Whether you are seeking a major career shift or looking to grow your existing Instructional Design career, your confidence will deeply impact the journey.

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. When I got the keys to my first classroom and began preparing for my first year with students, I was ecstatic. I was sure...

When I was interviewing for my first Instructional Designer job, I was asked many times about what I thought were the three most important things that made an eLearning course good. There’s really a lot that I could have listed. However, I always mentioned good visual design as one of the crucial things to get right. And they agreed.

For several reasons. I am only going to focus on two.

We know that first impressions matter. Besides, many times our learners are not really excited about taking the course, even if it’s not compliance training. So we don’t want to make a bad impression and possibly alienate them. They say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but when we are browsing for a book, a film, or even a new beverage, we form an opinion based on the visuals. Have you ever decided against watching a film just because the graphics looked off? We need to gain the learners’ interest, not put them off. 

The other reason is that...

Maybe you did or didn’t read Building Your Brand: Part 1 in July. Here is a quick recap:

• Branding is about the value you give to clients.
• Branding is about the problems you are skilled at solving.
• You want to focus your brand around something.
• You need to be a life-long learner to keep up with changing technologies.

If you are in the brand-building or revamping your brand, I suggest the book Digital You by William Arruda. The book is a great guide to help your brand building process.

Using LinkedIn in Building Your Brand

LinkedIn is a repeatable way professionals connect across various industries around the world. Your LinkedIn profile provides a first impression, especially when you can’t be there in person to meet. Whether you are on the job hunt or not, you can leverage LinkedIn to build relationships to make business connections.

Keywords

Did you know the words you use in your profiles make a difference? You want to use the right keywords...

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read these two words: design identity?

If you are thinking this is just an alternative way of referring to your brand or brand identity, you’re wrong. 

Here’s why:

Your brand is how people perceive you.

“A brand is the recognizable feeling a product or business evokes...They live in the minds of everyone who experiences them.”

---Brian Lischer

Your brand identity is how you want to be perceived and what you create to influence that perception (logos, color palette, etc). 

“Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer.”

---Deanna deBara

Your design identity is who you are as an instructional designer. 

 “Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.”

---Epictetus

To discover your design identity is to undergo self-discovery without the pressure to...