Why mobile-first microlearning starts with subtraction

It’s fair to say I suffer from shiny-new-thing syndrome!

A few months ago, we invested in Mighty by Maestro - a plugin for Articulate Rise that means you can make courses look and function far better than out of the box. I’ve been eyeing it up for years, so I was excited!

When a client came to us with a brief that had some real constraints (two-minute micros, a field-based workforce, accessed mainly on mobile), I figured that was the perfect time to start playing with my new toy.

So, I designed something that looked great on my desktop. Beautiful transitions, image and text combinations, a beautiful gradient background, nice visual depth.

Then I pulled it up on my phone and thought about the person that would actually be using it.

What looked elegant on my big screen seemed to distract on the small screen. These were two-minute micros, there was definitely no time for distraction!

I went back to the drawing board and stripped it back. Nothing decorative that didn't earn its place remained.

What that clarified for me about mobile-first microlearning is that the usual advice about tight learning design (one objective, no filler, ruthless editing) is even more important on mobile. But it doesn't stop at the words.

Visual extraneous load is just as real as content extraneous load.

A gradient background that looks elegant on a big screen can distract on a small one. So can a busy icon set, a decorative divider, or a font that's slightly too fancy. If it doesn't help the learner, it hurts them.

Mobile-first isn't a screen size. It's a design philosophy that starts with subtraction.

For those of you designing for mobile learners – what do you find the hardest?

(Don’t get me wrong – I got plenty of Mighty goodness into those micros … but maybe that’s a thought for another day 😊)

Nicola