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E-Learning Challenges
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How do Course Designers Build Custom Graphics for E-Learning? #391

DavidAnderson's avatar
3 years ago

E-Learning Graphics Tutorials #391: Challenge | Recap

The graphics you use in your e-learning play a large role in the effectiveness of your course. The challenge for most course designers is that they don’t have access to a team of graphic designers or professional illustrators who can help them create the appropriate graphics for their course. 

The good news is that most of what anyone needs to create course graphics is already available in tools like PowerPoint and Storyline 360. Using simple lines and shapes in creative ways, designers can build their own custom graphics that can be reused across multiple courses. And that's what this week's screencast challenge is all about!

Screencast Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to screencast a design tip showing how you create graphics for e-learning. 

What's a screencast challenge?

The screencast challenges work just like the regular challenges. The only difference is the deliverable. For example, rather than sharing a published demo of a project you built, you'll share a video recording demonstrating how you built the demo or interaction. 

I like the screencast challenges because they shift the focus from design and development to explanation and presentation.

NOTE: Don't worry if someone has already recorded a similar tutorial. This week's screencast challenge is about showing what you know using your voice and style.

How do I record a screencast?

You can record your screencast using any tool you like. Storyline’s built-in screen recorder is one option. Replay 360 and Peek 360 also work well for quick screen recordings. Another popular option is Camtasia.

How do I share my screencast?

Please use YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia to host your screencast. That will make it easy for me to embed the tutorials in the weekly recap post for each challenge.

Ready? Set? Record!

Share Your E-Learning Work

  • Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post.
  • Forums: Start  your own thread and share a link to your published example..
  • Personal blog:  If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure.
  • Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness.

Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you record your e-learning graphics tips, check out the conditional navigation examples your fellow challengers shared over the past week:

Conditional Navigation in E-Learning RECAP #390: Challenge | Recap

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.

Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article

Published 3 years ago
Version 1.0
    • CydWalker_mwhc's avatar
      CydWalker_mwhc
      Community Member
      What a fun way to show how to remove the background! Dog love.
  • Hi Friends!

    I was determined to participate in this week's challenge. Things are so busy, but here I am!

    My tutorial is how to create basic graphics in PowerPoint. I really focus on how to edit existing illustrations using PPT and using the PPT icons to add other features to create the right type of graphic. I really like this community and I noticed that I tend to sound very conversational, for better or worse. If you think it's too unprofessional, then let me know.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiHsU99KvUo

    Happy to hear what you think!
    KK
    • CydWalker_mwhc's avatar
      CydWalker_mwhc
      Community Member
      I learned from what you did Kandice! It was fun to see the span of age and how you did it.
  • Some time ago, I found a video by one Elena Baryshkina (YouTube Channel: Graphic Design with Elena) that walks through the process of converting 2D graphics to 3D using Adobe Illustrator. Thought it was pretty cool, but didn't explore it further. However, when another artist I follow, Will Paterson, put out a video today on the very same topic (talk about timeliness!), I thought to myself, alright, I better take a closer look at this.

    One tip I would give is to make sure to separate your graphic out into logical groups before applying the Inflate effect. Also, while it's totally personal preference, I like to take down the Metallic slider all the way to 0, and the Roughness to around 0.60

    https://360.articulate.com/review/content/32b5ab66-deab-42e7-b6fd-a0d8aaca18bd/review

    Video tut by Elena: https://youtu.be/_coFmqQ2ViQ

    Video tut by Will: https://youtu.be/tSWu817nZjs


    Graphic Source:
    https://storyset.com/ninja
    • Yvonne's avatar
      Yvonne
      Community Member
      What a cool effect! I seriously need to make time to learn more about working in Adobe Illustrator. Thank you for sharing these tutorials to remind me. :)
    • CydWalker_mwhc's avatar
      CydWalker_mwhc
      Community Member
      Looking forward to trying this, thanks Daniel! I follow Will Paterson too!
    • CydWalker_mwhc's avatar
      CydWalker_mwhc
      Community Member
      Thanks Eva, I agree it's important to make images similar belonging together. Appreciate the how to!
    • McKenzieDay-3f1's avatar
      McKenzieDay-3f1
      Community Member
      I appreciate how this video is short and sweet. Mine also explored image backgrounds!
      • EvaLudowig's avatar
        EvaLudowig
        Community Member
        Yes, backgrounds are important ;-)
        And it is impressive what you can do already with PowerPoint. Thank you for your instruction: Very nice and also short and sweet.