A few months ago, I was looking to add some basic ribbon shapes to an e-learning design I was creating. Instead of creating the ribbon in an outside graphics application, I decided to create one right in Storyline, using shapes, so that I could easily edit and re-color the ribbons as I pleased. Ribbons can have a lot of different uses in your e-learning course designs, a few things they can be used for include:

  • as a backdrop to a title
  • behind an important statement to make it stand out
  • to label items in a list
  • as a label for an image
  • after successfully completing a quiz
  • at the end of a course, to show an achievement has been met


All that to say, there are a lot of uses for ribbons in e-learning design, and knowing how to create them is a simple way to add something new and different to your designs. Here are a few examples of some easy custom ribbon looks you can create yourself, simply by using shapes in Storyline:


The main shapes that are used to create ribbons are: chevrons, rectangles, and multi-point stars (to create medallions, like the ones shown above.). You can simply overlay these shapes, and add appropriate gradients and shadows, to create a realistic effect.

If you like the ribbons displayed here, you should take a peek at  this community thread in the e-Learning Heroes Forum: Various Ribbon Shapes for Use in Your Courses, and you can have a look at this step-by-step Screenr tutorial I created, demonstrating how to easily create these ribbon shapes: How to Create a Simple Ribbon Using Shapes in Storyline.

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