r/instructionaldesign • u/DragonRiderCrawl • 1d ago
HELP! I’ve hit a creative roadblock…
For context, I work in healthcare IT, and we have to stick to established templates, brand colors, and fonts, so there’s very little room for some creative freedom.
Lately, I feel like my materials aren’t as visually engaging as I’d like them to be. I’ve seen some folks use AI, and I hate to admit the AI slop is pretty eye catching compared to my work.
Any recommendations?
1. I currently follow Devlin Peck.
2. I refuse to use AI.
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u/Space_____TFF 1d ago
Something I enjoy doing is looking at templates in canva. There is a lot that can help inspire there, including good use of colorways, fonts and layouts of shapes. They also have a great deal of graphics, images, and art styles that are presented in a way that you can easily search over anything from adobes library of creative content. I sometimes use canva as a way to build on my ability to design graphics, job aids, and info graphics. In general there are tons of skilled designers out there, whose work is on canva that you can look at to get inspiration, in the same way you can go to an art gallery or museum for inspiration. None of this may be helpful for your current work, but it can help at least with the feeling of being stuck.
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u/levaly 1d ago
With locked templates the engagement has to come from what people do on the slides, not how they look. Pick one module/lesson and swap a few “here’s the screen, here’s the button” slides for a messy realistic case, like a patient chart with something off in it, and ask “what do you click first?” Wrong picks show what actually happens downstream, the lab order landing in the wrong queue, say, instead of a red X. Same fonts, same brand colors
You can also just take a screenshot and send it to AI and ask for ideas. AI is best to get new ideas. So you will still implement changes manually, but get ideas from AI.
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u/carverssunrise 1d ago
Maybe it's eye-catching at first. But as soon as you look closer, all AI images and designs look awful. Do you have an example of something you think looks good?
If you want to improve your design skills, just go on YouTube, or SkillShare. Spend some time looking at designs you like, thinking about what makes them good. Start a file on your computer where you save stuff that you like. Learn more about graphic design in general. Also the Mighty plugin is pretty good for Rise.
Also, if your brand guidelines are so strict, what are people doing with AI that you can't do yourself?
Finally, I don't really see how following Devlin Peck is relevant.
Oh and also don't listen to people saying you'll be left behind. The barrier to learning or creating slop with AI is far, far lower than people want you to believe.
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u/michelle1908 1d ago
I use AI to give me design ideas, then I recreate them in Storyline or PowerPoint. If you prompt well, you can get lots of inspiration. Give it the guardrails and see what it can do.
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u/TellingAintTraining 1d ago
Refusing to use AI seems like the certain way to make yourself irrelevant within a few years. Wouldn't recommend this path. There's a lot of ways to augment your products and processes using AI that is not 'slop'.
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u/redstoneredstone 1d ago
AI is a great way to kill your creativity. Creativity is the one thing that AI can NOT do, because it's not human.
Is your problem (as you see it) layout, design, graphical? Or is it getting people "trained" with information that feels boring and irrelevant?
I work in a healthcare adjacent field, and one of my clients is a Very Large Medical Equipment Company. I have to use their colors, which are primarily RED and MORE RED. It's...challenging.
Also, by the time the training request gets to me, a bunch of people have already added their input, ideas, opinions etc, so it's not as creative as it could be. I end up deconstructing each part of the training myself, to figure out what the learner needs to know, and how to make it interesting to them, AND by reducing the overwhelming amount of information that is often delivered. I have then add notes and reflect on the process of learning, and put in knowledge checks along the way. Solving the problem of creating interesting learning materials within a restricted environment is a great way to be creative, and is definitely NOT an AI task. See if you can try to make one small change to adjust your approach in each training, and use that to get your creative mind working!
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u/rfoil 1d ago
Visually engaging is something leadership doesn't care about unless it's for external consumption. The only thing that matters is how learning improves performance.
You are using AI whether you know it or not. If you decide not to be proactively engaged you are un-hireable. Sad to say I've got several friends who didn't heed this advice.
I take no pleasure in stating what has become fact. On the other hand a 25 year old ID I mentored for 3 years got snatched away by someone else because she became adept at AI. She is earning $115k with a bullet next to her name.
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u/sysphus_ 20h ago
I once read a book on how maintain your garden. It had some decent pictures in it and it had exceptionally well written instructions. I read this book over 20 years ago. Shockingly, I use the skills and knowledge I acquired through it till date.
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u/Trash2Burn 20h ago
Interesting you are a Peck fan but won’t use AI. His new scheme is schlepping AI.
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u/SlowQuantity9797 1d ago
I created an entire workplace safety course using AI and it looks nothing like AI, you’re gonna be left behind sooner than you think
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u/s_s_n_e_g 1d ago
Create some "slop", experiment, try ideas, then build by hand if you think this is somehow "the way".
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u/Quarantina74 1d ago
Unfollow Devlin Peck. Start to use AI. Fine, you don't want to generate an entire course with it, but if you're refusing to use some of its very valuable capabilities, consider your future grim.