maybe managers, SMEs, stakeholders, clients, other learning professionals…. Whatever is normal for you. You’re talking about some aspect of the project design and then one of those people in the room does exactly what the guy here on the screen is doing: they suggest, or even outright order, that your project follow some trendy new type of design. Not, of course, because they know a lot about this trend and feel it’s the right fit for this particular project, but really just because it’s new and shiny. They may not really even know what the term means, but they know they’ve heard people talking about it. Have any of you had some sort of variation of this situation happen to you? (wait for raised hands… make a comment based on that) The reality is this: design concepts and terms are percolating their way into the broader culture more than ever before. Unfortunately, the complexity of what these terms mean and how they should strategically be used sometimes gets lost along the way.
• #4: So what does this mean to you guys, a group of people who presumably ALSO aren’t graphic and media designers? It means that it’s incredibly important to have a basic understanding of these trends yourself. The fact is, our industry is changing. Years ago a learning professional could simply focus on the writing, for classroom and workbooks, and then eventually eLearning as well. In many cases you would write, and then hand it off to someone else to create the look and feel of the thing. But that isn’t the case as much any more. Rapid eLearning tools often mean that people are creating eLearning from start to finish all on their own. Cheaper (and easier to use) consumer tools like iMovie, PowToons, GarageBand, and smartphones give all of us the power to create our own media. And the amount of media we include in our learning has increased dramatically. These are great things, but they also mean that many of us are finding ourselves putting on the designer hat as part of our jobs. Because of this, it’s vital that L&D professionals build a basic understanding of visual and media design, as well as industry trends, because we’re actually doing it ourselves sometimes. As well, it’s our job to advocate for what’s best for the people we’re training. Bad design can make the learning experience terrible if we’re not careful, and that’s the last thing we want to have happen. That’s why it’s so important for all of us to have a high-level understanding of design, so that when that co-worker or manager or client suggests you use, say, an infographic even though they really don’t know much about how infographics work, you can step up and talk in detail about why this idea is right for the project or why it might actually be the wrong fit for what you’re trying to accomplish.
• #5: Now, obviously we can’t cover every single major design trend you might encounter in your work in an hour-long session, but we can do a quick overview of some of the main ones that affect L&D in particular: the current war between flat and realistic design, the rise in popularity of amateur video, and the use of infographics for presenting data and facts. While you won’t be masters of any of these at the end of the session, you should walk out of here feeling like you have a solid basic understanding of what these things are and how you can leverage them for learning. Basically, my goal is that after today if someone around you suggests that you use a trendy design, you’ll actually know enough about it to speak up. But that’s not all. Obviously trends change all the time, and we don’t want you to get left behind. That’s why we’re also going to spend the last part of today chatting about how someone who isn’t a designer themselves can stay on top of major design trends easily and without much fuss.
• #6: So that was the basics of flat design and realism. Let’s move on to the next topic: the rise of respect for amateur video.
• #7: This is a topic where it helps to have some context. For the longest time, video was pricey, time consuming, and complicated to create. You had to have expensive equipment to both film and edit your work, and both required extensive training to learn how to use. Then, from an L&D perspective, you also had to have the means of sharing that video with your learners. It’s no wonder, then, that video wasn’t always leveraged that often. It’s also no surprise that it was often used for only the most stable of content and, let’s be honest, the most conservative as well. Who would have had the budget to try something experimental this kind of expensive setup that might not actually be useable? This was a real shame, because we know video can be a powerful tool for learning. However, it just wasn’t feasible for all projects. As well, it meant lots of kinds of content that would loan itself well to video but would be considered kind of niche, content that would only have a smaller audience, never got the chance to use this tool. It’s easier to justify the high costs of video for something that would be seen company-wide, less so for something that might only be viewed by a dozen people, even if it would be extremely valuable for those dozen people. (cue animation) But then the means of making video started coming in to the hands of amateurs. Simple and cheap video cameras, screen capturing tools, and webcams gave people inexpensive ways to capture their own content, and then smart phones and tablets came along and put these tools directly in people’s pockets, making them even more convenient. If you want to capture something on video, you can just do it without fuss. Also, video editing software has changed as well. While there’s obviously still professional software out there, cheap video cameras lead to a boom in simplified editing software aimed at beginners, such as iMovie. This software is incredibly basic compared to its professional cousins, but it does the main things your average casual user wants to do with their footage: trimming, editing different footage together, adding a soundtrack, and tweaking audio. This simplified software gets the job done and is incredibly easy to learn to use. There’s one more point I want to make, but first I want to do a quick quiz…
• #8: This is a topic where it helps to have some context. For the longest time, video was pricey, time consuming, and complicated to create. You had to have expensive equipment to both film and edit your work, and both required extensive training to learn how to use. Then, from an L&D perspective, you also had to have the means of sharing that video with your learners. It’s no wonder, then, that video wasn’t always leveraged that often. It’s also no surprise that it was often used for only the most stable of content and, let’s be honest, the most conservative as well. Who would have had the budget to try something experimental this kind of expensive setup that might not actually be useable? This was a real shame, because we know video can be a powerful tool for learning. However, it just wasn’t feasible for all projects. As well, it meant lots of kinds of content that would loan itself well to video but would be considered kind of niche, content that would only have a smaller audience, never got the chance to use this tool. It’s easier to justify the high costs of video for something that would be seen company-wide, less so for something that might only be viewed by a dozen people, even if it would be extremely valuable for those dozen people. (cue animation) But then the means of making video started coming in to the hands of amateurs. Simple and cheap video cameras, screen capturing tools, and webcams gave people inexpensive ways to capture their own content, and then smart phones and tablets came along and put these tools directly in people’s pockets, making them even more convenient. If you want to capture something on video, you can just do it without fuss. Also, video editing software has changed as well. While there’s obviously still professional software out there, cheap video cameras lead to a boom in simplified editing software aimed at beginners, such as iMovie. This software is incredibly basic compared to its professional cousins, but it does the main things your average casual user wants to do with their footage: trimming, editing different footage together, adding a soundtrack, and tweaking audio. This simplified software gets the job done and is incredibly easy to learn to use. There’s one more point I want to make, but first I want to do a quick quiz…
• #9: Now, here’s the question I’m going to ask for every topic today: why does the rise of amateur video matter to you guys in particular? It’s important because it means that you’re no longer constrained by having to have professional-quality video in order to have learners respect your video content. That means, if you have something you want to use video for, you can actually do it yourself. Budget, professional skills, and tricky equipment aren’t going to stop you. It also means you can finally justify that niche video content. If you need to film a tutorial that’s just going to be seen by a dozen people, chances are you can now afford to film it. Also, it means you can capture the kind of experimental content you couldn’t in the past. Do you have an idea that may only be relevant for a year or so? Do you want to shoot a concept video for a scenario, but need to test out a few ideas to help you know how you want to film it? Do you want to video off-the-cuff interviews where you’re not sure where it will go and how much of it will be immediately useful? Now you’re in a much better position to try it out.
