In this ongoing series, I’m posting examples of instructional design and related processes from around the web (or beyond).

I am an instructional designer and I hate instructional video. Including screencasts. Well, I hate a lot of it. As a learner, I like to be able to jump right to what I want. Most instructional video makes it difficult to do that, and a lot of it is too long and just boring. (Whether it’s their intention or not, I think Screenr and Jing/Screencast.com are doing our industry a big favor by limiting their screencasts to 5 minutes, but many videos should be shorter.)

Enter Apple. Now, I know what you’re going to say. Apple is in the business of selling, not instructing. Apple’s products are so simple to use, they barely even require any instruction; your job is tougher. Both of those things are true.

To the first protest, I would counter that instruction should almost always have some aspect of motivation — of “selling” a process, procedure, policy, or belief. (That’s the reason I think Apple’s technique is worth mentioning, even though lauding Apple for design is slightly easier than shooting fish in a barrel.) To the second, I’d say that some things are beyond your control. If you’re not lucky enough to be demonstrating easy-to-use products, at least make the demonstration clear and as good-looking as you can. Don’t give your learners stumbling blocks from the starting line.

Here are a few other things I like about Apple’s instructional videos (for example, the Guided Tours for the iPad 2):

• They jump right into the action. I’ve already clicked a link called iMovie and there’s a title on the page or the opening frame; I don’t need to hear “Today we’re going to learn about iMovie” at the beginning. Once in, every second counts. Good editing means there’s no waiting and no chance to tune out.
• They have high production values. This isn’t always something we have the budget for, but it also isn’t always necessary. Great audio is much more worth the investment than great video.
• They have music. It’s a little shocking how much music affects the mood of a video. Consider buying some good music, even if just stock, even if just a few seconds for the opening and closing.
• If there’s no benefit to using video, they don’t use video, even though they clearly have plenty of resources to do so. Lots of screencasts and videos I’ve seen don’t really need to exist… Clear instructions, well illustrated with pictures or screen shots, would do just as well in less time using less bandwidth.