November 8, 2021 by Niels Floor |
You are about to hire a learning experience (LX) designer for your next project. What can you expect when it comes to the quality of their work? To answer that question, we should look at what you can expect from any professional designer.
Imagine you hire a graphic designer to create a new logo for your company. After a couple of weeks, the designer walks into your office and proudly says: “We took the colors of your biggest competitor so its familiar for potential clients. The typography is similar to Mastercard, which is one of the most trusted brands worldwide. The logo itself is a variation of a logo we created for another client which was really well received. What do you think?”
You’d probably show them the door straight away and ask your money back. Rightfully so! All they did was recycle things that have been done before and simply changed the content. That’s unacceptable for any designer. Or is it?
In the field of learning this is common practice. You take an e-learning course, change the content, change some colors, add a fun exercise that worked really well for a different project and you’re done. Or you take an existing game and change the names on the board, the colors of the cards and the pictures on the box. Et voilà: It’s Learnopoly!
When you hire a learning experience designer, you should expect a unique design.
In my opinion this is not what designers do. This is definitely not what a learning experience designer does. When you hire a learning experience designer, you should expect a unique design that is tailored specifically to the people and the context for which it is intended. Like a user experience designer creating a smooth user experience across multiple platforms. Or like a game designer who uses innovative game mechanics to create a type of game you’ve never played before. You can expect original ideas, elegant solutions, and creative designs from a professional designer. Not a mash up of things that have been done before. You shouldn’t expect less from a LX designer.
When you hire a LX designer who has a hard time living up to these expectations, you must wonder: is this person truly a LX designer or someone who simply changed their title because it sounds good? Either way, I believe (LX) designers have a high standard to live up to when it comes to the way they work, the designs they create and the impact they have.