• #10: What’s really important to address up front is something you’ll likely be asked by clients and managers: can’t you just simply use YouTube quality videos for everything? Goodness knows, it’ll drastically lower the cost of any video you create, right? (cue animation) No. This is a terrible idea. As you’re going to hear me say on repeat any time I talk about anything related to design, it’s not a blanket solution for everything. It’s only the right fit for some circumstances. In this case, amateur video in learning is best suited for situations that are similar to what your learners are accustomed to seeing amateur video used for on YouTube: personal stories and tutorials. With tutorials, people are more concerned with seeing how to do things than they are with slick Hollywood production values. Amateur video doesn’t get in the way of what people want from the video. With personal stories, it’s a matter of the medium influencing the message. Because amateur videos are so often used for personal reflections or opinions, they now come with this subtle, subconscious additional flavour of genuineness that the medium has primed us for seeing. And that feeling influences how people perceive the content you create using this medium.
• #11: So, if there are things you should use this style of video for, it’s logical to expect that there are things you really shouldn’t use it for too. This is absolutely the case here. (cue animation) First off, it can be tricky to use amateur-style video for straight up marketing. People are accustomed to the marketing they see around them, and nearly all of that is slick, with high production values. Unless you’re going for the viral video look, most people still have that sense of if the marketing looks cheap, than the product or service it’s marketing ALSO is cheap. This sends entirely the wrong message. (cue animation) Second, like I just mentioned, people tend to associate a lower quality of video with a higher quality of genuineness. Leveraging the style and tone of a YouTube vlog for something like a staged promotional video for your company or faked customer testimonials can seriously backfire in your face. If you’ve ever seen some of those commercial videos that were meant to be like a viral video, you know what I mean. You can practically smell the phoniness. People feel straight up lied to when a medium that evokes genuineness is used for something that isn’t. Take both of these concerns into account when deciding whether amateur video is right for your project.
• #12: Now, let’s say you’ve evaluated your project and it’s just perfect for amateur video. It’s important to note that you can’t just put it together all slipshod. There’s a wide range of quality within this style of production, and you don’t want to be at the bottom of the barrel. The fact is this: just because you’re using a lower quality set up doesn’t mean you don’t have to put care and thought into what you make though. Here are a few things that you can’t skimp on with this type of video: (cue animation) Sound While you don’t have to have movie-quality sound, there’s still a bar you need to hit to make your video watchable. You need to make sure you can actually clearly hear dialogue and any important sounds. The easiest way to accomplish this for the cost of absolutely free is this: record in the quietest place you can. It makes a huge difference. As well, make sure the sounds you’re recording are going in the general direction of the video camera. If a person is facing away from the camera while talking, it’s harder to capture what they’re saying clearly. If you’ve got a bit of a budget, you can also consider investing in a microphone. You can get relatively cheap directional microphones that plug into the headphone jack on your smart phone that can help you “aim” the camera towards the source of the audio you want to capture. There are also a few lav mics on the market that connect to smart phones as well. This stuff is inexpensive and easy to use. It’s not perfect, but you will get somewhat clearer audio from the investment. (cue animation) Terrible lighting Your lighting doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be able to see what’s happening on screen. The cheap fix is finding great natural light to film in. Even the cheapest of cameras can take decently good footage in midday sun. They tend to be outright garbage in low-light settings. So, find a spot to film that is bright and has diffused light (light is coming from many angles so you don’t get harsh shadows). Another option, particularly if you need to film somewhere that just doesn’t have great lighting, is to pick up a cheap lighting kit. For a few hundred dollars you can get a few decent portable lights that you can use to make most situations filmable. (cue animation) Steadiness of camera Shakycam is terrifyingly distracting and distressing for viewers. People may tolerate imperfect lighting or sound, but they have nearly no patience for a camera that can’t hold still. An easy fix is to film with a webcam or with your camera propped up on something completely stable like a table or a shelf. Barring that, even standing in a stable position with your arms braced against you can help a lot. If you’ve got some budget, consider buying a cheap tripod for filming. Video cameras usually have the screw that allows you to attach them to a tripod easily. You’ll need to buy or make an additional mount to attach a smartphone or tablet to a standard tripod, but they’re inexpensive too. If you need to move a lot with your filming, look into a steadicam setup. There are some great ones available for iPhones in particular, and I’ve even seen tutorials on line for making your own shoulder rig for under $30. (cue animation) Bad storytelling You can have the best sound, the ideal lighting, and the steadiest camera, but if the story you have to tell is boring, no one is going to watch. Make sure whatever content you’re going to capture on video is compelling on it’s own, because committing it to video doesn’t magically make it better. Also, make sure the storytelling is tight. People like their videos to get to the point and expect amateur-style videos to be on the shorter end. This doesn’t leave you with a lot of time to meander around the point of the thing. (cue animation) Bad editing Nobody wants to watch video that hasn’t been edited down to the clearest version of the story. Trim down to only what you need to tell the story, nothing more. Be sure to edit out mistakes, and even long pauses of you can. Also, just because you committed something like a 30-minute interview to film doesn’t mean you’re compelled to use it all. Edit it to show just the most valuable parts of that conversation and your learners will thank you. So, in short, amateur video is a game changer for us, but we need to choose when to use it selectively and also craft in in as high-quality a way as possible.
