Visual Design
Learning
Theory
Systems
Thinking
How I think about learning
Philosophy
Every great designer has been inspired by one that came before them. And that most definitely includes me. Whether from a professor, colleague, or the pioneers of modern design, consider me inspired. When doing some self inspection, I realized most of my design instincts trace back to Donald Norman, whether I'm aware of it or not. He has a talent for naming things that designers feel but can't always articulate. A few of his quotes from The Design of Everyday Things anchor my philosophy.
“Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.”
― Donald A. Norman
I came to instructional design as a multidisciplinary designer — someone who has spent years building brand systems, designing for the web, and asking the same question across all of it: what does the person on the other end actually need? That question travels with me into every learning experience I encounter. It's not a method. It's a disposition.
“A brilliant solution to the wrong problem can be worse than no solution at all: solve the correct problem.”
― Donald A. Norman
Two-part empathy shapes every early decision I make. Before I design anything, I need to understand what the organization needs this learning to accomplish, and what the learner needs in order to actually do it. These aren't always the same question, and confusing them is how you end up with a brilliant solution to the wrong problem. I ask a lot of questions before I propose anything. I want to define the actual problem — not the surface request, but the root of it — before I touch a single design decision.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible”
― Donald A. Norman
My background in visual design also means I take aesthetics seriously in ways that sometimes surprise people in learning contexts. But I hold that position firmly: visual design is not a finishing touch on instructional content — it is part of the content. A learner who is spending cognitive energy parsing a cluttered layout, decoding inconsistent visual hierarchy, or squinting at low-contrast text is spending that energy on the wrong thing. Good visual design removes those obstacles. It clears the path. When it's working, you don't notice it at all.
That idea — that good design becomes invisible — points toward what I want every learning experience I build to do. I want learners to feel seen, because the content is relevant to something real in their lives or work. I want them to feel supported, because the design anticipates where they might get stuck and removes the guesswork. And I want them to feel empowered, because they actually learned — not just clicked through.
The framework I rely on to get there is design thinking: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test. Not as a checklist, but as a way of staying honest. It keeps me from falling in love with a solution before I've fully understood the problem. It keeps the learner at the center of every decision, even when stakeholders are pulling in other directions. It connects belief to action in a way that I can actually trace.
“Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.”
― Donald A. Norman
Lots of designers can get lucky. Good taste alone might produce something that works. I'm not that designer. I pair good taste with data, with parameters, with clearly defined objectives — and I stay honest when something isn't working… yet. That commitment to solving the correct problem, every time, is what I bring to instructional design. Maybe I’ll be as quotable as Don Norman one day.