Sparking Creativity 2016 - my ideas published

183 TIPS ON SPARKING DESIGN CREATIVITY
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Table of Contents
Introduction�� 1
Twenty-two Tips on Broadening Your Views and Knowledge�� 2
Thirty Tips on Challenging Yourself to Think Differently�� 7
Thirty-one Tips on Finding Sources for Inspiration�� 14
Fifteen Tips on Creating an Environment of Inspiration�� 20
Twenty-six Tips on Capturing Design Inspiration�� 23
Eleven Tips on Solving Problems Creatively�� 28
Twenty-five Tips on Getting Unstuck�� 31
Thirteen Tips on Making Creativity a Habit�� 36
Ten Tips on Pushing Boundaries�� 39

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Introduction
Dear colleagues,
Creativity is an incredibly important component of the world of learning and performance. It’s creativity
that enables us to harness the possibilities posed by new technologies and produce inventive learning and
performance solutions.
However, creativity also takes work and focus. The most creative people in the world are intentional in their
pursuit of creativity, knowing that creativity is a skill that gets stronger with practice.
For this eBook, we’ve reached out to the eLearning Guild community and asked people to share insights on
how they spark their creativity. There’s no one correct way to feed your creative side, as evidenced by the
variety of suggestions your peers have shared in this eBook.
What follows is a collection of over 180 tips that are sure to inspire the creative side of your design and
development work. 183 Tips on Sparking Design Creativity is the type of book that you can enjoy reading in a
single sitting, and that you will also enjoy as a reference for those moments when you need a spark to ignite
your creative fire.
I hope that you enjoy this eBook. Creativity applies in just about every field, so I expect you will find the tips
in this eBook to be useful in your work.
I’d like to close by thanking the many members of the eLearning Guild community featured in this eBook for
generously sharing their expertise and ideas. It’s sharing like this, and the belief that together we are better,
that makes the Guild community as strong as it is.
Thank you for being a part of it.
David Kelly
Senior Vice President and Executive Director
The eLearning Guild

Twenty-two Tips on Broadening
Your Views and Knowledge
Broadening your views and knowledge is simply adopting a “thirst for knowledge” mentality—not just self-
development skills relevant to your career, but studying views of different industries and their approaches.
Outside of your industry and career, it may be more difficult to open your mind not only to gaining more
knowledge but also to views from different angles. Complex problems are never solved with views from
one angle; rather, the knowledge and experience from various angles collectively bring solutions to the
surface that you may not have recognized going solo. The best tip I can share for broadening your views and
knowledge is to step out of our industry and spend time in others. Really embed yourself into other creative
industries, learn their views on solving problems, and develop an understanding of the skills necessary to
succeed in those industries. What knowledge can you attain there that can help you here?
Kevin Thorn, NuggetHead Studioz
Believe it or not, I get a lot of great ideas from watching game shows and reality competitions on TV. I notice
how certain elements of these shows keep the participants (and viewers) engaged, so I think of ways to
incorporate those elements into my training.
Richard Butler, ATT
Brainstorm with affected stakeholders. For instance, if you want to improve leadership development of front-
line managers, have a brainstorming session with high-performing front-line managers and their supervisors
to define what success looks like, how this success aligns with organizational goals, and how to measure it.
Jim Lynch, Maletis Beverage
Don’t be afraid to ask others for help—chances are that you’ll also have some answers next time. Even in
today’s hypercompetitive world, collaboration is really important! Respect, learn, teach, repeat.
Irene Knokh, University of Michigan Health System
Get to know your audience. What past experience or education do they have? What do they already know
about the topic? What do they need to know about the topic?
Kendra Barker, University of Missouri–Kansas City

I like to look at websites, books, and articles to get ideas from other instructional designers about how they
are approaching different projects.
Catharine Gruver, Scripps Research Institute
In many cases, we may feel like we’re on an island when, in reality, we need a village—and often, our
projects take a village to bring great work to bear! If you have one (a village, that is), rally the villagers; if
not, create your own “village.” Engage a cross-functional team wherever you can, and derive value from the
various perspectives you get. If you work for a consulting firm, pull folks from different disciplines together
informally if you can’t wire the team with these important practitioners. Get your content developers and
media friends to think about how content could be created and represented in engaging, creative ways.
I know they may not all be on your project, but the collaboration of your partners will definitely help to
crystallize your vision or add to it in ways we IDs (instructional designers) sometimes miss. Remember to
repay the favor. If you are part of a small training team, engage your peers and see who would be interested
in brainstorming creative ideas with you. Scratch their backs on projects, and they will scratch yours; and
growing those relationships will pay dividends. For those of you who are the training team: Leverage your
network of peers on LinkedIn (and other professional networking sites) and past competent colleagues. Post
a question, and get the community to share their creative ideas from their past work. I often hear from past
colleagues who want to bounce ideas around. Don’t be an island; be a village!
Ann Rollins, GP Strategies
I pay attention to what user experience (UX) folks are doing and saying. It has been interesting to watch as
the learning and development industry (LD) is influenced by UX, though I think we need to be careful to
distinguish a learner experience from that of a traditional UX “user.”
Shauna Vaughan, SweetRush
Reading. Lots of reading: books, articles, blogs, advertisements, reviews—kind of everything printed.
Nicole Cieslik, Boyle Consulting
I think many of us in this field are lifelong learners. And while we undoubtedly are full to the brim of new
content, vendors, approaches, or blogs that extol the latest and greatest, don’t forget to get your annual
subscription to your industry’s periodicals. Staying connected with the mission of our organization is so
important.
Karen Loftus, Arizona School Boards Association
I use Meetup.com to attend informal local gatherings on a variety of topics. Sure, I attend discussions on
educational technology and other themes directly related to my work; but I also review the full calendar of
meetups on a monthly basis and try new themes that may or may not influence my work.
JD Dillon, Axonify

Let’s make sure we are being consistent. There is a difference between something that is entertaining
and something that is creative. If you reduce the amount of time it takes to record an eLearning course,
you may have done something creative, but it may not directly be entertaining. Just because something
is entertaining does not mean that you can or should learn from it. At the same time, something that is
entertaining is a lot easier to learn. Together, entertaining and learning are a powerful combination, and
this should be your target. If you have a choice between being creative, being entertaining, or providing a
learning experience, you should keep an eye on the target that is learning. There may not be a creative or
entertaining way to show how to enter an invoice, for example. Don’t chase either creativity or entertainment
simply for its own sake. Finally, there is no singular definition of “creative.” There are those who can draw
amazing pictures, create beautiful music, or perform stunning original dances, and who could neither design
a proper learning experience nor instruct others to do anything more than emulate them. As a learning
professional, you are already creative. You just need to widen your perspective on what that is.
Bill Sawyer, Highstreet IT Solutions
Look for parallels of your training topic in nature, other industries, other cultures, other time periods, sci-fi
movies, or even dreams.
Janet DeWoskin, etioLogic
Read. Read. Read some more. Then, ask someone else what they are reading. And then read something they
aren’t reading, so you all aren’t thinking like programmed bots.
Nicholas Rider, Indiana Wesleyan University
In order to maintain an open mind in eLearning design, you should start any new job by asking two major
questions: 1) Why? Why am I designing this course? Repeat the question three times, and you’ll give a
different answer every time. This will give you perception into the real purpose of the course—you will find
the real problem to solve. And it probably didn’t appear the first time you asked yourself why! 2) For whom?
Your audience affects the way you should develop the course; it will give you a guide on how to write, how
to play, how to speak in a way you can really be heard. With these two answers in mind, you’ll be prepared to
work on how to make it work.
Nadine Heisler, Ligamundos Educação e Treinamento
I spend time with my nephew and my nieces, and I watch how they interact with things. I wait to see what
they will think of next, which everyday object will become the next sword or playhouse, or what adventure
lies ahead in their young minds. It inspires me to think creatively and live outside the box.

Join a programmer group’s blog, discussion board, or website. It is amazing how eLearning design and
applications share a number of the same design considerations.
Teresa Osieczonek, Consumers Energy
We find a lot of inspiration for our work by observing the web industry. In this industry, there is a lot of
movement and change. Innovations come up every day. Thanks to the fact that the sector is very open-
minded when it comes to sharing thoughts, ideas, and best practices, it’s relatively easy to get a good
impression of the current status. Web design awards, for example, show the very best in cutting-edge
website design. Great websites can be characterized by a clean and structured design with easy navigation.
Furthermore, they convey a visual and emotional experience to bind the user. As a result, he wants to spend
more time with the content. This is very close to one of the major goals of instructional design in eLearning.
Web conception and training conception have a lot in common. When we start to develop new training, we
try to create a learning environment that motivates the learner to spend more time with the learning content
and that allows him to find the information he needs intuitively. Thus, buzzwords like “usability,” “user
experience,” and “user interface design” are relevant for both industries.
Vanessa Klein, IMC AG
Seek out connections who continually share knowledge about new technology, and seek out connections
who have views that oppose your own! Without diversity in your network, your ideas will eventually
stagnate.
Jenny Hill, D2L
Travel, travel, travel—the farther the better.
Belen Casado Alcalde, freelance
Sometimes, classical literature helps me to solve an issue or just to have a good laugh when I’m trying to fix
something. By the way, remember that there is always a human element with technology. That’s actually not
a bad thing!

