Review of Williams’ Non-designer’s Design Book (4th Ed.)

For the IDT 520 course, , Instructional Design Level 1: Issues in E-learning and the Design Process, one of the three required texts was the fourth edition of the Non-designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams. No. Not that Robin Williams.
This 240-page text is really a fun read, with plenty of realistic advice and design tips, starting from the basics, which is something that an art-challenged person such as myself needs the most. These include the four principles of design (C.R.A.P.), designing with colors, designing with type, and how to see things from the point of view of a designer. I took a lot away from the content, especially the ideas of contrast and repetition, as well as a better understand why some colors work better together than others.
Bringing this all together is a a good selection of color images of actual products that run the gamut from simple card to elaborate websites. And these are modern examples of objects and media that most all of the readers would be familiar with. These are interspersed with tips, as well as descriptions of why some of these things are visually more effective than others. Williams has a firm grasp of the subject and is able to communicate well with the reader, which is an unbeatable combination.
Robin Williams’ Non-Designer’s Design Book is a must buy, not just for instructional designers, but for anybody that has to produce media. This includes business folks who produce PowerPoint presentations, professors that think they know how to make an effective presentation, and even people that do newsletters for their club, or small business owners that makes their own flyers and menus. And best of all, it is priced reasonably, with new ones selling for only around $23 on Amazon. It is worth every penny!
Williams, R.. 4th Edition. (2014). The non-designer's design book. San Francisco, CA.: Peachpit Press.

Review of Kevin Siegel’s Adobe Captivate 8 The Essentials "Skills and Drills" Learning

For the IDT 505 course, Foundations of Instructional Design and Web Authoring Environments, the last of the three required texts was Adobe Captivate 8 The Essentials “Skills and Drills” Learning by Kevin A. Siegel.
Adobe’s Captivate 8 was the primary authoring software used for the first three semesters of the CSUF MSIDT program. On the surface it appears to have many of the same features of Microsoft’s PowerPoint, but it has a lot more functionality, and the ability to publish in web-ready formats. Adobe software has completely different interfaces than what you are used to with Microsoft products, and even if you have used their other products, there is a really steep learning curve for Captivate. This is where Siegel’s book comes in handy.
This 2014 text is will do a good job of getting you started with the program. It is not a manual, but rather sets of self-paced drills that walk the user through commonly used functions of the program. It might seem repetitive at times, but it is really a good way to learn the program. Using different set-up screens and changing attributes of text or objects quickly becomes second nature. The author even walks goes through the cumbersome process of preparing the project for publishing into a SWF, HTML5, or clickable .pdf formats.
Siegel’s writing style is clear and easy to follow, and it is obvious that he knows what he is talking about. There are many great shortcuts provided, as well as hints for setting up templates so the same actions do not have to be repeated endlessly during production. Though it is not a manual, I find myself going back and using it as a reference when I cannot figure something out (or if I have forgotten what to do next). It is spiral bound, so it lays flat when opened and it should hold up for a while. It has been rattling around in my car for a year and it has not fallen apart yet!
This book was worth every penny I paid for it, with the Amazon Prime cost coming in at just $35, and I plan to keep it around as long as I am using Captivate 8. If you are new to the program you definitely need to pick up a copy.
Siegel, K. (2014). Adobe captivate 8 the essentials “skills and drills” learning. Riva, MD: IconLogic, Inc.

Review of Jennifer Tidwell’s Designing Interfaces, 2nd Edition

For the IDT 505 course, Foundations of Instructional Design and Web Authoring Environments, one of the three required texts was Designing Interfaces: A Primer by Jennifer Tidwell.
This second edition of the text is a tremendous resource for anyone that needs to put together interactive media learning products. There is a multitude of different ways to interact with learners, and the author broke them down into specific methods to address 14 different human development patterns. These patterns assume that people behave in predictable ways.
By following the directions provided in this book, it should be possible to remedy (or avoid) common multimedia design problems. This book includes detailed information on information architecture, navigation, layout, working with lists, commands, information graphics, form design, user controls, and style. Included throughout is information about designing for mobile applications, web applications, and social media, making this edition relatively up-to-date even though it is five years old. Within each of these categories, there are a number of different detailed solutions that are presented. Also, for each of the different patterns and methodologies, the author provides sound reasoning for the basics that the designer will need to know, or might need to explain to a client someday: “what,” “when,” “why,” and “how.”
There are more than enough full-color examples from real world media to bring home all of the points that were made in the book. This text will prove to be useful for instructional designers that are developing multimedia projects using methods or tasks that they have not tried before when. It can also be used as a reference in instances where justification or clarification is needed for the design choices that were made.
This book was a bargain, relatively speaking, coming in at under 30 bucks on Amazon, and it is one of the books from the program that I plan to keep after graduation.
Tidwell, J. (2010). Designing interfaces: A primer 2nd edition. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.