Design thoughts

When I first started learning how to design, I often compared my work to that of those I admired, and justly felt lacking about my own skills. I frequently asked myself, “Why doesn’t my work look that good?” Even now, with the title of designer is on my business card, this inferiority complex hasn’t completely dissipated, but I have found a trick to minimise it. You have to be realistic about what you can and can’t do.

There are some things that you are going to be better at, things that you’ll have a natural affinity towards. And that’s great. It is in this fruitful imbalance that your work can accentuate itself. Don’t be afraid to use what you know. In fact, overuse what you know. Recycle solutions that have worked for you. Wheels come in many shapes, colors, and sizes, but all of them, at a fundamental level, are still wheels.

There’s no need to reinv… well, you already know where I was going with that. I’m not a terribly awesome designer. I try constantly to understand the value and appropriateness of contrast. I find sometimes designing with color extremely difficult, which is why I tend to gravitate towards black and white designs or use monochromatic designs. By understanding all of these things about myself, I can start to develop an aesthetic that works as my own.

Published by theirishduck

I love the ability where I can plan, prioritise, design, develop and deliver blended learning solutions for a variety of markets. I love to consult and advise about the best use of digital learning and improve design standards in line with evolving ways of working. I also enjoy to keep up to date with, understand and regularly recommend emerging technologies and practice to improve individuals, teams and organisational capabilities. With over 12 years digital learning experience and demonstrated experience in both instructional design and eLearning development, I have also a lot of experience conducting training needs analysis including how to leverage principles such as design thinking and root cause analysis to understand and address performance gaps. I also have led many facilitation workshops and even presented at iDesignX and Game Developers Conferences both here in Australia, Wales and in the United States. I bring loads of coding experience in Java, ASM, C++, HTML, JavaScript, SCORM and xAPI, as well as proven capability using Adobe Captivate, Trivantis Lectora and Articulate Storyline 360 Studio authoring programs. Of course, Adobe Creative Cloud is also part of my toolbox which I also use daily. Being taught traditional and advanced 3D animation techniques, I love hand drawing and polymer clay sculpture, but can also use the Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya and Softimage applications. With strong multimedia, training and programming backgrounds, I understand modern learner behaviour including micro and social learning, I am very familiar with most LMSes and app-based (XCode and Android Studio), adult learning models and e-solutions. I also possess the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, whilst being pro-active in delivering work independently with minimal supervision, but enjoy working in teams. I've been told I am a resilient, relationship focused guy which can manage and navigate conflicting views and stakeholders/subject matter experts.

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