I was lucky enough to have a mother who thought every single moment was made for learning. That
framework actually created a great calling for me. I am extremely passionate about nature; it sustains me
when I am overwhelmed by people or work pressures. It is in that vein I find my views broadening in the
simplicity and calming effect of what happens in nature—naturally. The ducks by my home are my most
recent inspiration. They are completely aware of the humans who will feed them and when. If they aren’t
being fed, they aren’t waiting around; they are off to another area of the pond where the minnows dart
about. The ducks feast, then come back when the humans are present. Putting aside the issue of whether
humans should be feeding wild ducks, the point is: This comes naturally to the ducks. They don’t sit and
ponder and worry about the other ducks getting mad because there is no food. The simplicity of nature
reminds me just how easy it is to relax and do what I do best—explain complex issues to others in a way that
builds confidence and autonomy. So my views and my knowledge are always broadened when I take the
time to inhale what occurs naturally and channel that into stories, anecdotes, simulations, and role-plays for
my projects. Tapping into your innermost passions and parlaying them into your creation, regardless of what
those passions are, can be the missing link.
Linda Kirk, Palm Beach County (Florida) Clerk Comptroller’s Office

A couple of months ago, I bought Learning Battle Cards, a cool “wisdom of the crowd” initiative of some
Polish LD people. It’s basically a set of collectible cards with each card representing some type of learning;
a whole set consists of more than 100 cards. Each card has on one side an acronym, a name, an icon,
and a word cloud defining the specific learning method or activity. On the other side, you can find extra
information: usability in instructional design, specific characteristics (formal or informal, by oneself or with
peers, synchronous or asynchronous), and also five “power bars” visualizing things like production effort,
learning power, difficulty of use, etc. The cards can be used in different ways, but the way I use them is
during meetings (or workshops) to force people to think outside the learning box and to help them along in
the design process. You can also use them as some kind of game, to give people the opportunity to get to
know all kinds of learning activities. Learning Battle Cards can inform you, inspire you, and most certainly
help you design a better learning experience.
Mathias Vermeulen, Winston Wolfe—Innovative HR Solutions
Address the preferred learning style of your users—ask them how they prefer to learn (e.g., instructor-led
training, online, flat video, interactive video, web meeting, etc.).
Karen Britton, Zavango
Change your perspective. Paintings have foreground, middle ground, and background—you need all three to
create a total picture. Training is about grabbing the emotional aspects of the content and the learner and
never letting go until 100 days after the training intervention. Let someone else be boring; challenge yourself
to become brilliant from the start.
Dave Goodman, SoftAssist
Don’t take action on your first solution right away.
Thirty Tips on Challenging
Yourself to Think Differently

For any project, always reach out to the actual audience and create an informal interview process to ask
questions and learn about what they need. This will help you to test ideas, demonstrate prototypes, and gain
invaluable feedback before you invest in development and launch without all the data. When you talk to the
audience, ask if you can add them to a future call or update, and you’ll create an amazing environment of
sharing, learning, and experiencing. Be sure to document what is said, share that with the stakeholders and
your team, and discuss the next steps to ensure the best results on launch. As you gain a knowledge base of
how they think and feel, you’ll become more comfortable with creating new concepts and solutions.
Nick Floro, Sealworks Interactive Studios
I watch kids play video games, and it helps me think differently about how I design solutions. I have a friend
whose son is usually playing video games when I’m at her house. As I chat with her, I watch how he plays the
games and how he interacts with them. I learn more about how to create games, and even how to design
instruction, based on how he plays and interacts with his games. I’ll even ask him about why or how he
does certain things to get a peek into his rationale, which is usually enlightening. I’ve learned a lot from this
10-year-old, including how YouTube plays a role in his success as a “job aid” of sorts when he looks for tips
and strategies—what some people call “cheating,” but what I call “using available resources.”
I will sometimes use a SWOT analysis as I begin to brainstorm my instructional design process. Instead of
going off my gut instinct, if I lay out our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, I sometimes come
up with another way to approach a topic.
New research emerges every day to reveal how we think, feel, and act. Taking a quick dive into a psychology,
sociology, or even philosophy study can lend a new perspective on ways to influence skills, attitudes, and
behaviors. Sites featuring open-access journals, such as DOAJ.org, offer quick access to peer-reviewed
material that can make a serendipitous connection to a research-based idea for creative instructional design.
Eric Kammerer, Domino’s
Listen to your subject matter experts (SMEs). They know their subject; that is why they are part of the
project. They know their audience. Get to know them personally, as this will help you work as a team.
Make it real! Ask your potential audience (the practitioners, rather than the management) to identify the best
and worst incidents they have had to deal with at work, and use these as the basis for training scenarios.
Imagine the realistic extremes of how those scenarios could turn out, and use them for “what if” questions
and role-play.
Simon House, Training Design House

Challenge yourself to intentionally design something that is different. No one said that you need to start with
an introduction, a definition of screen count, learning objectives, or all of those other things you do from
habit. Don’t do it. Start from a different view and go with your own flow. Write down why you like TV series
like House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Homeland, etc., and incorporate those attributes into your training
design.
One of the top things humans struggle with—thinking differently. We all have our own workflows and
methods, and after a while we get stuck in our own ruts or silos. We’ve been successful at what we know,
and we’re comfortable sticking with what works. Thinking differently, especially about design, is not easy;
but there are exercise challenges you can practice that have helped me. If you typically design recorded
screen (software) training, challenge yourself to design the same but without video recording. If you design
compliance training, challenge yourself to design the training as an exploratory experience. If you typically
design eLearning with voice-over narration, challenge yourself to design the same training without any
audio or video. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone is only the start. Putting yourself in the middle of
a challenge with self-imposed restrictions and boundaries will truly open your eyes to thinking differently
about design approaches.
To help myself slow down and find inspiration, I set recurring calendar reminders for random times
of the day. The reminders are based on Don Norman’s work and simply read, “Find the design.” The
reminders come at different times on different days, and I adjust them often so that I find myself in various
circumstances looking at the design of my surroundings: design in objects, design in processes, design
in nature. Transferring design from one situation to another requires me to first take notice. Without the
prompt, I would miss lots of opportunities to learn and reflect.
When presented with a brief that requires design, imagine that you are actually an advertising or marketing
agent. How would you get the pertinent information across in the shortest possible time with the most
interactivity?
Billy van der Merwe, FirstRand
One way that I challenge myself to think differently is to spend time with people who have interests that are
different from my own. Through our conversations and interactions, I pick up on some of their best practices
and ask myself, “How can I apply this to what I’m doing?”
Richard Butler, ATT

Put on the Six Thinking Hats and question yourself. The trick is to trash the idea you have come up with.
Now, come up with three different ideas (you can add more if you want) and present these before your team
or someone who can rip through them. Don’t feel dejected. You have already proved your point by coming
up with so many options. You now need to choose one and work on it.
Nandini Bandopadhyay, Tech Mahindra
Sketchnoting! Bianca Woods told me about it at DevLearn 2015, but I am just discovering it now. It definitely
challenges me to think differently, and I am so grateful! I am a linear thinker. I take notes by writing lots of
words down. In meetings, at conferences, to-do lists. Words. Words. Words. Sketchnoting is helping me to
think visually. Hopefully, it will help me design more visually. To be honest, it is really hard. I keep practicing,
every chance I get: I sketchnoted menu items for my meals so I could easily see the points values and which
ones could be eaten within one day. I sketchnoted all through FocusOn Learning, and I will now actually look
at those notes! I am sketchnoting my storyboards for my client projects and they are loving it! There is a
huge community of sketchnoters out there: Mike Rohde’s Sketchnote Army; Catherine Madden’s Skillshare
class; Twitter, websites, podcasts. I am constantly challenged to think differently by listening to the ways
other people sketchnote and the tools they use. I use my iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil, and Paper 53 right now.
I am inspired to try other drawing apps, which intimidates and scares me, but I am so excited about trying!
Karen Kostrinsky, Ellie Mae
For the client I do most of my work for, I am limited to using the image library that the company has
licensed. In many cases, I can find pictures or pictograms that illustrate what I am trying to convey. However,
that is not always the case. Sometimes I use images that may not be an exact match. When I first started
with the client a few years ago, it was a real challenge since I initially was looking for literal matches. But,
over time, I realized that an image does not have to be an exact, literal match to convey the concept or
process I am addressing. As long as the image is not completely foreign to what you are portraying, don’t be
afraid to use it. Don’t limit yourself by always thinking literally.
Raymond Szmigiel, Reisman Consulting Group
Design your learning from the back to the front. If you really understand how you want your training to end,
then start there and tell the story of how you got to that point.
When I design any form of online learning, I think back to the first “eLearning”: the flight simulations used
in the military. And I push myself to develop something that is as close to the learners’ reality as possible.
Are they learning a computer skill? Then I make them feel as if they are using a computer. Are they learning
something where they have to interact with people? Then I incorporate interactive videos. I keep trying to
find new ways of replicating their reality.
Ellen Castrucci, DAI