• #13: Now, let’s say you’ve evaluated your project and it’s just perfect for amateur video. It’s important to note that you can’t just put it together all slipshod. There’s a wide range of quality within this style of production, and you don’t want to be at the bottom of the barrel. The fact is this: just because you’re using a lower quality set up doesn’t mean you don’t have to put care and thought into what you make though. Here are a few things that you can’t skimp on with this type of video: (cue animation) Sound While you don’t have to have movie-quality sound, there’s still a bar you need to hit to make your video watchable. You need to make sure you can actually clearly hear dialogue and any important sounds. The easiest way to accomplish this for the cost of absolutely free is this: record in the quietest place you can. It makes a huge difference. As well, make sure the sounds you’re recording are going in the general direction of the video camera. If a person is facing away from the camera while talking, it’s harder to capture what they’re saying clearly. If you’ve got a bit of a budget, you can also consider investing in a microphone. You can get relatively cheap directional microphones that plug into the headphone jack on your smart phone that can help you “aim” the camera towards the source of the audio you want to capture. There are also a few lav mics on the market that connect to smart phones as well. This stuff is inexpensive and easy to use. It’s not perfect, but you will get somewhat clearer audio from the investment. (cue animation) Terrible lighting Your lighting doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be able to see what’s happening on screen. The cheap fix is finding great natural light to film in. Even the cheapest of cameras can take decently good footage in midday sun. They tend to be outright garbage in low-light settings. So, find a spot to film that is bright and has diffused light (light is coming from many angles so you don’t get harsh shadows). Another option, particularly if you need to film somewhere that just doesn’t have great lighting, is to pick up a cheap lighting kit. For a few hundred dollars you can get a few decent portable lights that you can use to make most situations filmable. (cue animation) Steadiness of camera Shakycam is terrifyingly distracting and distressing for viewers. People may tolerate imperfect lighting or sound, but they have nearly no patience for a camera that can’t hold still. An easy fix is to film with a webcam or with your camera propped up on something completely stable like a table or a shelf. Barring that, even standing in a stable position with your arms braced against you can help a lot. If you’ve got some budget, consider buying a cheap tripod for filming. Video cameras usually have the screw that allows you to attach them to a tripod easily. You’ll need to buy or make an additional mount to attach a smartphone or tablet to a standard tripod, but they’re inexpensive too. If you need to move a lot with your filming, look into a steadicam setup. There are some great ones available for iPhones in particular, and I’ve even seen tutorials on line for making your own shoulder rig for under $30. (cue animation) Bad storytelling You can have the best sound, the ideal lighting, and the steadiest camera, but if the story you have to tell is boring, no one is going to watch. Make sure whatever content you’re going to capture on video is compelling on it’s own, because committing it to video doesn’t magically make it better. Also, make sure the storytelling is tight. People like their videos to get to the point and expect amateur-style videos to be on the shorter end. This doesn’t leave you with a lot of time to meander around the point of the thing. (cue animation) Bad editing Nobody wants to watch video that hasn’t been edited down to the clearest version of the story. Trim down to only what you need to tell the story, nothing more. Be sure to edit out mistakes, and even long pauses of you can. Also, just because you committed something like a 30-minute interview to film doesn’t mean you’re compelled to use it all. Edit it to show just the most valuable parts of that conversation and your learners will thank you. So, in short, amateur video is a game changer for us, but we need to choose when to use it selectively and also craft in in as high-quality a way as possible.
• #14: Now, let’s say you’ve evaluated your project and it’s just perfect for amateur video. It’s important to note that you can’t just put it together all slipshod. There’s a wide range of quality within this style of production, and you don’t want to be at the bottom of the barrel. The fact is this: just because you’re using a lower quality set up doesn’t mean you don’t have to put care and thought into what you make though. Here are a few things that you can’t skimp on with this type of video: (cue animation) Sound While you don’t have to have movie-quality sound, there’s still a bar you need to hit to make your video watchable. You need to make sure you can actually clearly hear dialogue and any important sounds. The easiest way to accomplish this for the cost of absolutely free is this: record in the quietest place you can. It makes a huge difference. As well, make sure the sounds you’re recording are going in the general direction of the video camera. If a person is facing away from the camera while talking, it’s harder to capture what they’re saying clearly. If you’ve got a bit of a budget, you can also consider investing in a microphone. You can get relatively cheap directional microphones that plug into the headphone jack on your smart phone that can help you “aim” the camera towards the source of the audio you want to capture. There are also a few lav mics on the market that connect to smart phones as well. This stuff is inexpensive and easy to use. It’s not perfect, but you will get somewhat clearer audio from the investment. (cue animation) Terrible lighting Your lighting doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be able to see what’s happening on screen. The cheap fix is finding great natural light to film in. Even the cheapest of cameras can take decently good footage in midday sun. They tend to be outright garbage in low-light settings. So, find a spot to film that is bright and has diffused light (light is coming from many angles so you don’t get harsh shadows). Another option, particularly if you need to film somewhere that just doesn’t have great lighting, is to pick up a cheap lighting kit. For a few hundred dollars you can get a few decent portable lights that you can use to make most situations filmable. (cue animation) Steadiness of camera Shakycam is terrifyingly distracting and distressing for viewers. People may tolerate imperfect lighting or sound, but they have nearly no patience for a camera that can’t hold still. An easy fix is to film with a webcam or with your camera propped up on something completely stable like a table or a shelf. Barring that, even standing in a stable position with your arms braced against you can help a lot. If you’ve got some budget, consider buying a cheap tripod for filming. Video cameras usually have the screw that allows you to attach them to a tripod easily. You’ll need to buy or make an additional mount to attach a smartphone or tablet to a standard tripod, but they’re inexpensive too. If you need to move a lot with your filming, look into a steadicam setup. There are some great ones available for iPhones in particular, and I’ve even seen tutorials on line for making your own shoulder rig for under $30. (cue animation) Bad storytelling You can have the best sound, the ideal lighting, and the steadiest camera, but if the story you have to tell is boring, no one is going to watch. Make sure whatever content you’re going to capture on video is compelling on it’s own, because committing it to video doesn’t magically make it better. Also, make sure the storytelling is tight. People like their videos to get to the point and expect amateur-style videos to be on the shorter end. This doesn’t leave you with a lot of time to meander around the point of the thing. (cue animation) Bad editing Nobody wants to watch video that hasn’t been edited down to the clearest version of the story. Trim down to only what you need to tell the story, nothing more. Be sure to edit out mistakes, and even long pauses of you can. Also, just because you committed something like a 30-minute interview to film doesn’t mean you’re compelled to use it all. Edit it to show just the most valuable parts of that conversation and your learners will thank you. So, in short, amateur video is a game changer for us, but we need to choose when to use it selectively and also craft in in as high-quality a way as possible.
