Quick and Dirty Image Effect for E-Learning Cover Slides #377
E-Learning Cover Slides #377: Challenge | Recap Can You Judge an E-Learning Course by Its Background Image? Need a quick way to set the stage for your course content? Try using a custom background image. Background images are the largest object on your slide, making them one of the best ways to establish context while creating a sense of location. This works equally well for content and course cover slides. But not all projects require custom themes or visual treatments. For example, most e-learning courses are built from existing templates that are modified based on the course content. That’s okay because there’s a background trick for those courses, too! Creating Custom Backgrounds Images Using Transparency In a recent post, Tom Kuhlmann shared a visual design tip commonly used in advertising and high-end product photography. The effect is achieved by using the same image for the focal point and background graphic. The background version is scaled beyond the slide size, and transparency dialed way up to blend the image into the background. Here’s a before-and-after view of the effect: Notice how the faded image fills the background without dominating the slide? This is one of the quickest ways to add richness and depth to your slide backgrounds. And that's what this week's challenge is all about! Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to create a cover screen for an e-learning course, real or fictional, using the transparent echo technique. You can share a static image of a cover slide or add a cover screen to an existing project or challenge entry you created. 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 uncover your slide designs, check out the creative ways course designers build templates from stock vector illustrations: E-Learning Templates from Illustrations #376: 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 challengesanytime 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.Using Pantone's 2024 Color of the Year in E-Learning #444
Pantone Color of the Year 2024 #444: Challenge | Recap Welcome to PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz! Pantone announced its 2024 Color of the Year: Peach Fuzz. Pantone describes the color as: “In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a color radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.” What is the color of the year and why is it important? It shows what colors will be trendy in things like fashion, home decoration, and graphic design, helping set the overall style. Designers use it as a source of inspiration to guide their creative choices. Companies and brands use it to give their products a fresh and current design style. E-learning designers looking for trendy colors to use in their projects. Why do an e-learning challenge on a single color? As course designers, you often need to adhere to a company's style guide to ensure your course's look and feel align with the organization's branding requirements. Whether you love or hate it, get ready to see Peach Fuzz everywhere. It'll show up in fashion, beauty products, and even in the design of online courses. Peach Fuzz will be the most popular color in the coming year. This type of design exercise is designed to stretch you by using colors you may not like. And learning to use Peach Fuzz in e-learning is what this final challenge of 2023 is all about! Using the Pantone Color of the Year 2024 in E-Learning View the recommended color harmonies Pantone provides color harmonies for getting the most from this year's color. Here are some ways course designers can use Peach Fuzz in their e-learning projects. Color palette: Use Peach Fuzz to create a cohesive theme color for your course. This could involve using it as a background color or incorporating it into graphical elements such as tooltips, charts, diagrams, and icons. Accent color: Use as an accent color to highlight important information or to draw attention to specific areas on your slide. This could involve using the color in buttons, markers, or other interactive elements. Design element: Use color as a graphic design element to add visual interest to your course. This could involve using the color in monochromatic themes, gradients, or patterns. Color combinations: Use Peach Fuzz in combination with other colors to create a cohesive and visually unique theme. Using with Tints and Shades to Create Custom Color Palettes One of the easiest and safest ways to create a color palette is to start with a base color and use tint and shade values for the secondary colors. Tints: Tints are lighter shades of a color made by mixing it with white. They are used when you want a color to look softer and less intense. Shades: Shades are darker versions of a color made by adding black to it. They are used when you want a color to look more dramatic or elegant than its original strong color. E-learning designers can use tints and shades as a starting point for creating custom color palettes. Here's a quick example I made using one of the slide templates from the Content Library: Creating Custom Colors in PowerPoint with Tints and Shades Creating custom color palettes with tints and shades is a fantastic way to create a cohesive and visually appealing design. Here’s a quick tutorial on how you can create your own tints and shades color palette. View on YouTube | Download the PowerPoint Template 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your e-learning challenge is to design a template or interaction using Pantone's Peach Fuzz. You can build anything you like this week. You aim to work from a single color and show how to carry that color across your design templates. 🧰 Resources This is our 11th Pantone color challenge. To get an idea of what course designers shared in previous color challenges, check out the previous challenges: 2014: Radiant Orchid 2015: Marsala 2016: Rose Quartz-Serenity 2017: Greenery 2018: Ultra Violet 2019: Living Coral 2020: Classic Blue 2021: Illuminating 2022: Very Peri 2023: Viva Magenta ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new 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 to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: To help you nurture and embrace this week's challenge, check out the top things course designers wish they'd known when they started their careers: 10 Things E-Learning Designers Learned RECAP #443: 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 challengesanytime 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. 