When you need to challenge yourself or a team to think differently about something, try leveraging Random
Entry from Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking work. Open the dictionary to a random page, pick a random
word on that page, and consider how it impacts the discussion. Try it yourself: Think about a topic for a
moment, then add the word “yellow” to your thoughts. Try again with the word “chicken.” The brain is a
pattern seeker, and the introduction of a random concept immediately causes the brain to find relationships.
This spark is often all that’s needed to move in a new direction.
Jean Marrapodi, Applestar Productions
We have a defined quality assurance (QA) process that I helped create. QA is the moment of truth—if
something really doesn’t make sense, it’s going to come out in that phase. And sometimes, ideas that were
well defined in storyboarding and the design process just don’t resonate with clients.
Maria Mejia, Jefferson Health
When using interaction and gaming in courses, remember that not all users will have the same ability. What
may seem intuitive to some may not be for all. In our sector, where there is an abundance of regulation
training (which can be a challenge to make fun and interesting enough for the learners to remember), the
learners’ ages range from 20 to 60, with the latter not wanting the “cool extras.” Time is a huge factor when
we develop training. Too much interactivity (though it can be very cool) isn’t the best for regulation training.
Your best bet is to keep regulation training short and simple with visuals that complement the voice-over. A
tip: Sometimes you need to hold back and save the cool extras for optional best-practice training.
Trina MacKay, Ontario Retirement Communities Association
When working with instructional designers, I tell them that they can’t use purely cognitive assessments in
either a pre-assessment activity or during an assessment. Also, I strongly recommend building a course
with video or animation depicting the objective in a real-life situation; I encourage them to imagine how
they would actually use the content being taught and challenge them to create some sort of animated
environment to determine how the problem they are faced with would best be solved. For example, in early
math learning it is very simple to create games that teach cognitive skills, such as how to sequence real
numbers on a number line. In this case, a simple number line could have a number of boxes floating around
it with a single digit on each box, which the student has to select and drag to its proper position on the
number line. You can gamify this activity by speeding up the movement of the numbers as they float around
the screen, or even have some digits start to disappear as an on-screen clock is ticking.
Phil Hazur, EdTech Learning

When needing to teach a work process, think about how to recreate the key steps of the process in a
classroom or virtual format: How could you simulate the essence of the process in that environment? Ask
yourself if you can scale it down, simplify it, or represent it in some other way while keeping the key learning
points. Also, think about it from the learner’s perspective: What would make the content come alive if you
were being exposed to it for the first time? What experience would give you that “aha!” moment?
Take any object and think about different applications of it—at least seven to 10 applications. The more
different from what the object actually does, the better.
Some of the best ideas and innovations have come from individuals or groups who have gone outside of
what has always been done or what is seemingly possible. Apple even went as far as making this one of
its advertising slogans back in the late ’90s. (Remember the “Think Different” campaign?) In my opinion,
the “way it has always been done” should rarely be the only solution considered. In the area of learning
design, there is too much at stake to always have the same approach. So, how does one think differently
in instructional design? Just going through the motions in your day-to-day work and passively creating or
revising content may work in some situations, but often a more intensive approach is required—especially
with a more tech-savvy user base and a need to offer instruction that is more engaging and adaptive.
Challenging yourself to think differently can be done in a variety of ways. Whether you’re using different
strategies, going through a trial of a new resource or software, connecting with a professional network to
get feedback or ideas, attending a conference, using social media, or just taking a step back now and then,
you are challenging yourself and opening up more possibilities. Roadblocks, like any other obstacle, can be
permanent or temporary—but until you review the facts, you will not know which. Thinking differently does
not always result in mind-blowing new projects or million-dollar ideas, but when it does, you will be amazed
at the results.
Wendy Sandstrom, South Central College
When you get stuck in your thinking, remember to “smack yourself on the side of the head” (Edward de
Bono). Imagine you’re creating a training program for a jewelry sales team, and tell your story from the
necklace’s “center diamond” point of view.
I use Learning Battle Cards to remind myself about all the learning methods I can use while designing
instruction. Just by having them in hand, playing with them, dividing them into piles, etc., I stretch my
mind and find new ways of delivering the learning process. I also use the information on the back of cards
to provide framework for instructional design process aligned with the “Seven Windows of Instructional
Design” concept.
Marek Hyla, Accenture

Where you can, think about metaphors or stories that you can use as the “thread” to pull your course or
curriculum content together. Is it a journey from one space to another, or a series of experiences, or a macro
look at the big organizational picture? For instance: 1) In a sales training course, a series of detailed customer
profiles digs into motivations and helps salespeople predict the types of products those customers may
be interested in. 2) In a call center troubleshooting course, a lifecycle represents customers’ adoption of
technical products and the challenges they experience day to day, or when something goes wrong with a
product. 3) In a product and services curriculum, a customer’s journey through a variety of product and
service interactions could be the perfect premise. 4) In a new-hire curriculum, a new employee’s experience
from Day 1 through Day 30 sets the scenario-based stage for learning. 5) When onboarding new people, a
town or community represents the parts of a global organization, with glimpses into the different operating
units showing how the company works and how the day-to-day work gets done. This approach enables
a powerful storytelling potential that makes learning far more interesting and memorable. It also allows
designers to create scenario-based learning and assessment that builds and extends learners’ knowledge
and their ability to predict what’s next, and that develops some muscle memory for specific problem-solving.

Because I find much inspiration in nature, even if I can’t get outside physically due to work or weather
conditions, I make it a point to look outside often throughout the day. I notice what is different in the
landscape since I last looked out—new flowers, birds on a feeder or in the grass, cloud patterns, people on
the sidewalk. These observations help me experience seeing things differently, and I can bring that back to
whatever project I need inspiration for.
Cheryl Sarafin, CMS Design Studio
Check out advertising campaigns or a particularly impactful commercial for ideas you can use in your own
impactful eLearning.
Kitty Aggett
Fight for it! Learning Battle Cards provide a simple but in-depth analysis of over 100 different design and
delivery methods that work for any online or offline (or both) training that I am designing. They remind me
of methods I may have forgotten and challenge me to incorporate new ones. Start by focusing on just two or
three different cards on each project, and you’ll soon build up a considerable wealth of knowledge of how to
reach different audiences using different methods.
Find inspiration by identifying how you want the learner to feel. Become immersed in that feeling, and the
inspiration will start within you. As you look outward, keep your eyes moving and your mind searching for
the right elements throughout your day, and even while you dream—they’ll jump right out at you!
Kim Stevenson, Marathon Petroleum Corporation
Absorb several creative ads, slide decks, or articles of the day. Try to find a uniting theme in their design or
message, and channel a reaction to them or blend their tone into a new or unique art or design presentation.
Christopher Dobson, Harper College
Thirty-one Tips on Finding
Sources for Inspiration