• #15: Now, let’s say you’ve evaluated your project and it’s just perfect for amateur video. It’s important to note that you can’t just put it together all slipshod. There’s a wide range of quality within this style of production, and you don’t want to be at the bottom of the barrel. The fact is this: just because you’re using a lower quality set up doesn’t mean you don’t have to put care and thought into what you make though. Here are a few things that you can’t skimp on with this type of video: (cue animation) Sound While you don’t have to have movie-quality sound, there’s still a bar you need to hit to make your video watchable. You need to make sure you can actually clearly hear dialogue and any important sounds. The easiest way to accomplish this for the cost of absolutely free is this: record in the quietest place you can. It makes a huge difference. As well, make sure the sounds you’re recording are going in the general direction of the video camera. If a person is facing away from the camera while talking, it’s harder to capture what they’re saying clearly. If you’ve got a bit of a budget, you can also consider investing in a microphone. You can get relatively cheap directional microphones that plug into the headphone jack on your smart phone that can help you “aim” the camera towards the source of the audio you want to capture. There are also a few lav mics on the market that connect to smart phones as well. This stuff is inexpensive and easy to use. It’s not perfect, but you will get somewhat clearer audio from the investment. (cue animation) Terrible lighting Your lighting doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be able to see what’s happening on screen. The cheap fix is finding great natural light to film in. Even the cheapest of cameras can take decently good footage in midday sun. They tend to be outright garbage in low-light settings. So, find a spot to film that is bright and has diffused light (light is coming from many angles so you don’t get harsh shadows). Another option, particularly if you need to film somewhere that just doesn’t have great lighting, is to pick up a cheap lighting kit. For a few hundred dollars you can get a few decent portable lights that you can use to make most situations filmable. (cue animation) Steadiness of camera Shakycam is terrifyingly distracting and distressing for viewers. People may tolerate imperfect lighting or sound, but they have nearly no patience for a camera that can’t hold still. An easy fix is to film with a webcam or with your camera propped up on something completely stable like a table or a shelf. Barring that, even standing in a stable position with your arms braced against you can help a lot. If you’ve got some budget, consider buying a cheap tripod for filming. Video cameras usually have the screw that allows you to attach them to a tripod easily. You’ll need to buy or make an additional mount to attach a smartphone or tablet to a standard tripod, but they’re inexpensive too. If you need to move a lot with your filming, look into a steadicam setup. There are some great ones available for iPhones in particular, and I’ve even seen tutorials on line for making your own shoulder rig for under $30. (cue animation) Bad storytelling You can have the best sound, the ideal lighting, and the steadiest camera, but if the story you have to tell is boring, no one is going to watch. Make sure whatever content you’re going to capture on video is compelling on it’s own, because committing it to video doesn’t magically make it better. Also, make sure the storytelling is tight. People like their videos to get to the point and expect amateur-style videos to be on the shorter end. This doesn’t leave you with a lot of time to meander around the point of the thing. (cue animation) Bad editing Nobody wants to watch video that hasn’t been edited down to the clearest version of the story. Trim down to only what you need to tell the story, nothing more. Be sure to edit out mistakes, and even long pauses of you can. Also, just because you committed something like a 30-minute interview to film doesn’t mean you’re compelled to use it all. Edit it to show just the most valuable parts of that conversation and your learners will thank you. So, in short, amateur video is a game changer for us, but we need to choose when to use it selectively and also craft in in as high-quality a way as possible.
