Compare these two slideshows and tell us how you can apply this information toward Brand You…
Eudaimonia
A key to happiness and design success
Oprah’s been hanging out with best-selling author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, and their focus is happiness. Tolle’s latest work, A New Earth, provides practical teachings for waking up to a new, enlightened mind-set. So, what does this new-agey stuff have to do with learning, design, and leadership? Enter eudaimonia. Research shows that genuinely happy people have something called “eudaimonia” in common:
Finding your (design’s) “most golden self.”
A combination of the Greek eu (“good”) and daimon (“spirit”), eudaimonia means striving toward excellence based on one’s unique talents and potential—Aristotle considered it to be the noblest goal in life.
In Aristotle’s time, the Greeks believed that each child was blessed at birth with a personal daimon embodying the highest possible expression of his or her nature. One way they envisioned the daimon was as a golden figurine that would be revealed by cracking away an outer layer of cheap pottery (the person’s base exterior). The effort to know and realize one’s most golden self—”personal growth,” in today’s lingo—is now the central concept of eudaimonia, which has also come to include continually taking on new challenges and fulfilling one’s sense of purpose in life.
I submit that, like life design, training design should pursue eudamonia. Let’s crack away the outer layer of extra words and elements that mask the true message we are trying to deliver. Whether that means using more white space in our layout or trimming content to only the most salient points, the search for eudaimonia is a mantra I’m willing to repeat.
Tell us how you have experienced eudaimonia…
White space
Let’s celebrate the spaces between…
Objects in a composition need to breathe. White space offers an airy canvas stage on which the parts of your design can freely dance. Just ask Mark Boulton, graphic designer and writer from the UK. Here’s my favorite part about Mark’s view on white space:
“Whitespace is often used to create a balanced, harmonious layout. One that just “feels” right. It can also take the reader on a journey through the design in the same way a photographer leaves “looking room” in a portrait shot by positioning the subject off the center of the frame and having them looking into the remaining space.”
Check out this slide show by Brand Autopsy to see some compelling use of white space.
Now, how can you use white space in your next design, web page, or thank you note to make a bold statement?
Looking forward to [the spaces between] your ideas,
Susan Hendrich
Rapid E-Learning
Just the nuggets, please…
The longer I spend in the instructional design world, the more I realize that rapid e-learning really means honing your craft to include a few key questions for SMEs, a few key shapes for your design, and a few key tricks for your creative process. Check out Tom Kuhlmann’s Rapid E-Learning Blog for some proof.
So, what are your key questions for SMEs? What two shapes might you choose to thread throughout your next e-learning interface design? And, what new tricks have you added to your repertoire of e-learning magic?
Share the knowledge wealth!
Susan Hendrich
Quick, think of a name…
What’s in a Name?
So, you’re writing a riveting scenario to engage your learners and you want to select names for your characters. But you only have two minutes to pick names for your cast of virtual beings. What do you do?
I know! Go kleimo!
Check out this neat little random name generator, and you’ll be on your way to the worlds of Lenore Flesichmann, Maricela Rozar, Max Sellman, and Allan Jaffee. Here’s kleimo’s simple self-description:
“The random name generator uses data from the US Census to randomly generate male and female names. Use it for screenplays, fake id’s, car rentals, pick-up lines, books, prank calls, movies…”
Enjoy!
Susan E. Hendrich 