Games and gamification can make eLearning more engaging, so I’m often looking for ways to incorporate
those elements. When looking for a theme or framework for that, I often look to see what I’m currently
“addicted” to myself for inspiration. For example, when I needed to create a dental products eCourse, I was
heavily into the mobile game Farmville, so I decided to create a “Dentalville” framework for the course. That
framework didn’t use much from the real game itself, but just thinking about the idea of “Dentalville” helped
me to come up with a structure that set up each module as a “neighborhood,” with each product or content
“nugget” represented by a different building or location in that neighborhood. Learners would visit each of
those locations to learn about that module’s content, then choose which neighborhood to visit next. This
theme also inspired a lot of great puns (for example, at the library, they could “check out” the “catalog” of
our various types of dental product) and other humorous elements. Using something I was really into myself
as an inspiration for the framework not only made the resulting eCourse fun and engaging (and effective!)
for the learners, but also made it more fun for me while I was designing and developing it!
Laura Gillenwater, Sun Life Financial
Hands down, the Articulate community is the best place that I’ve found for creative ideas. After 15-plus
years in this industry, I am still amazed at what some of the community members come up with, and most
importantly, are willing to share with others.
Donna Carter, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Hone search engine skills in order to focus on a particular topic. Move beyond Google and consider more
specific search engines. Helpful sites include Noodle Tools.
Sandy Wagner, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
I always read outside my field. I read about topics such as museum exhibit design and curation (Museum 2.0
blog), UX and UI (Smashing Magazine), user onboarding for apps and software (UserOnboard.com), genetics
(my list for this is too extensive), general biology (very long list), archaeology (also long!), travel, etc. They all
have paradigms that feed easily into instructional design. In fact, everything pretty much does! Even reading
an article about dentistry has inspired me. When I go out, I always keep an eye out for how something was
explained to me. I’m a big fan of the safety messages at different movie theaters. Then, I share these with my
colleagues and friends so that we can look at the examples and see what aspects of the examples I sent can
be repurposed for a project that any of us are working on.
Alex Streczyn-Woods, self-employed
I have created a “Creativity” folder in my inbox and in my credenza. When I find things online, I will print
them off or save them and email them to myself. When I am feeling stuck, or if I am starting a new project,
I can tap into these folders for inspiration and to get my creativity going. This helps me to think and see
things differently, generate new ideas, and try new things.
Kaitlin Olsen, Servus Credit Union

I keep a lively professional network by discussing topics with my colleagues, as they will offer me new
dimensions and perspectives that boost my creativity.
Martha Mendez, Universidad EAN
I love to feed off my kids’ creativity! Watching them play and create games and new worlds often provides
plenty of ideas. As for keeping things simple in terms of explaining content, I try to explain concepts to
them—if I can find an analogy that makes sense to them, then I’ve got something I can work with. Often they
come back to me with suggestions—“So is it like this?”—and there’s an idea that never crossed my mind. My
eldest is now 14 and very bright; she provides intellectual input, while my 10-year-old isn’t afraid to ask the
obvious question.
Elaine Finney, ERM: Environmental Resources Management
To find inspiration, I create a project for the design challenge available for E-Learning Heroes on
(Articulate.com.)
Katrice Williams-Davis, JPMorgan Chase
I always start with finding a great analogy for the content. I sit with a blank piece of paper and brainstorm
two or three widely known concepts or experiences that would allow every participant to easily grasp
the broader concept the course is addressing. The analogy inspires me to dive into the details of content
development.
Christin Carter, Institute for Human Services
If you’re struggling to find your creative spark, get up and take a nice walk outside. Research shows that
upon return to your project you’ll feel re-energized and see your project in a new light. A recent study
showed that participants increased creative thought by as much as 81 percent upon returning from a walk.
Margie Meacham, LearningToGo
In a class called Design Mapping, with David Anderson and Tom Kuhlmann, we used TV theme show openers
and movie posters to think about eLearning look and feel. I use that technique, as well as: art from museum
sites or apps, Pinterest posts, blogs of other designers, and sometimes just a photo of our employees
working in the field. Creating this type of visual plan for a course gives your creativity a launching pad to
branch out from.
Heidi Matthews, Terracon
Search out online webinars and samples.
Lisa Sanders, Innovatia

Sources for inspiration include all types of media. I have a two-year-old, so lately my inspiration has come
from watching cartoons with her. I’m able to “chunk” content and keep it simple and clean in a fun way that
is still appropriate for adult learners. Also, I get inspiration from TV commercials, magazines, images, and
nature!
Candice Green, MSX International
Stand on the shoulders of giants. Some of my most creative ideas are built upon the ideas I have seen others
achieve on online forums and discussion boards. Although I don’t use this software, there is a huge amount
of great content on the Articulate community site—nearly all submitted by other designers.
Stay connected with those people and departments that are known for being very creative. Whenever I can,
I like to spend time with people in marketing, web design, engineering, etc. Picking their brains helps, and
what they produce is usually accessible and a great source for inspiration.
Jeffery Goldman, Johns Hopkins HealthCare
I try to simplify my thought process. I will search the Internet and look at websites, Pinterest, and even online
games. If I am playing a game, I think of how I can incorporate that process or something similar into a
training I am creating. I look at other websites for colors and interactions. Something as simple as
BestBuy.com, a car dealership, or even my daughter’s online games will spark ideas.
Katrice Williams-Davis, JPMorgan Chase
The Internet has become my best friend over the years, especially for finding design inspiration. Generally, I’ll
do an online search for what I’m looking for—learning activities, learning trends, etc. For inspiration for online
content, I refer to eLearning Brothers and Articulate’s E-Learning Heroes. There are hundreds of examples,
templates, and characters to draw inspiration from, so I usually garner a few ideas before I even scratch the
surface of the available content.
Kendra Lester, JetBlue Airways
There are often hidden gems in the things we use, and they are often so subtle that we can’t even put our
finger on why we like them or why they work so well. I subscribe to a great site, Little Big Details, where
the user community submits artifacts of excellence found in small doses. I have an RSS feed add-on in
my browser, and I peruse the list now and again, always finding value in the effort people have placed in
microinteractions.

One of my tips is to explore the web for new technologies and use the trials. Later, I identify them as
valuable tools in my bookmarks.
Janine Diaz, Universidad del Turabo
I have found a lot of good inspiration and ideas on the Adobe Education Exchange. There is a community
to interact with, resources, live and on-demand courses—mostly on Adobe software, but also on teaching,
training, and other topics.
To transport the learner to a different place where they can safely practice new skills and behaviors, I often
look to popular culture or am inspired by what I’m currently watching on Netflix. For instance, I recently
created an eLearning about the impact of providing employees with effective feedback, based on my binge-
watching of Sherlock. I created a mystery about missing employees where you either had to be Sherlock
or Watson. I used backdrops of London reminiscent of the show and images that anyone would associate
with Sherlock Holmes. Participants had to find the missing employees (who were missing because of bad
feedback) and bring them back to the office.
I enroll in courses that offer new trends in education. I consider my own difficulties or weaknesses, aiming to
find a new way to solve them by thinking in aspects related to instructional design included in that course.
Using Pinterest for new approaches and ideas for interactions.
Create a Google Docs account to bookmark ideas as they come. The bookmarks will be available no matter
where you are.
Do something that is the opposite of what you are. For example, if you are very introverted, go to theater
classes. If you are mostly a developer, go to an arts museum. Go to every place that is different from what
you are; go with people who are not your kind.

Whenever I look for sources of inspiration, I start by looking at everything I interact with every day: my car,
work area, buildings, etc. I also try to look at television, commercials specifically. They have between 20 and
60 seconds to introduce a product, tell you what it is used for, and explain how to use it. They add the side
effects, whom to talk to, and where to get it, all in a short amount of time. We try to create the same short,
microlearning storytelling in our development of eLearning. It’s useful to see how the filming industry does
this and the graphics and music they use to get the ideas across. Very inspiring!
Anne Paine, Apex Performance Solutions

Fifteen Tips on Creating an
Environment of Inspiration
An environment for inspiration can be one of two things, in my view. First, the environment between your
ears: your brain. I am constantly open to “seeing” creative ideas, no matter where they surface or come
from, as I may miss an inspirational idea. Look around and be observant, not only as a designer but also as
a learner. Do the online instructions make sense when filling out a web form to register for something? Do
the printed instructions make sense for that DIY desk you just brought home? We’ve all been there, and
we all have our stories to tell. What if we retrain our brains to think, “How could I make it better?” as an
inspirational exercise? Second is the physical environment. I place various toys, puzzles, games, books, etc.,
near my workspace. When I get into an inspirational block, I’ll step away (mentally) and solve a puzzle, play
with Legos, or read a chapter in a book. Having an environment where I can “let go,” but not necessarily walk
away, is helpful; and sometimes, at the most inopportune time, inspiration is right there.
Find talented, motivated people. Provide them with boundaries. Encourage creativity within those
boundaries. Be available to them. Manage externalities that hinder their creativity.
Martin Varady, GP Sandy
For me, going for a walk outside while I work through a creative idea has always been effective. There is
something about giving the body and senses this simple task that frees the mind to wander at large and
burrow deep into creative thought. Keep walking and thinking your creative idea through. Refine, modify,
and test out your idea in your head, then refine and test again, all while simply walking outside.
I actually have designed an ISD table that I use when I design. It frees me up to focus on creative strategy
and applications instead of trying to capture everything in the outline.
Virginia Dickenson, eLumenata
I encourage faculty to use curated Twitter lists, utilizing widgets to nicely embed the content. This type of
feed can spark discussions, projects, assignments, or a look at current field events.
Morgan Barker, Humboldt State University

