eQuixotic is not a blog for or about graphic designers. But it is a blog for eLearning designers who really need to think more like graphic designers.
I’m not a graphic designer by training, nor technically even by profession, though graphic design is what I hope to do in my next life. Design of [...]

Posted in Presentations, eLearning Design 3 Comments »

ASTD TechKnowledge 2008 San Antonio is over. After having had a little time to think and reflect, here’s my overall review of the event.
I don’t know if the crummy facilities last year (the dusty, smelly, doomed Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas) soured my overall impression of TechKnowledge 2007, but TechKnowledge 2008 seemed [...]

Posted in eLearning Design 6 Comments »

Is anyone going to TechKnowledge in San Antonio this month (February 26-28)? I’ll be there. I’ve been to several eLearning conferences in the past and have yet to come away impressed. My general opinion of the events I’ve attended thus far is best summarized by my thoughts on the most recent event [...]

Posted in eLearning Design 2 Comments »

I tend to find great beauty in minimalism. Whether it’s visual design, software design, interior design, or product design in general, sometimes the simplest line is the best line of all. You know, the shortest distance between two points. And few current software applications are more beautifully simplistic than WriteRoom, from Hog [...]

Posted in Apple, eLearning Design, eLearning Development Tools No Comments »

Before I reflect upon today’s eLearning Hall of Shame nominee, let me state for the record that I love Lynda.com. Lynda offers a stellar catalog of narrated screencast-based courses covering a wide variety of software applications (mostly in the graphics design arena). And with a yearly all-you-can-eat subscription, I can easily jump in [...]

Posted in eLearning Design, eLearning Hall of Shame 1 Comment »

I am, you could say, a bit of a Steve Jobs fan. Yes, the guy is infamously arrogant and well-known to be a real tyrant to work for. No, I probably wouldn’t want to hang out with him for a weekend (lunch maybe). And I certainly don’t have thick enough skin to [...]

Posted in Apple, Evangelism, Presentations, eLearning Design No Comments »

Time for some blunt honesty here.  I promise I’ll be (mostly) polite.
If I see a Screen Bean in an eLearning course, presentation, or website in this, the year 2008, what the designer is clearly telling me, the viewer, is this:“I got nuthin’.”
Seriously people, let’s move on. Screen Beans were great OK 10 years [...]

Posted in Presentations, eLearning Design, eLearning Hall of Shame 6 Comments »

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 [...]

Posted in eLearning Design 1 Comment »

Guy (I’m a huge fan!) interviews Garr (I’m a huge fan!) about his new book, Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery.

If you are an eLearning developer, you should religiously read Garr’s blog, Presentation Zen. I strongly believe that the concepts he discusses apply not only to presentations (PowerPoint/Keynote), but to [...]

Posted in Presentations, eLearning Design No Comments »

There are many in the eLearning development community who feel that good visual design is immaterial to eLearning design. How do I know this? Because I’ve experienced so much eLearning with horrific visual design.
Now I can guess what many of you are thinking - that I’ve been suckered by the Delicious Generation, where [...]

Posted in Evangelism, eLearning Design 1 Comment »