📆 Next Week’s Challenge Next week's challenge (Dec 15, 2023): The 2023 challenge season is over, but I'd like your help with a couple of end-of-year roundups. Next week's challenge post will be to share your favorite challenge example of 2023. I'll compile your examples into a "Best of 2023" listicle. Make-up challenge: We need to make up challenge #426 (Barbenheimer) to keep our challenge numbering consistent. We had to remove #426, so I'm reworking the challenge to be more general. It will still follow the format of mixing two distinct design styles. I'll post more on that next week. Challenge recaps: I'm going through every challenge of 2023 to ensure your entries are captured in the recap posts. If you submitted one or more challenge demos but don't see them in the recaps, you can use this form to let me know. I'll have everything current by the end of month. Got an idea for a challenge? Are you interested in doing a webinar showcasing how you made one or more challenge demos? Or do you have some comments for your humble challenge host? Use this anonymous form to share your feedback: https://bit.ly/ElearningChallengeForm.Using Glassmorphism Designs in E-Learning Course Development #310
Glassmorphism Design in E-Learning #310: Challenge | Recap It's a new year, and that means new design trends. In a recent challenge, we looked using the 2021 Pantone Color of the Year in e-learning design. If you haven't checked out the examples, stop what you're doing and check them out. The color of the year is a big deal because it will influence design, fashion, home interior, and consumer product trends in the upcoming year. 2021 E-Learning Design Trends This week, we're looking at how course creators can use the frosted glass effect, known as glassmorphism, in their e-learning designs. Glassmorphism is a design concept that’s been around for a while. Variations of the effect have been used in iOS 7 and Mac OS Big Sur. The effect is created by layering gradient or blurred backgrounds and semi-transparent shapes and panels. Here's an example: Courses Dashboard by Rudi Hartono Applying Glassmorphism Effects to E-Learning Templates If you’re looking for a place to start, try working with an existing course or template you’ve already built. This way, your content is already in place, and you’re free to focus on the design elements. Here’s a quick before and after for the Serenity template. To create the blurred background effect, I started in PowerPoint and went to Format Picture > Artistic Effects > Blur. Depending on the image you use, you might need to apply another round of blur to the image. To apply a second blur effect, save your image as a picture. Saving the image flattens the blur effect. Insert the blurred image back into PowerPoint and repeat the process. I think the effect turned out pretty well, but I would still like to play with different layouts and panels before considering this a final design concept. Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example demonstrating how glassmorphism can be used in e-learning. Your example can be interactive or a screenshot. We want to see how this design trend can be used in course design. Resources Here are some good examples of glassmorphism to give you an idea how the design effect is being used in UI design. Glassmorphism designs and examples on Dribbble Frosted glass examples on Dribbble Glassmorphism in user interfaces 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 dive into this week’s challenge, check out the interactive aircraft safety cards your fellow community members shared over the past week: Interactive Passenger Safety Cards #309: 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.How Do Course Designers Collaborate in E-learning Development? #435
Collaboration in E-Learning #435: Challenge | Recap One of the more challenging steps of the course development process is collecting and managing feedback from your clients, subject matter experts (SMEs), and stakeholders. But as with any collaborative relationship, you need to make a plan for success. That means thinking through how you’ll communicate effectively with stakeholders, motivate your reviewers, provide feedback, and manage expectations for the timing and delivery of the completed project. If you have an Articulate 360 subscription, you have access to features that’ll help you collaborate more efficiently on projects. Some examples include: Collaborative Authoring in Rise 360 Question Banks in Rise 360 Shared Block Templates in Rise 360 Shared Team Folders in Review 360 Project Reviews in Review 360 Request Reviews in Review 360 Integrated Comments in Rise 360 and Storyline 360 Cloud Backup in Storyline 360 and Review 360 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share one or more tips or best practices for collaborating on e-learning projects. You can share a simple slide with your favorite tip(s) or build an interactive example. 🎁 Bonus: We’d love to see how you’re using Articulate 360’s collaborative features, including the latest integrated comments in Rise 360 and Storyline 360 and Storyline 360’s cloud backups in Review 360. Some ideas Post your project to Review 360 and ask your fellow challengers for feedback. Review another challenger’s demo in Review 360. Highlight any changes or edits you make to your Rise 360 or Storyline 360 project using the integrated comments. Share your Storyline 360 project file to Review 360 as an attachment. ⚠️ NOTE: You don’t need an Articulate 360 subscription to participate in this week’s challenge. The primary challenge is to share tips or interactive examples of collaborating on e-learning projects. This can include any apps or tools you use to collaborate on any aspect of course development. ✨Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new 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 to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 📆 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you share your collaboration techniques, check out the creative ways course designers use click-and-reveal interactions to break up big chunks of information so learners can explore and pull content at their own pace. Click-to-Reveal Interactions RECAP #434: 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. 📆 Next Week’s Challenge Next week's challenge #436: Creating Custom Dividers in Rise 360. See this quick tip to get an idea of what we’re doing. Got an idea for a challenge? Are you interested in doing a webinar showcasing how you made one or more challenge demos? Or do you have some comments for your humble challenge host? Use this anonymous form to share your feedback: https://bit.ly/ElearningChallengeForm.Using Photo Mosaics to Design Interactive Stories #459