I go for a drive. I think most creatively when I’m driving because all of my “boring” thought processes are
used to drive the car and maneuver traffic. That allows the creative thoughts to rise to the surface.
Christina Carter, Institute for Human Services
I love to have art all around me in my office. My current office is full of gnomes, pictures of family and
friends, awards I’ve received, and lots and lots of books. When I led a team, we referred to ourselves as “the
Piggie Pilots” and had flying pigs all over our space. When people would travel, they would snap pictures
of piggy art and share them with the team. We used the game of Pig Out, which has pig-shaped dice, to do
project selection, allowing the high roller to pick first, and we even had a battery-operated, flapping-winged
flying pig hung from the ceiling that would be activated to relieve stress and generate a laugh. The concept
was rooted in the idea of achieving the impossible. We took messes, cleaned them up, and made them fly,
which is exactly what we do in our instructional design world.
We use coloring projects—free downloadable pages from the Internet, funny and inspiring adult coloring
books, or even just blank drawing tablets and coloring tools. My friend Andrea Koehler at the Coloring
Project in Seattle, Washington, has an instructional design background and introduced me to her great
techniques for incorporating coloring. These have helped create the space for inspiration both in my own
work area and at conferences and workshops.
Erin Peterschick, EP Consulting; and Association for Talent Development (ATD), Puget Sound Chapter
Use interactive elements for learning and training. Visual communication with your audience increases
engagement and retention.
Lauren Twele, Rapt Media
In my work space, I keep two toys: a wooden puppet and a few cube blocks. At the end of a project, I usually
take some time to reconfigure my space. I also have a whiteboard handy. Somehow, rearranging my space
helps me come up with and process new ideas.
I have the Learning Battle Cards poster up on the wall to help me identify different ways to design and
deliver training I am working on. Some ways are easy to remember as I use them most of the time, but many
of them could be forgotten or overlooked because they don’t get used often. Learning Battle Cards help
keep my focus on methods I don’t always use.

Listen to classical music, or breathe in meditation, or do some Qigong. The more relaxed you are, the more
easily ideas will come.
My work space contains numerous gadgets and gizmos to keep the physicality level up during my
development process. Stress balls, Baoding balls, Rubik’s Cube, and Slinky, to name a few. I also have stuffed
animals (otters) that I talk to when I reason out a role-play scenario, since I am a one-person team. They
don’t always agree with where I am going with a storyline, and that helps. I will actually rotate my “toys,” as
others call them, to keep it all fresh for myself. The hand movements help just enough to remove my focal
point to the subconscious level where I believe our best work lies in waiting. If I stare at a dot long enough, I
fail to see the dot, but when I blink a few times the dot becomes clearer.
Linda Kirk, Palm Beach County (Florida) Clerk Comptroller’s Office
Our organization’s marketing department put together a design guideline document after our rebranding.
When I was new to the organization, I created a framed piece of “art” that graphically portrays our
organization’s color palette using the RGB values in color and a funky font. Not many people get it, but
whenever I need to recall the right shade of orange, I know it’s 250|164|62 just by looking up at my wall.
Surround yourself with things you love, and focus on all of your senses! If you sit in an office cubicle, like me,
you know the importance of making it your own. Before I livened up my work space, I was less creative and
less motivated. I worked on making my space my own by focusing on all of my senses. Sight: If you have to
look at something all day, you might as well enjoy it, right? I like a space that is easy on the eyes, welcoming,
and inspiring. For me, that’s natural tones with pops of color and motivational phrases. I use a digital photo
frame to display my favorite images throughout the day, and desk organizers keep everything neat and
tidy. Sound: I find it necessary to drown out the background noise of fans, co-workers chatting, co-workers
chewing, etc. I like to use different playlists for different tasks. Taste: Do you have a favorite candy or snack
you usually eat when you’re being creative? Keep it at your desk for when you are looking for that creative
inspiration. I like to have Lemonheads available. Smell: I use essential oils to give me an energy boost or help
me focus. Be sensitive to your co-workers when considering your options here. Touch: Keeping my hands
busy with either tossing around a stress ball, raking sand, or painting with my Buddha Board at my desk
helps me clear my mind of the tedious stuff and take a more strategic view.
Shanell Suter, InterContinental Hotels Group

At the beginning of any new project, we have a brainstorming session. During that session there is no such
thing as the word “no.” I think of brainstorming as improv, and the first rule of improv is that no matter what
anyone says, you say, “Yes, and...” During brainstorming, nothing is off-limits and you can dream as big and
as crazily as possible. I’m sort of a details person, so the thought of just wildly shouting out concepts with
no idea of how to accomplish them was hard for me at first; but I have found that we get the best and most
creative learning solutions this way. Because the concepts from the brainstorming sessions get us really
excited, my team and I are extra motivated to find some way to make even the most challenging concepts a
reality. This keeps learning fresh and exciting because doing things the way you have always done them is so
boring and unengaging for learners.
Caryn Nadeau, MUFG Union Bank
At work, we use a virtual cork board to contribute ideas or design elements we’d like to repurpose
elsewhere.
Anything works—handwriting, capturing on your phone, scribbling on the back of your notebook, typing
brief notes on your phone, saving links, putting free-flowing ideas into a Google doc. I use Trader Joe’s
stickers sometimes to mark up ideas and notes. Yes, it’s strange, but it works.
Create a mood board or an inspiration board to help you organize and capture design ideas. You can do this
physically with bulletin boards, blank walls, or magnet boards, or online with Pinterest or other platforms.
When you’re looking for innovative design ideas, you can fall back on your inspiration boards for support!
Jenny Hill, D2L
Drawing ideas by hand with old-fashioned pencil and paper can sometimes be more effective than typing
out ideas on a computer. There is something about a blank page and a pen in your hand that is inspiring!
Twenty-six Tips on Capturing
Design Inspiration

Keep a small kit in your briefcase that has your favorite brainstorming elements. I keep index cards, markers,
and sticky notes. Then, when you have an opportunity to brainstorm with a group, you’ll be ready.
I carry my iPhone in my hand with a photo app open whenever I’m exploring a new location. This helps
trigger the instinct to capture a photo for potential reference later. I often take pictures of random signs,
store layouts, products, etc., that I find particularly interesting. I store these images in a series of folders for
quick access and review later, when random inspiration is needed.
JD Dillon, Axonify
I closely watch and listen to television commercials. I look for the way motion, text, and narration are used to
convey a message. Then I take elements of what I’ve seen and heard and recreate these elements in courses.
It’s a quick trick to keep current with visual and motion design.
Julie Stelter, Walden Group
I keep a folder on my shared drive of designs that intrigue me. They can be an app on my phone (I take a
screen shot and save), a website, a picture of a video game my kids are playing, a well-designed room, or
even a vacation spot—anything that catches my eye. Then, when I go to develop eLearning, I think about the
feeling I want to create, the environment I want the learner to be a part of based on what they need to learn,
and I return to this folder to create a “mood board.” The mood board includes images, color palettes, and
navigation styles mostly based on the designs I’ve tagged.
I keep notepads and writing utensils in strange places. For instance, I noticed that I spend a lot of time
brainstorming in the shower, so I got a waterproof notepad and pencil. The best investment! I’m forever
using it to capture my thoughts. I also keep a notepad and pen on my nightstand so I can capture middle-of-
the-night ideas and epiphanies.
Use your smartphone to quickly capture a photo of anything that inspires you, from a poster to painted
colors in a restaurant to something that you see on your computer screen or a magazine. Sync the images
to your desktop and tag them for quick future reference. Go crazy and record something you see on TV
to help you plan a motion animation or get new ideas for a future video. Anything that I love, I will throw
into a folder, and I’ll look in that folder every time we start a new project for ideas or inspiration to spark
the creative process. If you are super organized, you can use the Photos app on your desktop to tag, add
descriptions, and organize into albums to help you focus on concepts.
Nick Floro, Sealworks Interactive Studios