• #16: Now, let’s say you’ve evaluated your project and it’s just perfect for amateur video. It’s important to note that you can’t just put it together all slipshod. There’s a wide range of quality within this style of production, and you don’t want to be at the bottom of the barrel. The fact is this: just because you’re using a lower quality set up doesn’t mean you don’t have to put care and thought into what you make though. Here are a few things that you can’t skimp on with this type of video: (cue animation) Sound While you don’t have to have movie-quality sound, there’s still a bar you need to hit to make your video watchable. You need to make sure you can actually clearly hear dialogue and any important sounds. The easiest way to accomplish this for the cost of absolutely free is this: record in the quietest place you can. It makes a huge difference. As well, make sure the sounds you’re recording are going in the general direction of the video camera. If a person is facing away from the camera while talking, it’s harder to capture what they’re saying clearly. If you’ve got a bit of a budget, you can also consider investing in a microphone. You can get relatively cheap directional microphones that plug into the headphone jack on your smart phone that can help you “aim” the camera towards the source of the audio you want to capture. There are also a few lav mics on the market that connect to smart phones as well. This stuff is inexpensive and easy to use. It’s not perfect, but you will get somewhat clearer audio from the investment. (cue animation) Terrible lighting Your lighting doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be able to see what’s happening on screen. The cheap fix is finding great natural light to film in. Even the cheapest of cameras can take decently good footage in midday sun. They tend to be outright garbage in low-light settings. So, find a spot to film that is bright and has diffused light (light is coming from many angles so you don’t get harsh shadows). Another option, particularly if you need to film somewhere that just doesn’t have great lighting, is to pick up a cheap lighting kit. For a few hundred dollars you can get a few decent portable lights that you can use to make most situations filmable. (cue animation) Steadiness of camera Shakycam is terrifyingly distracting and distressing for viewers. People may tolerate imperfect lighting or sound, but they have nearly no patience for a camera that can’t hold still. An easy fix is to film with a webcam or with your camera propped up on something completely stable like a table or a shelf. Barring that, even standing in a stable position with your arms braced against you can help a lot. If you’ve got some budget, consider buying a cheap tripod for filming. Video cameras usually have the screw that allows you to attach them to a tripod easily. You’ll need to buy or make an additional mount to attach a smartphone or tablet to a standard tripod, but they’re inexpensive too. If you need to move a lot with your filming, look into a steadicam setup. There are some great ones available for iPhones in particular, and I’ve even seen tutorials on line for making your own shoulder rig for under $30. (cue animation) Bad storytelling You can have the best sound, the ideal lighting, and the steadiest camera, but if the story you have to tell is boring, no one is going to watch. Make sure whatever content you’re going to capture on video is compelling on it’s own, because committing it to video doesn’t magically make it better. Also, make sure the storytelling is tight. People like their videos to get to the point and expect amateur-style videos to be on the shorter end. This doesn’t leave you with a lot of time to meander around the point of the thing. (cue animation) Bad editing Nobody wants to watch video that hasn’t been edited down to the clearest version of the story. Trim down to only what you need to tell the story, nothing more. Be sure to edit out mistakes, and even long pauses of you can. Also, just because you committed something like a 30-minute interview to film doesn’t mean you’re compelled to use it all. Edit it to show just the most valuable parts of that conversation and your learners will thank you. So, in short, amateur video is a game changer for us, but we need to choose when to use it selectively and also craft in in as high-quality a way as possible.
• #17: If you want a huge return on investment, though, the easiest way to make your videos look more professional quickly is to simply change how you hold your phone or tablet when you film. We’re so used to holding a phone in portrait style for nearly everything we do, and so often people accidentally film this way as well. I even do this by accident, and I know better. This unfortunately leads to an unfortunate final product, as video players are typically built for landscape, not portrait, style video. What ends up happening if you film the wrong way, then is that your portrait-style video gets shrunk so it’ll fit in the middle of the player, and ends up having huge black bars on wither side of it to fill in the rest of the space. This looks just plain weird to people and quickly makes people see your video as less professional. Plus, it makes everything in your video look tiny. So the best way to fix this costs no money at all. Just remind yourself to hold your phone or table “sideways” any time you’re shooting video. It makes a huge difference in the quality of your video and how people perceive it. So, in short, amateur video is a game changer for us, but we need to choose when to use it selectively and also craft in in as high-quality a way as possible.
• #18: So first up is a design fight that you’ve definitely seen the results of, but may not know the background on. Flat design versus realistic and skeuomorphic design. But first, another quick quiz…
• #19: This is another topic that it helps to have a bit of content on. This story goes back years and years, but I think the most relatable place to pick up with it is with Apple’s iPhone operating system: iOS. So, years ago, software and web user interface was predominantly designed with a focus on realism. Basically, the designers who created these things wanted the 2-D digital objects on your screen to resemble 3-D real objects instead. The screencaps of iOS6 on the screen right now do a great job of showing what this looked liked. There were tons of buttons and icons that had that shading on them to make them look like they were made of semi-transparent jellybeans. Items had shadows to make them pop out from the screen. There was faked perspective, like the dock at the bottom of your iPhone screen that made it look as though these digital buttons were actually sitting on a 3-D ledge. Shapes, objects, and borders were filled with patterns that resembled real materials, such as the black fabric finish on the iOS folder screens or the brushed metal so commonly found in Apple’s computer operating systems. As well, a design concept called skeuomorphism became incredibly widespread. Skeuomorphism is the idea that you should design digital objects to look and function like real-life objects. For instance, the slide to unlock mechanism on the left-hand screenshot is a great example of skeuomorphism. It’s a digital item that both looks like a real world item AND functions like it as well. The old bookshelves in Apple’s iBooks app are another good example of this. And Apple wasn’t the only one who designed like this. For instance, any of you who are still running Windows XP know this aesthetic well. This was the predominant trend for years.
• #20: But then things changed. In 2013 Apple launched iOS7, a drastically redesigned new operating system for their smart phones and tablets, and this redesign used a very different design style: flat design. Gone was the attempt to replicate the 3 dimensional in 2 dimensions. Flat design instead focused on incredibly simple aesthetics that let go of trying to resemble real-world items and instead embraced being fully digital. Drop shadows disappeared; gradients were made more subtle (or even removed entirely); designs that had previously been coated in simulated wood, metal, leather, or fabric were now just filled with a solid colour, and any details considered superfluous were completely deleted. And, of course, skeuomorphism, poor skeumorphism, was tossed out entirely and considered woefully dated and tacky. Now, Apple wasn’t remotely first to the flat design. Lots of other companies and designers beat them to the punch, most notably Microsoft’s Windows 8. But Apple’s redesign made the terms “flat design” and “skeuomorphism” household names. Suddenly people who had no strong connection to design were talking about them. In the end, while the reviews weren’t unanimous, overall there were more voices than not that were saying that flat design was infinitely better than realism. In the weeks following iOS7s release, users slowly saw their phone screens change morph, as app after app traded in their old 3-D look for a flat one. Websites and social media also swayed in the direction of flat design, and before you knew it, much of our digital world changed it’s look and feel to match the way paved by iOS7, Windows 8, and numerous design students’ design portfolios.
