Tom Kuhlmann’s “Fuzzy Thumb Technique”

January 22, 2008

Today Tom Kuhlmann at The Rapid E-Learning Blog (my favorite eLearning blog, by the way) gives us a brilliant (and hilariously presented) technique for gently (and covertly) manipulating an overly-involved customer who knows nothing about visual design, but did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Adopted from a photographer friend, the Fuzzy Thumb Technique gives your customer the perception that they are offering valuable input while keeping your project both 1) on track and 2) visually undefiled.

The Fuzzy Thumb Technique rings in at lucky number 7 out of “7 Proven Techniques for Keeping Your E-Learning Customers Happy.” This is a must-read.

Devious? Yes. Rude? Possibly. Sometimes necessary? Absofrigginlutely.

This technique appears viable not only for eLearning designers, but for designers of all specialties.

Once, while working a big intranet site design project, I naively (and foolishly) solicited design suggestions from a large group of peers. Having unwittingly opened wide the Gates of Visual Design Hades, I was quickly assaulted with a motley collection of suggested “color schemes,” site names, and, Heaven have mercy on me, logo creations lovingly crafted in Word using WordArt (shudder).

You can’t exactly tell someone “your idea stinks, go away” after you’ve asked them for input. Alas, my painful dilemma was entirely self-induced.

I shan’t make such a horrifying mistake again.

I can’t wait to try the Fuzzy Thumb Technique for myself. Oh, and I hope none of my coworkers are reading this.

Sidenote: Tom’s animation work in the Fuzzy Thumb tutorial reminds me why I love Articulate Presenter so madly.

Posted in eLearning Design