I love using Adobe Captivate Draft to capture design ideas for eLearning content. You can easily create
storyboards of your ideas that include quizzes, scenario branching, videos, and more. You can upload
these to the Creative Cloud and into Captivate. You can also send them to others for review, and they can
comment on the draft of your idea.
I rip out, copy, and place print marketing examples in a fun-looking basket for design inspiration. I especially
keep print collateral from those companies targeting Millennials. I find the graphics, fonts, and colors to be
more cutting-edge. When I see great designs online, I either place a snippet and the URL in a current client’s
folder or, if there is no client home, in a “design inspiration” folder.
Julie Stelter, Walden Group
I take quick photos with my phone whenever I see something that sparks my interest. Sometimes I add a
voice memo or an SMS to briefly sum up my thoughts.
If I happen to be away from my computer when a great idea comes to mind, I typically use a note-taking app
on my smartphone to capture my thoughts. I can then send the note(s) to my email inbox and continue with
my brainstorming!
Richard Butler, ATT
Inspiration can come from anywhere. As I come across something that appeals to me visually—such as a
color palette, graphic design, or interactivity—I save it in Diigo in a file named ID Ideas. When I’m stuck for
inspiration, I just review my folder, and I usually find something that I can use. I also bookmark many great
ideas found in the Articulate community as I come across ones I think I can use.
Donna Carter, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Many creative ideas come when one is on the cusp of falling asleep. I always make sure to have a paper and
pencil right by my bed, so I can reach out (even with my eyes closed, if I want) to quickly jot down the idea
before I fall asleep; otherwise, I’ll have forgotten all about it by morning. Sometimes it may take a minute to
decipher my pencil scratchings the next morning, but I’m almost always glad I captured the idea when I did!
Laura Gillenwater, Sun Life Financial
Mood boards are a perfect place to collect all your ideas. Print or draw all the colors, elements, and photos
that catch your eye and evoke the mood you’re striving for. By stepping back and looking at the organized
chaos on the board, you can edit your thoughts and envision the final product long before you get started.
Kim Stevenson, Marathon Petroleum Corporation

Once you have completed a task analysis, consider fashioning a failed task as a troubleshooting exercise.
This would engage the learner to think more critically about the task. It would stimulate reflection on task
sequence and requirements. It would require the learner to consider related tasks. A troubleshooting activity,
even as an introduction, can motivate learners simply by being a challenge.
Marc LaTourette, Intercon Associates
Pin it! I find many good ideas or visual design elements online when I am looking for something else, so
rather than divert my attention right then, I have created a Pinterest design board to tag pages and images I
want to go back and look into later.
Since design creativity comes in all forms, I curate all kinds of great ideas for my viewing pleasure when
I need some inspiration. My favorite technology tool for doing that is Scoop.it, where I have two “highly
recommended” badges: “Articulate Storyline Tips and Demos” and “PPT Best Practices and Tips.”
There is nothing better than the camera attached to my smartphone. Inspiration can come from anywhere,
whether it be a magazine advertisement, a directional sign at a venue, or even the language used on a
restaurant menu. I also capture screenshots; for instance, I’ll screenshot a website I may not have visited
before if I am attracted to the site’s behavior, or a mobile app (whether on my smartphone or tablet)
because I may be inspired by the navigation menu design. From there, these photos and screenshot images
get dumped into a folder, aptly named “Design Inspiration,” for later study. Of the hundreds I’ve collected
over the years, only a few ever made their way into actual projects. It’s better to capture everything and not
use anything than to be in that awful spot of needing inspiration and having nowhere to look.
When I have been tasked with developing a new training module or presentation, I look to my hair salon.
Seriously! He has all the latest magazine issues right there in front of me. The hottest new nail color could be
the shocking “pop of color” my PowerPoint needs. In other words, take current trends—whether in the latest
issue of a magazine or a bright new website—and think about them in terms of your training project. How
can I use this layout? Can I incorporate this color instead of my usual boring gray, black, white, etc.? Even
the theme a trendy new commercial uses could very well inspire you to design your best training curriculum
ever!
Linda Ferrell, FedEx

Whenever I stumble onto something that inspires me, I use my smartphone to take a picture of it. (It’s the
one tool that’s always with me!) I’ve taken pictures of advertisements at the movie theater, websites on a
computer screen, and even scribbles on a napkin or whiteboard. They’re all saved in an album called “Work,”
which I make a point to go back to regularly.
Allison Musselman, MedRisk
Use Photoshop to create better PNGs. Some images have backgrounds I do not want, but using Photoshop
gives me a creative edge to make awesome PNGs.
Tom Foggin, Teledyne Marine
Inspiration is found everywhere and can translate into creativity. What may seem unrelated to work at hand
can trigger a new perspective about how to communicate visually, emotionally, and textually. Best creativity
tips: If you read books, review other genres you often overlook; if you travel, pick up that in-flight magazine—
it’s full of ideas to be repurposed for a fresh idea; if you walk, leave out the “buds” and listen, look, and
observe what’s happening around you. You’ll be surprised at the inspiration and creativity available to you.
Joyce Power, Paltech

Eleven Tips on Solving
Problems Creatively
To help prevent scope creep and define the project that just landed in your inbox, turn around a first draft
on an unreasonable and uncomfortable timeline. Mine is 48 hours. This 48-hour draft will be full of holes
and dead wrong in places, but nothing is more useful than finding out about stuff like this right away, before
you put the work in or do discovery with SMEs. Remember that before there was a project, there was a
business need. Directly asking “What is the business need?” rarely produces useful information, but showing
something specific yet embarrassingly incomplete to the stakeholders right away prompts them to tell you
all the things that are wrong with it. In my experience, this is the most useful information you can get!
Sam Rogers, Snap Synapse
Sleep on it. Seriously. Don’t make rush decisions. Let inspiration come to you.
Jennifer Gifford, Vidant Health
Use design thinking. Early in the process, particularly when meeting with SMEs, prototype ideas. This can
mean a variety of things: from sketching on a napkin to arranging salt and pepper shakers and any other
found objects to represent ideas. This gets people talking and sharing. It’s particularly useful for revealing
missed messages, where a client corrects your representation of an idea by showing you what they really
meant.
Urbie Delgado, Connect the Dots
Every project we work on has its own challenges, whether they are resource- or time-based. To help ease
these, I often look to the business and my SMEs to rethink when we have true, hard resource problems.
Building great relationships quickly helps to forge their willingness to engage, and it can bring home the
benefits of the SMEs’ being part of a solution. As instructional designers, our process usually lacks creativity,
and we create roadblocks for ourselves. For instance, we often relegate our SMEs to a pigeon-holed role
in the design and development process. When I break this paradigm—for instance, by digging deeper and
finding ways to embed the learning into the workflow in meaningful ways that don’t stop the work—and have
SMEs’ buy-in, support, and even evangelism, I can move mountains! In today’s world, our SMEs are often a
direct beneficiary when our solutions fix business problems, so I find them willing to be “trained” on how
to contribute in the most impactful ways. When I think about creativity in our field, it’s not only in how we
create and deliver content; it’s how we shake up the way we have approached our work, how we leverage
resources, and how we get things done.

Bring in outsiders who will look at things in a different paradigm. If from the same organization—a different
division. If outside—from a different product or service mix.
Dave Sanderson, Applied Technetronics
I learn by talking, so whenever I’m faced with a problem, I’ll talk it through with someone else. Often, I find
that I am the most creative when I talk about it with someone who has no idea about the problem, works
in an entirely different field or industry, and has a totally different background than me. By talking through
it with someone who has no previous knowledge of the problem and who therefore needs a lot of help
understanding it, I’m forced to consider and explain the problem from every possible angle, which doesn’t
always effectively happen when I’m just thinking about it by myself. After I’ve talked through the problem
from every angle, I’ll talk with someone else who is wrestling with the problem or who knows about it. After
my initial conversation, I feel more confident in my understanding of the problem, and I already have a few
ideas about how to solve it. This conversation usually results in an even fuller understanding of the problem
and a list of possible solutions to begin exploring in earnest. This approach doesn’t work for or with people
who prefer to take lots of time to reflect quietly on a problem and review it themselves, but for me it’s often
the best approach. Make sure you know who you are talking to before you try taking this approach with
them.
Madelaine Whalen, Great Dane Trailers
Whiteboards, Post-it notes, paper napkins, and flip chart paper seem to be my best friends. Throw in some
color markers, and I’m a happy camper!
Sometimes budgets can hold you back when capturing your content, especially with video. For the past few
years, I have been slowly building a library of video content. I produce a webinar series, which I have filmed
with my panelists for the past three years (for every webinar I require all presenters to be in the room). I
find that these webinars feel more like “round table” discussion when everyone is in the same room, which
is a plus, but I also mic them for good sound and shoot them in front of a green screen. I use this footage
for varying projects, e.g., to create microvideo to support the content in trainings we do; but I also edit
down this footage to use for online modules. No one wants to listen to an archived webinar (yawn). I edit
the footage in Camtasia to create learning videos with quizzing elements that have activities for the viewer
to stop and do. It makes it a more lively “in time” experience where they feel the webinar presenters are
personally talking to them and engaging them in the content.
Laura Schroeder, Georgia State University
I figure out several solutions to the problems I face just by looking for collaborative work with my partners.