• #21: What’s interesting to note is that many people took what I’d argue is the wrong lesson for this shift. They assumed that because iOS 6’s realistic apps and icons were considered inferior to iOS 7’s flat ones… (cue animation) That this somehow meant that all realistic and skeuomorphic designs were also always inferior to flat ones. What’s important to know is that is isn’t really the case. (cue animation) They’re both equally valid visual design choices as long as you use them effectively.
• #22: What’s interesting to note is that many people took what I’d argue is the wrong lesson for this shift. They assumed that because iOS 6’s realistic apps and icons were considered inferior to iOS 7’s flat ones… (cue animation) That this somehow meant that all realistic and skeuomorphic designs were also always inferior to flat ones. What’s important to know is that is isn’t really the case. (cue animation) They’re both equally valid visual design choices as long as you use them effectively.
• #23: What’s interesting to note is that many people took what I’d argue is the wrong lesson for this shift. They assumed that because iOS 6’s realistic apps and icons were considered inferior to iOS 7’s flat ones… (cue animation) That this somehow meant that all realistic and skeuomorphic designs were also always inferior to flat ones. What’s important to know is that is isn’t really the case. (cue animation) They’re both equally valid visual design choices as long as you use them effectively.
• #24: Of course, we need to ask the question of the day: Why does this matter to those of us in the L&D world? The answer is easy: You’re likely going to have clients, SMEs, managers, and others ask for learning designed in this style or request that older materials be revised to reflect the new flat style. You need to have a good sense of the pros and cons of both visual styles to know what’s actually right for the project itself and its audience, not just what’s trendy right now.
• #25: So let’s talk more about what each of these styles look like when done right. And as my main example I’ve got an app that’s actually stuck with realism and skeuomorphism even through this design overhaul: Paper by 53 (http://www.fiftythree.com/paper). Paper’s competitors have moved as far away from the feel of traditional art materials as possible: you most assuredly know you’re using software. Paper, on the other hand, tried to make their app as much like drawing in real sketchbooks as possible. You pictures aren’t kept in folders, but in themed notebooks. To open a notebook you actually have to use a motion that simulates opening a real book. Page sizes are all identical (rather than the variable sizes in other drawing software), and changing to a different drawing in a notebooks requires actually flipping through digital pages rather than sorting through file names. Then there’s the drawing experience itself. Most drawing software gives you the opportunity to simulate an almost infinite number of drawing supplies all in the software. It’s like having access to an entire art store on your computer. That said, sometimes simplicity and limits actually helps creativity. And that’s where Paper comes in. The app has just 5 different drawing implements. To choose one, you simply pick the image of it, as though it was sitting on your table. To mix colours you can’t enter in specific RGB values… you have to instead either select an existing colour or mix two existing shades together to make a new one. 53, the company that makes Paper, even went one step further in its embracing of replicating real art supplies by creating a companion stylus that looks just like a chubby pencil. Guess what it’s called? “Pencil”. So, aside from a small number of nods to the digital form, such as a rewind option, nearly everything in the look and feel of Paper is done to encapsulate the real experience of carrying a sketchbook and a few art supplies around with you. It resembles the simple experience of drawing on paper, which means it’s easy for anyone to master quickly and is an ideal user experience for those less comfortable with technology.
• #26: Now, on the polar opposite end, here is an example of where flat design just plain succeeds: Apple’s Calendar app. The old version in iOS6 was dripping with skeuomorphism, and, unlike the example of Paper, these elements made the app harder to use. I wanted to plan my life, not stare at a cluttered screen surrounded by hideous simulated leather. This was a perfect example of why people rejected realism: it got in the way of what people actually needed to do. Thankfully iOS7’s update completely rehauled the Calendar app using a stark adherence to flat design. Gone was that stupid, useless torn paper detail at the top of the calendar and the pointless leather border in the iPad app. All the colours and textures were replaced by an easier to read stark white. Symbols for appointments were simplified to a small dot, Day and Month names were abbreviated, and large buttons were banished. What you want from a calendar is truly simple: you want to see your day, week, or month at a glance and quickly know what your plans are. Nothing more. With a situation like this, the strengths of flat design are a perfect match. This design aesthetic strips things down to just what’s required, removing visual clutter and unnecessary distractions. This can make things much easier to understand and interact with. It also makes it noticeably faster to get the information you need.
• #27: So, as I mentioned earlier, the design industry has made a massive shift from realism to flat, but I don’t see this as a great thing. Throwing out realism means we miss out on a lot of great features it offers, which we saw in the Paper app. On the other hand, we shouldn’t reject flat design either. It really is superior to realism in some situations. What we need to do is know when to use each one… and also when NOT to. And to do that, we’ll talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each one.
• #28: So, like I mentioned when we looked at Paper, realism and skeuomorphism design are spectacular at stirring the emotions people already have about a tangible version of a product. This can help people bond quickly with what you’ve created. The large amount of details you can add can also help to give a realism-focused design flavour and personality. This type of design, since it resembles real-world items, can often be less confusing for new users or people who are less comfortable with technology. If it looks and functions like something your audience is already familiar with, it becomes easier for them to master. But it’s not all perfect. On the cons end, it’s pretty easy for all these details in your design to look cluttered. Sometimes you don’t need all these different buttons, and textures, and switches. However, realism unfortunately tends to loan itself to encouraging vestigial features: features that may have been required in the physical version, but aren’t functional in the digital one, and too many of these make your design look unnecessarily busy. Plus, there’s the problem of too many different types of 3-D styling used without thought. Just because you *can* simulate stitched leather, doesn’t mean you should. In Apple’s case, many of the faux finishes they chose to use made their apps look cheap and dated.
