Featured Project
Audience
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New campers, families and casual campers.
Responsibilities
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Instructional Design
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Communicating with SME
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Action Mapping
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Needs Analysis
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Storyboarding
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Visual and Graphic Design
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Project/eLearning Development
Tools Used
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Articulate Storyline 360
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Animaker
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Figma
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MindMeister
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Gimp
The client, The Parks Federation (a fictitious company), has noticed an increase in visitors endangering themselves and the wildlife and destroying and polluting the natural spaces.
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Visitors are not setting up/taking down and maintaining campsites safely. This is causing injury to local flora, and fauna, and in the case of inappropriately maintained fires can cause fires to spread.
Visitors are also putting themselves in danger by venturing into areas that are unsafe and are going out unprepared for the environment and terrain.
Problem
I proposed a scenario-based e-learning solution that could be launched across all of The Park Federation platforms. This would allow visitors to experience key situations and consequences in a low-stakes, but realistic scenario, before they visited the actual parks.
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Often visitors plan to go to parks with idealized visions of how it should be with no idea of the realities and practicality. This would set them up with more realistic expectations and the tools to approach situations safely and correctly.
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I created the flagship project with high-stakes scenarios in a wooded park setting to test its impact on visitors. With the idea that it could be expanded into a series to include more scenarios and different park settings.
Solution
My Process:
Action Map:
For this project, my first step was to identify the problem and outline potential actions to achieve it. I conducted my own research and consulted a subject matter expert on parks and recreation. After identifying the goal of decreasing injuries and deaths, I broke down specific actions the audience would need to take in order to achieve the goal.
Text Based Storyboard:
In a text-based storyboard, I created the story the learners would experience by having them make choices, and experience consequences in realistic scenarios.
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I wanted to ensure that the learner was thinking critically about the scenario. I designed answer choices that were based on real and frequent mistakes made by campers. If a learner answers incorrectly they get to see the potential severity of the consequences, and then to try again to make the best choice.
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I included programming and visual notes in the storyboard that could be handed off to a developer if I was only serving as the designer.
Visual Mock-Ups:
After completing the storyboard, I began the visual design process. I created a mood board, then a style guide, and chose and created characters, using Animaker. This laid the groundwork for the look and feel of the piece.
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I chose Animaker as it allowed me to use custom backgrounds, and the tools and aesthetics were a better fit than other programs.
Style Guide
Character Mock Ups
The next step was designing wireframes and high-fidelity mock-ups of the different settings and slides using Animaker and Figma.
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The mock-ups went through several iterations. I gathered and applied feedback each time to create the final look of the project.
High-Fidelity Mock-ups
Interactive Prototype:
Before creating the full project, I made an interactive prototype in Articulate 360, building out through the first question of the project, to test and gather feedback on its functionality. While it is built to work best on a computer, I wanted it to also work well on a mobile device. The prototype allowed me to make adjustments and address concerns before the final build.
I designed the first question to maximize engagement, by breaking away from the standard text-based question to add novelty. By only giving the learner 2 options at a time, I minimized the mental load and allowed them to focus on a single decision, and consequence at a time.
Full Build:
Detailed animations were key for this project. Outside of the human interactions created in Animaker you will also see custom animations such as the raccoons raiding camp and a bear walking outside your tent.
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I included engaging details to immerse learners in the world. Such as an unconventional ‘reward’ system. The learner collects pictures from the great experiences they have after a correct choice is made, and gets to see them scroll on ‘their’ phone.
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As this would not be a required training, I designed it to be an experience the learner would be excited to try. I started, by allowing the learner to make a personal connection by choosing their character. Then, I focused on making the project visually appealing, making the choices and consequences engaging, and ensuring the story was compelling enough to drive the learner to discover the correct choice.
Takeaways:
Though this was a concept project, I wanted to follow through with evaluating it's impact. To do this I shared the project with groups from my target audience and with a community of instructional designers to collect feedback. There was a great response from both groups.
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Users were impressed with the visual design and delighted with some of the immersive details. They also commented on how engaging and informative the piece was. The families that tried it said their children had asked to 'play' it again another day, one even reminded their parents not to make the same mistake as last time and they had a great talk about the consequences. This is the impact I wanted to make with this piece. If it had been built for a real company I also would have followed up at several intervals to track the number of incidents taking place in the parks to evaluate its effectiveness, and potentially expand the project from there.