A Way to Organize Color Swatches
I'm a big fan of organization and efficiency when it comes to production eLearning development. One of the biggest challenges is keeping track of hexadecimal colors that I use on a daily basis. I used to use Adobe Kuler, which was a fantastic way to explore color combinations and a swatch panel that I used to organize all the colors I used for various projects. Well, they've recently changed to Adobe Color and have basically ruined what wasn't broken and now its requires Adobe Express in order to edit and save color palettes, so I started researching other options. Frustratingly, nearly all the options I found required a subscription. What I ended up doing is create an html document that I keep on my desktop and it's been absolutely wonderful and I wanted to share with this community as I have received so much help and assistance from this amazing, creative community of professionals. Open and edit the html document with Text Edit, or Notepad and you'll see the section where you can add your own color swatches, or update what's there. You can name them whatever you want and add in the hexadecimal color code. When you open the document in a web browser, you simply click on the color you want to use and it copies the hexadecimal code to your clipboard. My next push will be to create another one that is all pastel color combinations. This has ended up being one of my favorite new resources and best of all it's free and super easy to customize. Enjoy and continued success!Less Is More Is Not Just About Content, but About Learning Experience
After working in instructional design for many years, I've come to realize that "less is more" is often misunderstood. It is usually associated with simplifying content, such as making courses shorter, reducing information, or avoiding overload. But in my experience, it goes beyond that. Even when we have correctly identified what learners need to know, do, or change in order to meet business goals, there is still another important question: How should we design the learning experience itself? The goal should be to help learners learn with the least unnecessary effort. Not by removing depth or rigor, but by removing friction that does not contribute to learning. Over the years, I've seen many different approaches to learning design. Some learning experiences feel under-designed, where the lack of structure or intention makes it difficult for learners to stay engaged or understand the purpose of the content. I've also seen cases where, in an effort to avoid being "too simple" or "boring," additional layers of interaction, visual elements, or gamification are introduced. Many of us have probably spent hours building advanced interactions in Storyline or carefully structuring a Rise course because we wanted the learning experience to feel more engaging. There is nothing wrong with using these features. The question is whether they genuinely support learning. Sometimes these additions are driven more by what the tool allows us to build than by what learners actually need. As a result, learners may end up spending more time completing interactions than understanding, retaining, or applying the knowledge that really matters. This is especially important in corporate learning. Learners are often balancing training with their daily responsibilities. Time is limited, and attention is limited. That is why I believe we should be intentional about where we add complexity. Interaction is not the problem. In fact, meaningful interaction is essential for learning. The key word is meaningful. The most valuable learning experiences are those that help learners understand concepts more deeply, retain what they have learned, and apply that knowledge in real work situations. This is where I choose to focus my design effort. Not on adding interaction for its own sake, but on identifying the moments in learning that truly matter. Instead of asking, "What cool Storyline feature can I use here?", I think we should be asking, "How does this interaction help learners understand, retain, or apply what they need to learn?" When we design with that intention, learning can often become simpler while also becoming more effective. That's the kind of learning experience I continue to strive for. I'd love to hear how you decide when an interaction is truly worth adding.How are you handling certificate delivery?
Certificate delivery keeps coming up, so I wanted to share the approach I settled on after trying a few and hear how others are doing it. The recurring problem: a learner finishes a course, and you want them to get a certificate that (a) looks exactly like the slide you designed, (b) lands in their inbox automatically, and (c) is recorded somewhere you can look up later. Native print-to-PDF and LMS certificates got me part of the way, but not all three. What I ended up building: On the certificate slide, the Send button runs an Execute JavaScript trigger that posts the slide to a small backend endpoint. The backend renders that actual slide, so the PDF is pixel-perfect; no rebuilding the layout server-side and hoping the fonts match. It emails the PDF to the learner over SMTP, and logs every issue to a database with a simple admin dashboard (search, re-send, download). It runs on ordinary cPanel hosting - no monthly third-party service and no per-certificate fees - and one backend serves multiple courses. How's everyone else handling this native download, LMS-issued certs, Google Sheets/Zapier, a paid service? Curious what's working for you. I do this kind of Storyline-to-backend integration, so happy to go deeper on any of it if it's useful.Newbie starting eLearning series; Templates
I am leading an effort to do the following: Create a style guide for eLearning design and development for training on and salesforce and subsequent implementation. (done) Create three types of eLearning templates in Storyline to create: demo try it test it Getting started is the hardest! I have a semi-template design idea and we have our guidelines, but are there best practices to creating standard templates that will be replicated for the many 'steps/processes' our learners will need to learn, do and test out. We will have end-users who will use these eLearnings as pre-work. They have to test out to move onto the next eLearning and then the in-person training. Thank you for helping get us started!Reimagining Navigation Intros with 3D Motion