When working to solve problems, at first, don’t allow yourself to be constrained by perceived limits
(resources, skills, available tools and materials, etc.). Just ask yourself, “If anything were possible, what
could solve this problem?” When you come up with an idea that would work well, then begin refining it and
tweaking it to fit the existing limitations while maintaining the elements that made it a good solution. Don’t
overlook the possibility that the limiting factors could also be modified—look at ways to increase resources,
improve skills, modify existing tools or materials, etc., to meet your solution idea halfway.
Write the assessment first. Then gather information to support learners’ successfully completing that
assessment. This makes it much easier to work with SMEs and much faster to outline and develop content.
Every assessment question should directly map to at least one learning objective. If not, then it doesn’t
deserve to be assessed. And therefore, it doesn’t actually need to be in the content, right?
Sam Rogers, Snap Synapse

Twenty-five Tips
on Getting Unstuck
Whenever I’m stuck creatively, I take a break and do something physical other than typing. For example, I
sometimes play the piano, play with a toy, take a walk, or do some yoga poses. This allows me to clear my
mind. When I return to the creative task, I am more able to focus on what I’m doing. I also find that I have
more creative ideas after taking this kind of a break.
Mary Gutwein, Humana
When I feel uninspired or don’t know where a project should go, I like to take any physical resources and lay
them out on my office floor. Placing them in a more tangible and high-level view allows me to “play” with the
materials—I’ll rearrange them, remove some, even take scissors to others. But getting “hands-on” with the
content helps me to better see and think through my creative block.
Liesl Christle, Reflection Software
Cover your desk in Post-its and, for three-minute segments, fill as many Post-its as you can with single ideas
on different topics. Then walk away from them. Come back later and review the Post-its, and organize what
was written into “Not today,” “Maybe,” and “Expand.”
Elizabeth Wellins, Capital Group
After I’ve tried to find a good idea, after I’m saturated in the problem and I feel it deeply, if I still cannot find
the idea, I just let it go. I try to forget it while doing something easy. I try to choose a dull job in order to put
my brain into a sort of automatic setup (playing cards is great, walking around, cleaning the house, etc.). But
I need to do something easy, alone. After a while, most of the time, I have an insight and a great idea comes
out. Easy!
Francoise Crevier, EduGenie
Ask your content expert: What is the outcome of the project? If at all possible, even with everyone’s time
constraints, probe further and try to learn about the topic. Are you ever going to be the subject matter
expert on it? Of course not; however, you’ll be able to build a better working relationship with your SME.
What are you trying to do? There are plenty of instructional tools and blogs, free tools, low-cost tools, tools
that work just for you—anything in between! Ask the first question and try to find out more. Then, talk about
the options.

I change my work environment, getting to another location temporarily.
I work out. Sure, there are studies that indicate a connection between exercise and our ability to think
clearly, but I’ve been doing it for a while because it just always seemed to work. Then I found the research.
Depending on the circumstances, I may just go out for a walk. I may go for a full-out run. Or, if I am working
at home, I may pop in a workout DVD and do 30 minutes of cardio. It all depends on what my schedule looks
like for the day and how I can best apply my energy. I often have “breakthrough thoughts” mid-workout and
pause my activity to make quick notes on my phone—which is always with me.
JD Dillon, Axonify
Getting unstuck, for me, requires a physical change in scenery. Sometimes it’s moving to another spot in my
office, moving outside, or even going to a noisy place with ear buds in to get lost in the whir of all the people
and their activities.
Go to the grocery store or another retail environment. They make a living out of capturing your attention.
I once heard author and speaker extraordinaire Chris Barez-Brown state that in order to generate new ideas,
we need to get ourselves off of autopilot. Are your ideas stuck in a rut? Try breaking up even your most
mundane daily habits to shake up your brainstorming processes. Drive a different way to work. Sleep on the
other side of the bed. Once you do that, your brain will stop blindly following what it knows and hopefully
start thinking in new ways!
Cristina Colquhoun, Oklahoma State University
Get up and take a walk outside. I find different routes through my company’s large complex. There’s
scientific evidence that it works.
Jeff Mallory, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
Don’t work on vacation—your time off is much better used with rest and relaxation. It has been proven that
rested minds work better. Don’t give yourself more challenges by never taking a break!
Jenny Hill, D2L

I’m a professional in getting stuck; but actually, I think this is an essential part of my creative process. I used
to hate it, but now it’s my way of knowing I’m on the right path. Getting stuck means I’m at the climax of the
passion and energy I’m investing and that there is only one possible outcome: releasing the action. For me,
the best way to achieve that is taking a totally different approach; I find in frustration my greatest inspiration.
Anyone can tell you to take a deep breath or to ask somebody else to revise your work; some might tell you
to do something else and inspiration will come. I think all of the above are great advice, but for me, the most
important tip is get stuck and enjoy it. Because frustration means you care! You will get unstuck eventually,
and only you will find a way to release all that concentrated creative energy.
Ariana López Di Rocco, Teachlr
Let it go. Go home, go to sleep, go to the cinema. Let your unconscious mind do the work: It’s smarter than
your conscious mind!
Sometimes when I need a story idea or character persona to frame my eLearning, I’ll pull out the
Brainstormer app on my iPhone. This clever app generates three attributes of the story by spinning a wheel.
It’s problem/character/setting in the original version. For example, a spin might generate Invention/Eskimo/
Cafe. If you don’t like the set, you can lock in one and spin to change the others. App add-ons for 99 cents
include character, world, and creature attributes. A sample spin in the Character Wheel produced The Muse/
High-class/Captain.
I often record myself doing something (for instance, trying to demonstrate a technical issue or giving tech
instructions). Sometimes, that’s all I need to find out the problem or come up with a solution! Screencastify
(for my Chromebook) and Jing work splendidly for such things.
Follow-up is the key. If we have the “to-do list” of priorities, we can surely know what to follow up on, and
the time plan falls in line.
Stuti Singh, Mahindra
The key to getting unstuck is leverage. If I am deep in a mental rut, that leverage can come in the form of a
new perspective. Changing perspective, though, often requires a change of position. And this means moving.
Movement doesn’t always have to be physical, but quite often a physical change of scenery can stimulate
conversations and thoughts that aren’t part of your daily routine. If the routine is preventing you from
gaining traction, breaking it may be all that’s needed. Routines aren’t necessarily bad, since it is through
discipline that we often grow. Just be aware of when a routine is causing the opposite to happen.

To get unstuck, I simply find something else to do. I’ve learned that if I try to force creative ideas, they don’t
come to me. So, I find something else to do—a different project or task, a walk, or even something mundane
and mindless. You’d be surprised how not thinking about something generates ideas and brainstorms about
that very thing. Don’t force it.
Walk it out; talk it out. Usually when I get stuck, it’s after I’ve been glued to my computer for hours, working
on a project and struggling through that one piece that’s holding me up. Regardless of the type of problem,
I tend to want to push through until I figure it out. My best advice for not losing your mind? Walk away for
a few moments and clear your head. Go outside, go for a walk, go talk to a co-worker about something
unrelated—just get away and don’t think of your problem. When you come back, explain what you are trying
to do out loud. I find that when I explain my problem out loud, I’m forced to slow down the thoughts in my
head and a solution becomes clear. Now, preferably you’ll have another human being to speak to, but don’t
limit yourself. Talk to yourself, the dog, the universe—just talk it out and be open to a solution.
Shanell Suter, IHG
Step back from everything and take time to think. What do you need? What are you trying to learn? How
can you support your colleagues for a successful project? What can you do to help one another? It’s a
challenge with a full plate, and it’s worth doing—for everyone.
Watch video tutorials on your authoring software to find new ways to do things. Read blogs about
instructional design, and read the comments. Read and participate in forums about techniques and tips.
Watch demonstrations of others’ work. Participate in instructional design challenges on something you’re
not as familiar with. All of these things can get you out of a rut and back on track toward getting your
project done.
Jeff Mallory, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
When I find myself creatively stuck, I go to a co-worker with a different specialty and no knowledge of
the project. I will ask them for help generating ideas, but I will give them very little information about the
project—just the highlights of the highlights. This prevents me from giving them so much information
about the project that it gets them just as stuck as I am. Often, the ideas I’ll get from the co-worker who
is brainstorming with very little information are way off the mark, but as I slowly release more information
about the project, their original ideas start sparking new ideas that come much closer to hitting the mark.
Usually, all it takes is one or two new ideas to get my mind going again!
Madelaine Whalen, Great Dane Trailers