• #29: So on the other end of the spectrum, flat design excels through simplicity. Because it’s not trying to simulate a real item or experience, it can completely reinvent how to accomplish a task in the way that takes the most advantage of the digital medium. Realism can get stuck in the rut of doing things digitally the same way it was done manually. Flat design can sometimes allow you to come up with completely new, but much more sensible, ways of doing things digitally. It also encourages leaving out unnecessarily features and design elements, which make the look and feel of the design tidy and efficient. This style is particularly well-suited for experts who don’t want digital hand holding and just want to get straight to the business of using your design. Finally, and we can’t deny the importance of this, flat design currently looks more modern and is beloved by designers. A flat design can serve to make what you’re creating seem more current. But, there are always cons as well. Flat can be missing important features that give the user visual cues for how to interact with the design, particularly from the perspective of new users. Also, flat design is surprisingly easy to mess up. This is because there are so few details that you need to get them all spot on or it’s painfully obvious the design isn’t working. For instance, the Kobo eReader app at the bottom of the screen. If these different sized book covers were on, say, that simulated bookshelf they used to have in iBooks, I don’t think you’d notice that the book covers are different sizes. However, because this app is stripped down to just the cover images, and it doesn’t even line up the covers at the top or bottom, it looks sloppy. Finally, the lack of details means that it’s trickier to to give your design personality and make it stick out. Flat designs have the exact opposite problem that realism does. Where realistic designs brought together tend to look chaotic and mismatched, flat designs can sometimes look bland and overly-similar to each other. You have to have an exceptional design in order to make a flat design really stick out from all the others.
• #30: So, to summarize, realism and skeuomorphism aren’t all bad, and flat design isn’t all good. Both can be valid options. In the end it comes down to what’s best for the project and how well it’s executed.
• #31: Now, I’ve been talking about these design styles as polar opposites. The thing is, you don’t have to pick just one option. You can design in the middle ground too, combining the best of both styles. For instance, this is Apple’s Reminders app. While most of the Apple aesthetic has gone completely flat, this little app manages to combine some of the best features of both design styles. In general, the app still skews pretty flat, which makes sense for a productivity app. You want it simple so that it’s easy to use and interact with. However, it has a few design elements on the actual reminders list that are pure realism. The white section of the screen actually has a very faint texture, that makes it look like a heavy weight sheet of paper. The list also has lines on it, like the kind of paper people take notes on. Finally, the text looks lightly embossed, as though it was created through letterpress printing. These details are subtle, but they do a great job of giving the app a bit of personality and emotion while not distracting from the simplicity of the overall look and feel. If you can find a good balance like this app does, you can leverage the strengths of both styles at once.
• #32: Our final design trend that we’ll be talking about today is infographics. And I’ve got one last quiz to round this out….
• #33: You know the drill now: why does this matter if you’re a learning professional? Infographics are a fantastic way of summarizing information in a way that’s accessible and engaging for learners. It’s particularly great for taking seemingly dull numerical information and both giving it context and making it more interesting. That makes it well worth including in the learning we create.
• #34: Infographics are, at their core, a memorable and visual way of showing content. Sometimes they’re complex, like the typical long and skinny infographic that you’ve seen so often. Sometimes they’re incredibly simple, and are just a simple graphic. The size is actually irrelevant. So why are they so popular right now? When done right, they’re spectacular at simplifying and compressing information. They can take an overwhelming sea of information and boil it down to a bite-sized and logically ordered high-level summary. Like this Cappuccino graphic. I can instantly get the gist of what (and about how much) goes into my drink. As well, they’re visually engaging. Infographics use graphics strategically, allowing them to take on some (or even all) of the load of communicating information, which it makes it that much easier for a viewer to grasp ideas and concepts. The visuals in the full coffee infographic here on the screen are much faster at comparing different espresso-based drinks than text would have been. Finally, and this isn’t something we can overlook, they’re often much less boring that straight up text or tables. On the right is a table of some of the same numerical data from the coffee infographic. I’ll bet I know which one you find more interesting
• #35: However, not all infographics are created alike. I’m sure we’ve all seen infographics that looked chaotically busy, or were confusing to read, or didn’t have a clear point. Just because something has been turned into an infographic, doesn’t mean it’s actually good at conveying information. So here’s what I think makes a good infographic. First, you can quickly figure out what the point of the infographic is supposed to be, and all the content reinforces that plot. There’s also enough content to support the plot, but not so much that it feels like a data dump. Second, the data and information is all displayed in a logical form. Each graph and chart has just enough information for you to understand what’s going on, but isn’t trying to do too many things at once. To help people trust the information, the infographic also cites sources where appropriate. Third, the overall visual design is clear and polished. It’s got a clear aesthetic, consistently used colour palette and fonts, and it’s not too cramped looking. Get this stuff right and your infographic becomes a great learning tool that simplifies your content and makes it sticky.
• #36: If you’ve been paying attention at all, you know that this part is coming: the discussion of when you should, and shouldn’t, use an infographic. There are a few situations infographics are perfect for. The format lends itself particularly well to knitting together snippets of related data. You’ve probably seen this done well with the standard long infographic that shows a bunch of trivia. Another good time to break out an infographic is if you need to simplify a large amount of data into a core story. The process of making an infographic can help you narrow down what your key points are, and you can also use graphics to help simplify your content further. Finally, infographics do a great job of taking a data-based story and presenting it in a compelling way rather than through just a bunch of numbers or text snippets.
• #37: On the other hand, there are definitely times to avoid infographics and do something else. For starters, and I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but it’s a bad idea to use an infographic for the sake of using an infographic. Chances are you’ll bump into this with SMEs or clients where they want to use them because they’ve seen them around and like the look of them. As always, you want to check what they’re trying to accomplish before committing to an infographic as the solution. Another time where an infographic isn’t the best option is if you need to tell a linear story or scenario rather than show information. In a case like this, text, a video, or even a comic will do a better job. Finally, infographics don’t work well as a means to link together data that actually isn’t well-related. You might have seen projects like this before where it’s honestly just a data dump wrapped in a pretty, visual shell. Infographic design isn’t magic, though, and ones that just go through the motions don’t tend to resonate well with people.