Interactive Photo Collages in E-Learning #459: Challenge | Recap Visual Storytelling with Photo Collages Build an interactive slide or course from a single image Get rid of bullet points You don't need to be a photographer to make this work Use your own photos or prebuilt stock photo collages Create multiple panel layouts similar t comic books From straightforward panel layouts to asymmetrical compositions, photo collages offer a quick and effective way to craft image-driven stories using stock photo collages. Here's a simple mockup of how the effect can work from a stock photo. A quick search in your favorite stock photo site returns a variety of photo collage styles and possibilities. Here are two more ideas: To learn more about this creative effect, check out Tom's post on converting courses to interactions with photo stories. Challenge of the week This week, your challenge is to create an interactive story around a photo collage. You can use placeholder photos and graphics or rework an existing project into a photo collage. Want some examples? Check out the ELC322 recap for community examples of this effect. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Design your story around a common problem or challenge Rework an existing scenario or interaction using a photo collage Use the built-in characters (illustrated and photographic), which include multiple expressions and poses Map collages are ideal for interactive org charts or customer profiles 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Check out the spinning wheel and roulette-inspired examples from last week's challenge: Roulette & Spinning Wheel Games RECAP #458: 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. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #460 (05.03): Toggle Buttons. See ELC97 for an idea of what we're going for in next week's challenge. Challenge #461 (05.10): Interactive Podcasts. See ELC364 for a related challenge. This time, the questions will focus on the value of working out loud, weekly challenges, and growing your skills. Challenge #462 (05.17): Click. Hover. Drag. See ELC144 for a general idea of what we're doing. 🚨2024 Articulate User Conference Call for Proposals We’re now accepting proposals for this year’s in-person user day conference co-hosted at DevLearn in Las Vegas. Learn more about the proposal process.How Are Designers Using Phat Fonts in E-Learning? #456
Using Chunky Fonts in E-Learning #456: Challenge | Recap 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an example that shows how heavy, chunky fonts can be used in e-learning. You can share a single slide or build out a working interaction to show how you’re using big, fat, and chunky fonts. Keywords and classifications Chunky fonts are generally classified as "black," "display," or "ultra bold" within a typeface family. A quick search on Creative Market returned the following categories: Fat face fonts (these are some of my favorites) Display fonts Retro fonts Rounded fonts Bubble fonts Poster fonts Blackletter fonts Psychedelic fonts 🧰 Resources Here are some serif-iously good resources on using and finding ultra heavy fonts: 25 Thick and Heavy Fonts For 2024 30 Best Bold Fonts to Level Up Your UI Design Best Thick Fonts for Outstanding Designs 30 Best Bubble Fonts For Creative Designs 50 beautiful examples of vintage and retro typography ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new 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 to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you tackle this week's challenge, check out the creative ways course designers use pull-based techniques to move from pushing information to creating interactive experiences. Push vs. Pull E-Learning Examples RECAP #455: 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 challengesanytime 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. 📅 Next Week’s Challenge Challenge #457 (04.12): Pick 3. No, this isn't a lottery challenge. Instead, you'll combine three previous challenges into a single interaction. Challenge #458 (04.19): Roulette games. Inspired by a recent community discussion, this would be an excellent challenge topic to practice working with dials and random number variables. 🚨 Contact Information Just a quick heads up – if you want your blog, website, or LinkedIn included in our recap posts, could you do me a favor and add or update those links onto your ELH profile sometime this week? I found some broken links last week when I pulled the recap together. You spend a lot of time building creative examples, and your work deserves all the attention it can get. If you make changes, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks!How do Course Designers Build Custom Graphics for E-Learning? #391
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.Reducing Text and Bullet Points in E-Learning #431
Bullet Point Makeovers in E-Learning #431: Challenge | Recap Bulleted lists are hands-down one of the most common ways to break up large blocks of text in e-learning. They’re quick and easy to create, and when used appropriately, bullets can improve: Readability Scannability Organization But like any formatting technique, overuse of bullets can overwhelm or confuse learners and make your content difficult to digest. So, how can course designers create more effective variations of bulleted lists that keep learners focused and engaged? That’s what this week’s challenge is all about! Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share one or more ideas for reducing on-screen text and bullet points in e-learning. Your example can be static or interactive, and you can use any app to create your demo. Resources Reducing Bullet Points and On-screen Text in E-Learning 5 Ideas for Turning Boring Bullets Into Engaging Interactions 6 Rise 360 Blocks to Use Instead of Bullet Points Five Sure-Fire Ways to Get Rid of Bullet Points Convert Your Bullet Points to Interactive E-Learning with Video Beyond the Bullets: 6 Great Uses For Dingbat Fonts Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new 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 to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. ✨Last Week’s Challenge: To help you calculate the best approach for this week’s bullet point challenge, check out the financial calculator examples shared over the past week: Financial Calculator Examples RECAP #430: 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. 📅 Next Week’s Challenge Next week's challenge (9/15/23): Using Escape Rooms in E-Learning. See challenge #198 to learn more about this challenge. Got an idea for a challenge? Are you interested in doing a webinar showcasing how you made one or more challenge demos? Or do you have some comments for your humble challenge host? Use this anonymous form to share your feedback: https://bit.ly/ElearningChallengeForm.
