Is it Challenging To Explain Your Course Ideas To Your Clients?
Do your clients want to “see” what the course will look like before you are ready to move to development? Part of our process here at TLS Learning is to create prototypes for clients. Sometimes this is just a sketch or drawing that shows them the idea on paper. Other times it is a full prototype.
Recently I was introduced to two new tools that will seriously change the way that we do prototyping and mock-ups here at TLS Learning. I have found that with the introduction of different delivery platforms (tablets, phones, desktops) it is getting more time consuming to mock-up the interface design so that the client “gets” it.
So instead of spending countless hours mocking it up in the e-learning tool, use one or both of these:
Balsamiq is a wire framing tool that allows you to mockup a wireframe and collaborate with others to change and update the various aspects of the interface. This is especially handy if you are showing what the course would look like on various devices and using various sizes. On their site, they claim that it is like sketching a solution out on paper or a whiteboard and puts it online so you can collaborate with others. For my virtual team, this is an essential way to interact since we are rarely in front of a whiteboard.
Invision is the second prototyping/mockup tool. This one allows you to take your image files and add quick hotspots to them to simulate the flow of the course you are creating. This one also has collaboration so the client and the rest of the team can add comments and quickly make changes to the design without having to take the time to actually build it out in the appropriate tool.
Both of these tools are a great way to help your client visualize what the course will look like and how it will function in the early phases of the project so you don’t have to find out half way through the development that they want or need something changed. This also is a great way to quickly get various iterations through the design process.
Have you used these apps? Do you have other apps you use to create prototypes for your clients? Share your comments below!