• #38: While we’re not going to go into detail on creating your own infographics, there are two things about the creation process that I do want you to leave this session knowing. The first is this: the most important thing you can do to create a successful infographic is to make sure it has a strong and well-defined core theme. You can just slap together a bunch of semi-related facts and call it a day. That leads to infographics that are confusing or dull. What you want instead is to first establish what the exact message or story you want your infographic to convey. Once you have that, then curate your content around that core theme. This importance of great curation can’t be understated. It’s the feature that can make the difference between an okay infographic that merely conveys information and a strong infographic that actually impacts what people think. A strong infographic is sleek and compact. To achieve this you need to be brutal to the information that you evaluate. It’s not like you can hurt its feelings. As you look at the data you’ve collected, first drop anything that isn’t strongly connected to your core topic. Then, look at what’s left and make sure that you don’t have anything repeating the same point or information over again. If you have any content that doubles up, eliminate the weakest point and move on. What you have left should be the best information about the topic, all distilled to its simplest form.
• #39: The second thing I want you to consider with infographics is the issue of credit. Both crediting the information you use and crediting yourself for creating it. When you’re presenting facts it’s always great to give people the chance to double check your information. This reassures your audience that you didn’t just make these facts up… you actually got them from a trustworthy and reputable source. This is why it’s a great idea to cite your sources where it’s possible, and in particular when you’re displaying content that’s surprising or contentious. There’s a simple method that’s been established for citing sources in infographics: simply list links at the bottom of your infographic. This makes it easy for viewers to find as well as simple for them to check. So it’s important to credit the sources you use, but let’s not forget crediting yourself and the hard work you did. Sure, you may originally post your infographic somewhere where it’s clear who it belongs to, such as a branded website or your own social media feed. The viral nature or infographics, though, mean they’re often removed from their original context and shared elsewhere. You wouldn’t believe the number of infographics I’ve seen that have to way to track them back to the original person or company that made them. That’s why it’s always a good habit to include some sort of credit or branding in your infographic, typically at the bottom of the graphic. Include your name or your company’s as well as a way to get in touch with you, such as a website, email address, or Twitter handle.
• #40: Finally, many of you may want to use infographics created by others in the work you do. They can be a great resource for you to use in your training, and I definitely recommend not reinventing the wheel when you don’t have to. However, it’s important to be aware that not all infographics are as reliable or accurate as you’d hope they’d be. You need to keep your eyes out for misleading data in any infographics you consider using. It’s a sad truth that just because something has been collected in an infographic, doesn’t mean the research that went in to it is solid. In some cases the problem is weak research, where the person who created the infographic used out-of-date data, shallow or narrow research that doesn’t tell the whole story, or made some assumptions based on their research that aren’t actually the case. Just because these problems weren’t purposeful, doesn’t mean they don’t make the infographic wrong. Unfortunately not all infographic inaccuracies are accidental. The frustrating thing is some people purposefully choose to show inaccurate data, cherry-picked information, or even made up facts, usually to further a specific agenda. It’s because of these two kinds of problems that I strongly recommend that if you’re planning on using or sharing an infographic created by someone else you should always thoroughly double-check their information to make sure it’s actually accurate. That means both checking out any sources the infographic references (and if they don’t reference any sources at all, stay clear) as well as looking in to the overall topic to make sure the infographic is missing part of the story.
• #41: So those are the three major design trends happening right now that I think it’s valuable for non-designers to have a general understanding of. But the thing about trends is that they’re always changing. So, to wrap things up for the session, I thought we’d take a look at some ways that non-designers like you can keep on top of the major design trends that effect them, without having to dredge through resources intended strictly for trained graphic designers
• #42: First up, take advantage of the fact that a broader interest in graphic design has created a wealth of books on design topics specifically written for newbies. These books are structured to give you a good hold on the basics and don’t assume that you’ve come to them with prior training on the topic. For instance, here are a few of my favourite examples of this genre. On the left is Cool Infographics, which, no surprise, is a great intro to the world of informational graphics. In the center is 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People. It actually explains the science, once again, in accessible terminology, behind how different design principles work. On the right is Presentation Zen Design, an excellent way to get a good handle on creating visually engaging slide decks. Keep a lookout for design books like this that become popular. It’ll point you towards the next big design trend you should investigate.
• #43: Next up is a resource I personally use a lot: blogs and videos. There are so many graphic designers out there that love talking online about design trends in a simple way, and they’re a fantastic resource for you to tap into. I’ve added a few suggestions to the resource page for this session, but finding other sources on your own is delightfully easy. Search for a particular design term or trend on Google or YouTube and just skim through the results you get. If you find a blog or YouTube channel that you feel does a great job at explaining the topic, simply check out what else they’ve done and see if that works for you as well. If it does, subscribe or add their blog to an RSS Reader and just check in every so often to see what else they’ve posted. Seriously. This really works.
• #44: So here’s a way to see when design trends become so popular that they extend outside of the design sphere: identify subjects that have a bit of overlap with graphic design, and see what design trends percolate out to these related spheres. On the screen right now are a number of topics that are really their own subject, but do have a few things in common with graphic design. If a design concept manages to “cross-over” into media from these other subjects, this is a good indication that it’s a trend worth knowing more about.
• #45: Finally, if you want to have your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the world of graphic design, there’s no better approach than becoming friends with designers, both in your workplace and online. Ask them about their work, keep an eye on the things they share on social media, and even just flat out ask them to let you know if they get the sense that a design concept is becoming so important that people outside of the industry need to know about. Including designers in your personal learning network means you’ve got a resource that will not only tell you about design trends in general, but will likely also help you along the way as you learn more about those trends.
• #46: And so, to wrap up, these days design trends don’t just stay in the world of graphic designers. They also leak into overall business. If you can get a general understanding of how these trends work and how they impact learning you’ll be better equipped for the requests that come your way.
• #47: Finally, here’s the link I promised to the additional resources. It has a copy of this deck, along with the presenters notes, links to all the materials mentioned in this presentation, and more resources I thought you’d find helpful: http://biancawoods.weebly.com/design-trends-2014.html I’m also constantly blogging and tweeting about learning, design, and technology, so feel free to check me out on Twitter or my blog. Blog http://e-geeking.blogspot.ca/ Twitter @eGeeking