When Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, I was guilty of writing one of those posts that could be mistaken for a eulogy. The news that he has passed choked me up quite a bit tonight, but mostly, I’m incredibly glad that while he died too young, he lived long enough to see Apple come out on top.
Using Apple products has taught me about usability. About elegance, in form and function. About how I want to design. The fact that the good stuff is winning is a win for everyone.
Thank you, Steve.
A thought popped into my head this week, as I did my best to fix the work of the instructional designer previously employed by one of my clients…
Ellen Wagner said it in her closing comments at TechKnowledge: Don’t let people do bad instructional design to you.
Here’s what that means to me: Whatever my competitors are doing, that’s what their clients think is elearning. If it’s ineffective, their clients may come to me instead… But just as likely, they may abandon elearning without knowing that there are other options. Do good work, and we all benefit.
How to get there? Four ways come to mind:
1) Learn from whatever sources you can.
2) Be generous with your time when others want advice.
3) Don’t reward others’ bad designs.
4) Do your best work always. Yes, I know… But aim for always.
What else?
Okay, so today’s post isn’t about elearning design per se… I’m just sharing it because sometimes it’s nice to have a little inspiration on your desktop. Particularly well-designed inspiration.
Veer.com has images, fonts, just about everything a graphic designer needs… and they have great wallpaper, too. They’re free but require a login. Check out the February releases. (I’m thinking the Escape from Comic Sans one will have a home on my desktop for a while.)
And while you’re there, check out their other free stuff, some of which you might be able to use in your courses after all.
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.
- Steve Jobs, in a 1996 interview with Wired magazine
A few weeks ago I came across a very different vision of saving the world through games, one that appealed to me more because positive behavior change is viewed as — and shown to be — a long-term effect rather than something you do at the moment for a gold star or a number of points. It was also mind-opening to me as a gamer who is very aware of the time and effort spent… some say wasted… in online games. And this week’s #lrnchat reminded me that I hadn’t posted it! Doh!
If you haven’t seen it, you definitely want to. Here is Jane McGonigal’s incredible TED Talk, Gaming Can Make a Better World.