There’s more than one way to begin an eLearning course; and sometimes, sometimes the best way isn’t with text content, but with atmosphere. I’ve always been inspired by how airline safety videos set the tone before a flight begins. They take a routine moment and turn it into something memorable through motion, storytelling, and design. In this short navigation intro, I demo how to bring that same prelaunch energy into your course. With 3D motion and audio cues, you can instantly draw your learners in, before a single concept is even introduced. Navigation Intro: https://craftuxd.tech/Audio/story.html I designed this to spark engagement, proof that learning experience design gets fun when you experiment with 3D, soundscapes, animation, and visual storytelling. Here’s a quick tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62MRlM1iz0Melearning as an evidence package for legal team
I'm looking for some advice from others using Articulate Storyline and Rise. Our organization is responsible for providing copies of completed training to our legal team when courses are involved in litigation or other legal matters. Historically, this was straightforward because our courses were primarily click-and-read, and we could provide a Word document containing the course script. As our courses have become much more interactive, with scenarios, branching, knowledge checks, drag-and-drops, simulations, and other learner interactions, we're finding that a traditional script no longer accurately represents what the learner actually experienced. For those of you using Storyline or Rise, what do you provide to your legal, compliance, or records management teams when they need a legally defensible copy of a course? Do you still create a script? If so, what does it include? Do you archive videos, screenshots, source files, SCORM packages, or something else? Have you developed a standard "evidence package" for each published course? If your legal team prefers a searchable document, how are you balancing that need with accurately documenting interactive content? I'm especially interested in hearing from government, healthcare, financial services, or other highly regulated organizations, but I'd appreciate insights from anyone who's established a sustainable process. Thanks in advance for sharing what's worked or what you've learned the hard way!8 Business Use Cases for Microlearning
Are you excited to try out microlearning, but unsure when to use it? Below, we outline eight common workplace situations that benefit from a short-form course. Each situation includes a sample microlearning. At the end, learn how you can customize these templates for your own company and training needs. 1. Create Organizational Alignment To hit a business target, everyone needs to be moving in the same direction. Creating that alignment starts with clear, frequent communication of the shared mission, vision, and values. Microlearning can help. The following editable template shows how you can align employees through regular executive “micro” updates: Executive Update 2. Highlight HR Information, Notices, or Reminders Educating employees about annual events like open enrollment, tax season, and compliance training is a critical function of HR teams. The problem? Important announcements often get missed when they’re embedded in long paragraphs or endless emails. Grab the following templates to see how microlearning makes HR communications more digestible and engaging: A Quick Guide To Open Enrollment Internal Company Newsletter 3. Strengthen Company Culture and DEI Initiatives Fostering an inclusive company culture is a continuous process—not a one-time effort. A series of microlearnings can support your larger culture-building and DEI efforts. Check out the following examples for ideas on how to get started: Are You an Ally? Try Taking on These 5 Roles How To Identify and Stop Using Ableist Language Gossip-Proof Your Workplace 4. Streamline Business Processes You can also use microlearning to document and streamline business processes or workflows—such as employee onboarding or performance management. Notice how the following examples make it easy for employees to work through the steps of a process independently: New Hire Pre-Hire Checklist Performance Review and Feedback 5. Increase Security Awareness Most successful data breaches, phishing attacks, and other cybersecurity incidents are caused by human error. Adding refresher microlearnings throughout the year can fortify your defenses. See an example for safeguarding against phishing attacks below: Spot the Phish 6. Enhance Employee Wellness A successful business needs thriving employees. But employee wellness training often ends up buried under competing priorities. Microlearning makes it easy for employees to fit in short breaks for self-care throughout the workday. Check out these two wellness-related microlearning examples: 3 Desk Stretches to Instantly Improve Your Day 5 Tips for Better Naps 7. Provide Quick-Reference Guides Microlearning is the perfect resource for one-off training questions: Employees can quickly find the answers they need—when they need them. Below, we’ve created templates for product and software training. But you could easily create quick-reference guides for sales, customer service, and other teams. Get To Know [Name of Product] Software Training 8. Reinforce and Assess Key Takeaways Finally, who says you have to choose between a more sizable course and microlearning? Repetition aids retention. Consider following up longer training sessions with a microlearning quiz, scenario, or summary. The examples listed below demonstrate how you might do this: Can You Recover From a Workplace Mistake? Training Refresher Wrap-Up There’s no shortage of creative ways you can use microlearning to achieve your business training objectives. The examples above are just a starter list. You might also check out submissions to one of our weekly community challenges, 40+ Microlearning Examples Created in Rise 360 #407. Interested in customizing one of these examples for your team? If you’re an Articulate 360 subscriber or trialer, you can edit all of the examples linked throughout this post by choosing the course from our Rise 360 microlearning content templates. Here’s a short video showing how to do that: What’s the latest microlearning course you’ve created? Tell us about it in the comments—and feel free to ask any questions you might have! Like this article? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.Gamify Slides in Storyline
This interactive slide is a quick and creative way to bring energy into your eLearning. It uses motion graphics, ambient music, a fun character named Mike, and a simple JavaScript typewriter effect to create an engaging scenario where learners track down a mischievous hacker. You can easily customize the visuals, sound, and script to fit any topic, cybersecurity, onboarding, decision-making, or soft skills. Use this as a plug-and-play scene or as a springboard for your own creative builds. Download this template for free. See how it was built step by step: Watch the YouTube tutorial
