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Since so many people are sketchy about what we do as e-learning designers, it seems appropriate to answer this week’s Articulate challenge in a similar vein. This week’s challenge is to answer the question “What do e-learning designers really do?” using the architecture of a visual meme supplied by David Anderson.
Design
I considered doing something interactive in Storyline, but went for a simple image instead. I’ve been playing with sketches lately and it seemed like a good sketching exercise. I created the finished image in PowerPoint.
Sketches: I made these on an iPad with an app called Pencilicious and a generic cell phone stylus. It would have been hugely easier with a stylus that wasn’t shaped like a big fat pencil eraser, but they don’t call this a “challenge” for nothing.
My process to go from scribbling to having usable PNG files: Sketch on iPad > email to self as PDF > export images as PNGs > use ’em! I was impressed with Pencilicious. It was the simple, easy-to-use app I was hoping for at only $2.99, and I’m looking forward to using it more.
Colors: I tamed the all-black frame of David’s example to more of a graphite color to work with the pencil-like theme. The only other colors are in the carrot garden, and that was because I didn’t think my carrots would look like carrots without color. I tried balancing that color with color elsewhere, but didn’t like it. So it’s an unbalanced design in favor of my bunny’s carrots.
Fonts: I’ve been in love with the header font, Cabin Sketch, since we first met. I’ve not had a chance to use it until now, so color me happy. The caption font is Cabin (brother of Cabin Sketch), and the three fonts in the first frame are Cedarville Cursive, Chocolate Windows, and Sneakerhead BTN Shadow.
Content
What my family thinks I do. This is dead accurate. My sister-in-law just sent me a job post, happily noting that it sounds “just like you!” It was for a publishing job. My brother suspects I do something with computers, and my lovely mother excitedly tells everyone she can that I’m an extraordinary businesswoman. (She’s sweet like that.)
What my rabbit thinks I do. All she knows is that I come up with endless feasts of carrots and kale, and she knows you get carrots by digging them up, so she probably thinks this is what I’m up to all day.
What my neighbors think I do. There’s no way they’d even have a guess. Best case, they think I spend all my time goofing off between vacations.
What my clients think I do. I adore them because they think I make magic happen.
What I think I do. I love what I do as an e-learning designer (don’t tell anyone), and between that and getting to work for myself from home, it’s hard not to be happy.
What I really do. I do what we all do: I work with clients; take in a gazillion project details; organize, analyze, and process them; dream up attractive, effective, and fun training solutions; and build them. (In a computer! So my brother was right.)
Hope you like it!
Nice write up Jackie!
Thanks, Jeff! I really enjoyed yours, too.
I love this, Jackie! Thanks for sharing yet another inspirational and informative post. Your clients are right – you do make magic happen! :) – Anne
Hi Anne,
You’re too kind! Thank you so much – I’m really happy you’re enjoying them.
I love your blog too, but it doesn’t look like you’ve had a chance to post lately. I hope you’ll be able to add more sometime since you’ve got a fascinating e-learning niche I’ve never seen anywhere else!
The “What my neighbors think I do” made me laugh. I work from home and I think most people think I can lounge about all day. I actually get more work done at home than I did in an office. Nice job on the sketches!
Hi Justin,
Thank you! I’m so glad you like them. On the bright side we get to be slightly mysterious enigmas to our neighbors, right? :)
I love your site and think it’s great you found such a nice niche. And you’re a Yukon Learning fan, too!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll get a chance to play along in the weekly challenges sometime!
Jackie
Thanks Jackie. I hope to get more involved in the e-learning community and to keep learning!
I absolutely love this Jackie. I also like the neighbours pic as I also work from home occasionally and my neighbours seem to think this is the ideal opportunity to chat! But as you said Justin, I get so much more done at home
Thanks, Inka! I’m glad you liked the neighbor one. At least yours like to chat! You can see I sort of used trial and error to figure out how to make the sketches, and afterwards realized I could have asked the Articulate community how they create their own hand-drawn images. Here’s where I asked them and got their helpful and useful responses.
Jackie,
I stumbled across this example while doing a web search and I had NO idea it was yours! (I also saw your entry in Challenge # 30) I think that my rabbit totally thinks it means bringing her home lots of treats. She waits for me on the couch everyday. Bunny mamas unite!
Hi Jessica! I’m so impressed that your bunny patiently waits for you on the couch. Ours loves being on the couch too, but without supervision she’d probably dig right through it in her search for carrots and other yummy things.