When I’m stuck or can’t find a way in, I walk away from the task. If I’m at home, I do the dishes or hand out
the washing—something mindless. Very often that helps; as soon as the brain switches off, a solution pops
up.
Drop that mouse. Step away from the computer. Get outside and move!
Janet Chafey, contractor

Always ask, “Why?” and then move forward to “what,” “how,” “when,” and “where.” For the latter, always
think of how other fields use technologies and how they can be used in your learning project—e.g.,
marketing’s use of augmented reality to engage shoppers with print materials that can be read by mobile
devices.
Alexander Salas, StyleLearn
Consider giving yourself half an hour of “professional development” time each day, and spend time viewing
other people’s eLearning modules. Don’t look for resolutions to your problems, but choose one that looks
interesting, creative, unique, and allow the “experience” of each module to saturate you without judgment.
Look at one, or maybe two or three, but no more. When your half-hour ends, look internally for your first
impressions, and ask yourself: Did it draw me in? Did it meet my expectations? What about the experience
was unique? How was it integrated into the lesson? Was it effective (etc.)? And finally, ask yourself: If it was
indeed successful in many ways, how might it be expanded upon and potentially adapted to your eLearning
designs going forward?
L’Oreal Battistelli, independent instructional designer
Draw one thing every day as a note instead of using text. For example, draw a phone receiver and a sketch
of a dog to remind yourself to call and make that vet appointment!
Creativity takes focus and a clear mind. In today’s world of constant connection, it is difficult to accomplish
this. My first tip is to completely remove myself from social media for a designated amount of time
(depending on the amount of focus time I need). If possible, I do this with email, too. I take myself into “the
zone” of imagination by listening to music, watching movies, viewing photographs, drawing, etc. This allows
my mind to begin to evolve into a creative playground.
Linda Caldwell, SCANA
Thirteen Tips on
Making Creativity a Habit

Creativity, for some, can run rampant and untamed. I think I’m probably one of those people. I’ve developed
a habit, though, that has helped make my ideas focused and purposeful: sharing. Whether developing a
set of icons, writing a story for training, or solving a difficult design problem, sharing these things with
fellow learning professionals forces me to make creative design useful, meaningful, and easy for others to
grasp. I also receive the benefit of someone else’s perspective when I share my ideas. And when I hit upon
something that resonates strongly with someone else, I have a new creative comrade, a research partner or a
co-collaborator. When creativity strikes, look up from your cube. There are peers who would love to see what
you’ve just created! Talk it out, teach it, tweet it, give it, blog it, animate it, draw it, picture it, text it, email it,
post it.
Rance Greene, HCSC: Health Care Service Corp.
Create file folders on your PC and external drive for the images and elements you use. An example of a
folder could be “cutout people”; within this folder, break down to other folders such as “men,” “women,” and
so on. The word is organize.
Tom Foggin, Teledyne Marine
Foster creativity in your personal life as well as your professional life by setting goals—choose a creative
activity and set a goal to participate in that activity at least once or twice weekly. Writing, reading
fiction, creating art, music, and theater can all feed into your overall creativity and allow you to be a more
productive and effective designer.
Jenny Hill, D2L
I am constantly looking for “creativity boosters.” It does not take much effort to do this if you keep an open
mind. Perhaps a design in someone’s clothing or a wallpaper design could spark a background design
for eLearning. Perhaps a poem, tagline, sermon, keynote address, etc., might spark a theme for your next
training presentation. Perhaps a song or story heard on the radio while driving to and from work could
change your mood or vision and help you to visualize your topic in a different light. Perhaps a “lesson
learned” topic you picked up from a TV episode, movie, or reality show could drive home a point in your
training. Maintaining an open mind and allowing those “teaching examples and inspirations” is key.
Linda Caldwell, SCANA
I often get creative ideas at unusual times—it certainly isn’t constrained to 9 to 5. The issue is, I often forget
those great ideas. So, I have a “creativity” folder in Evernote to store those ideas, especially since some may
not be useful for current projects and I may need to retrieve them well into the future. Of course, there are
many different apps you can use—or even save them in a paper notebook, as long as they are available when
you really need them.
Jeffery Goldman, Johns Hopkins HealthCare

Communication matters! We all are creative; it’s just that many don’t know how to express themselves. If we
know how to communicate, we can surely develop creativity.
Stuti Singh, Mahindra
Start every day with a game. It does not have to be complicated or even use electronics. This will help your
students prepare for class with friendly competition against one another, themselves, or even you as the
instructor. It also lightens the mood and creates an engaging environment for your students.
Anthony Radzykewycz, GateWay Community College
Videos say a thousand words. If you can replace the learning point with a video, then always do it. People
consume content on a mobile device almost 50 percent faster than they do viewing it on a desktop, and
video will account for about 70 percent of all mobile traffic by 2021.
Sue Brett, LearningOnline.xyz
With graphics, remember: “Less is more.” Use your white space.

Community colleges often face limits on budget and time, and other constraints that limit resources
needed in order to put creativity into action. Authoring tools are expensive, and it takes time to learn how
to properly use these tools. I use constraints to inspire my creativity in a positive way. For example, I used
free online resources such as knowledge management software and interactive learning tools to create
interactive projects and make them accessible for mobile devices.
Tahais Real-Martins, Bristol Community College
Focus not on what can’t be done, but on what can be done. Shift the paradigm and view the boundaries as
rules of a game, not as barriers.
Sometimes the harshest reality check is to provide a naysayer access to your content sometime before
the final review stage. They will be brutally honest with you, and it’s certainly possible we all overlooked
something important.
The adage “Necessity is the mother of invention” is something we can use as an inspiration when we are
boxed in. Think like a gamer who wants to reach the next level, and that surely will give you an adrenaline
rush. There will always be some kind of constraint; we just need to use that as a challenge to tease our
brains.
Nandini Bandopadhyay, Tech Mahindra
Go out to the street and do something you wouldn’t do ordinarily, such as saying hello to people in a
different way, or congratulating a kid for how they ride a bike.
Ten Tips on
Pushing Boundaries

We want to create courses accessible to all learners and ensure that the content is effectively used. A tip
to keep in mind when developing an online course is to use captioning with audio and videos. However, we
know that using transcription software or paying a transcriptionist is costly and time-consuming. I use a
free screen recording tool, Screencast-o-Matic, and I create a script and practice before starting any lecture
recording. An easy way to add captions is to upload the videos to YouTube using the “CC” captioning tool.
Make your content accessible to all learners.
Tahais Real-Martins, Bristol Community College
Collect small stories and examples for your subject or topic in one place. Use them in rotation to keep your
audience engaged.
Sanjaykumar Jain, Januware Consultancy Services
When do we not encounter constraints? Like me, you’ve bumped up against lack of process, documentation,
development time, implementation time, money, space, people resources, technology... the list goes on. But
with deficit comes determination: “How can I make a difference for my client, despite the box they’ve put
me in?” To answer that question, I like to flip things upside down and identify what I do have to work with.
Then, I make the most of those assets. Let me give you an example. For a call center start-up, my mandate
was to train 4,000 call center employees in a month across the country. I had no content, no processes, no
software training environment, no trainers, and way too little square footage in secure training facilities. I
had a momentary freak-out, but then I got energized by the challenge! A team of colleagues came up with
solutions based on available assets: lots of square footage on the call center floor; a cubicle, computer, and
headset for every new hire; funding to purchase training technology; great instructional systems designers
(ISDs), multimedia developers, and IT folks; and an open-minded client. We deployed virtual classroom
training within the brick-and-mortar call center buildings. We used eLearning and traditional classroom
training where it made sense. We hired trainers and taught them how to use Adobe Connect for delivery. In
short, appreciating our assets instead of whining about constraints resulted in a creative solution that was a
huge success. “Count your blessings” is always good advice!
Susan McDonald Osborn, Laurus Design
When I have a deadline to complete a particular task or solve a problem, I impose an earlier deadline for
myself to get the job done sooner than expected. This new deadline forces me to come up with more ideas
at a faster rate.
Richard Butler, ATT

Dismiss convention and think kindergarten. Most of my successful designs come from thinking like a child.
My method is simplified and more colorful; it requires more interactivity and usually involves a layered
approach that invites discovery. One hundred percent of the time, I can find research to back up my
methods in case resistance is met, but usually I don’t need to prove anything. There aren’t many people who
resist having fun while learning.
Emily Pfeiffer, Catalina Marketing
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